What happens at an annual physical?

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The annual physical has a standard skeleton: vitals first - blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, weight, and sometimes oxygen saturation; then the history, where your provider reviews symptoms, medications, family history changes, and lifestyle - sleep, exercise, alcohol, smoking, stress; then the hands-on exam - heart and lungs with the stethoscope, belly palpation, skin check, reflexes, and a look in ears, eyes, and throat, per MedlinePlus's physical exam overview. Then the age-and-risk-appropriate extras: blood work - cholesterol, glucose or A1c, kidney and liver panels; cancer screening reviews - mammograms, colonoscopy, cervical screening, skin checks by schedule; vaccine updates; and mental health screening, which is increasingly standard.

The highest-value part is the conversation, and it rewards preparation: bring your medication and supplement list, your top three concerns written down, your family history updates, and your honest numbers - alcohol and sleep especially, since those answers shape the screening plan.

What a physical does not include: it is not a head-to-toe MRI and not a guarantee - it screens for the common and the catchable. Something specific bothering you between physicals deserves its own appointment rather than saving up for the annual. And a normal physical last year does not clear new symptoms this year.

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What happens at an annual physical?

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