Preparing for a Life Insurance Medical Exam (Part-2)

Preparing for a life insurance medical examination is not cheating – that is almost impossible to do and usually illegal. What you can do is to have your health information ready and use the few days before the exam to reduce the bad effects your lifestyle may have had on your health. Here’s how to prepare for the day:

Image Courtesy : Pixabay

• Paperwork: Have all your paperwork ready. That includes your medical history and a list of your current and former doctors with their contact information.

• Habits and health status: Have your answers ready. You will be asked about your current health status, any therapies you are undergoing or medications you are taking, any food or vitamin supplements you are using and why, and so on. You will also be asked about habits like smoking, drinking, use of narcotics etc. There is no point in trying to hide facts, it is better to be honest about any negative factors that may affect your health.

• Dangerous activities: You will also be asked about any activities that could be dangerous such as motor racing, deep sea diving etc.

• Remaining well hydrated: Once the paper work and questions are done, the usual blood and urine lab tests and measurement of height, weight, blood pressure and the rest will follow. Drink as much water as you can for the week before your exam. This will enable your body to flush out toxins and this will impact the test results. Being well hydrated will make drawing your blood easier, which will also be noted.

• Eating for health: Stop eating junk food. Replacing carbs and saturated fats with lean proteins, leafy vegetables and fruit, and using healthy fats like olive oil will make a difference to your health. Also, cut back on sugar and salt as much as possible. Salt can affect your BP, and sugar consumption will affect your blood sugar levels.

• No alcohol: Cut back on alcohol. If you can cut it out completely for a few days, your blood test will not show alcohol in your system, which is a positive.

• Moderate coffee: Drinking coffee is not bad for you but excessive amounts of caffeine from coffee or energy drinks will not help your test results. It will also affect how well you sleep and how rested you are for the exam.

• No smoking: Stopping smoking for a few days before the exam will not make much of a difference to your health. However, a medical exam is a good reason to stop it for good, and that is a huge health positive.

• Remaining rested and relaxed: Take it easy the day before your exam and try to get as much rest as possible.

• No tension: Do not worry about the exam. No one really ever enjoys perfect health: the more you worry about what may happen and how healthy you are, the tenser you will get. That will show up as a negative in the exam results.

The best person to give you advice on what you can expect from your life insurance medical examination and what you can do to prepare for it is your insurance broker.