Your future health is largely determined by what you do at present.

Your lifestyle and dietary habits will determine how much time you’ll spend in hospitals and how rapidly you’ll age.

Techniques have been developed for estimating mathematically your future health risks. These techniques are collectively termed ‘health risk appraisal’ or ‘health assessment’. Here, you have to fill a questionnaire about your lifestyle and health habits and your responses are computed to evaluate the likelihood of your developing major medical problems, such as heart disease and cancer. These techniques are an important part of comprehensive health education programs, and can help you shape your own personal health maintenance regimen. Remember that a health risk assessment is virtually useless unless it motivates you to change your behavior. You should constantly remind yourself that you can reduce your health risks by changing your lifestyle!