The Retirement Newsletter: How is your health?
Issue Number: -122 — when did you last have a health check-up?
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash
Welcome
Welcome to issue -122.
So far, I have been looking at the health of our pension pots and how much money we may need to retire. However, having a nice big, healthy pension pot is no good if your general health is poor, and you don’t have the time (or the energy) to spend your pension and enjoy your retirement.
So, this week, I will be looking at a health check-up, and also taking a trip down memory lane.
Health
I am not a medical doctor (although I do hold a PhD in biochemistry), and what follows should not be taken as medical advice.
As a result of a few body aches and a head cold that I can’t seem to shake, I have been thinking about my health over the last few weeks.
In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) runs health checks for people aged 40 to 74 (I have no idea why it stops at 74?) every five years, and this got me thinking — am I due a health check, and if I am, what should be checked?
The NHS (National Health Service) Health Check
The NHS has a very extensive and useful website — https://www.nhs.uk/ that is always worth a look for health-related issues, including information on health checks.
However, the NHS will not carry out a health check if you have any of the following conditions:
atrial fibrillation
chronic kidney disease
currently prescribed statins to lower cholesterol
diabetes
heart disease
heart failure
high blood pressure (hypertension)
inherited high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia)
peripheral arterial disease
previous checks have shown you have a greater than 20% risk of developing cardiovascular disease
stroke
transient ischaemic attack
I guess they won’t carry out a check if you have any of the above because your health is already being monitored as part of managing these conditions?
The NHS health check takes about 30 minutes and will look at:
diabetes
heart disease
kidney disease
stroke
A nurse or healthcare assistant usually carries out the check, and in the review, you will be asked about your lifestyle and family history:
age
gender
ethnicity
close relatives with chronic illnesses
smoking
alcohol consumption
physical activity you do
and have the following measurements taken:
height
weight
waist
blood pressure
And a blood test for cholesterol and diabetes.
At the end of this process, you get a cardiovascular disease risk score, which is an estimate of the likelihood of you developing heart disease or having a stroke in the next ten years:
low — less than a 10% chance
moderate — 10% to 20% chance
high — more than a 20% chance
And, you will get other scores associated with weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, physical activity, and risk of diabetes.
From these scores, you will then receive advice that may include:
improving your diet
increasing the amount of exercise
losing weight
stop smoking
And, if you are over 65, they may also tell you about the signs and symptoms of dementia.
Taken from: https://www.healthcheck.nhs.uk/commissioners-and-providers/delivery/
Although the check seems pretty comprehensive, it is based on some simple measurements and is summarised in the above image.
Is there more that the NHS could do, and is the health check worth doing?
Interestingly (worryingly?), even though the NHS Health Check is a free service in the UK, less than 50% of invited patients attend and no impact on public health has been reported (see Delivery and impact of the NHS Health Check in the first 8 years: a systematic review — published in 2018). However, as mentioned by the authors of the paper, obtaining data on the scheme's impact is proving difficult.
Bottomline
Get a health check!
Even the most simple health check, as carried out by the NHS in the UK, is better than no health check at all. And you never know; it might just spot something that you can act on to ensure a long and healthy retirement.
I am not a medical doctor (although I do hold a PhD in biochemistry), and the above should not be taken as medical advice.
Nostalgia corner
When I was growing up, there were three main information/education/fun type programmes on TV in the UK (and only three channels). The programmes were:
Blue Peter
Magpie
And, How
Blue Peter
Blue Peter was my favourite, and in the UK, you can get a pretty good guess at someone's age by asking them who their 'presenters' were — for me, it was Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Peter Purvis.
Blue Peter started on the BBC in 1958 and is still going strong. I tuned in the other day, and it was not the Blue Peter I remember! It seemed very loud and shouty.
I must admit to owning a few Blue Peter Badges. Sadly, I did not win them in any competitions — a 'friend of the show' gave me them.
Magpie
Magpie was on ITV and ran from 1968 to 1980.
I watched it occasionally and always felt it was trying to be Blue Peter and not quite getting there. Nevertheless, if you ever watched the show, I would be willing to bet you can still sing the theme song.
How
And now for the reason I'm writing this piece — How — which ran from 1966 to 1981 and then from 1990 to 2006. And the other week, I discovered that they had started a new series.
I have watched a few episodes of what is being called 'How 3', and it is pretty good, and it reminds me of the original series. They have some fascinating segments and some pretty fun science demonstrations. One item I enjoyed the other week was when they dropped a lump of sodium in a toilet. BOOM!
Anyway, if you enjoyed 'How' as a kid, the new series is worth a look. And, as a bonus, it still has Fred Dinenage on the show, now as 'Head of How', who sets a task for the presenters.
Useful links
UK Government Website - How to avoid pension scams
Thanks
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please don't hesitate to share it with your friends or on social media using the buttons below.
If you would like to say 'thanks for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea?
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.