New year. New life. Imagine starting 2007 with a clean slate: all of last year’s illnesses have disappeared and any future sickness can be prevented. While that’s not possible, keeping these resolutions can help you maintain or improve your health in 2007.

Resolution 1: Make sure you have a primary care physician. Whether specializing in general or internal medicine, this doctor is as critical to your health as a conductor is to an orchestra. Among other things, a primary care doctor can help you choose the right specialist for what ails you. If you have back pain, for instance, you might assume it’s a kidney problem. But if your problem turned out to be in your spinal column, going to a kidney specialist or urologist would be a waste of time.

Resolution 2: Be aware that many diseases—including heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, and AIDS—display no early warning signs. So get a yearly checkup before symptoms manifest.

Be sure your race, ethnicity, and age are considered: for example, diabetes is much more common among Hispanics, so a test to measure your blood sugar is key. Colonoscopies, mammograms, Pap smears, and tests for prostate-specific antigens (PSAs), blood lipids (total, good, and bad cholesterol; triglycerides), bone density, and HIV can detect many diseases early.

Resolution 3: Know your personal and family medical history, and be alert to any changes you notice in your body. Your doctor depends on this type of information to order and interpret tests, including some nonroutine examinations such as sonograms, CT scans, genetic testing for cancer risk, MRI evaluations, psychiatric visits, and vision and hearing exams.

Resolution 4: Finally, and most importantly: lead a healthy lifestyle in a healthy environment. Smoke-free air, a healthy diet, regular physical activity under your doctor’s supervision, and good oral hygiene may make it possible to say at the end of 2007, “I’ve had a great year!”

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