The Importance of Knowing Your Relatives

You may not really care about relatives that you never met but finding them could help your health.  Your relatives have medical information about yourself.  You may not think about getting a genetic test but if you heard that one of your relatives had cancer, you may reconsider getting a genetic test for that specific cancer to see if you are at risk.

Cancer isn’t the only disease that you should be concerned about.  The same goes for heart disease, stroke, and many other diseases.  If you knew there was a possibility that you may have inherited the gene for one of those diseases, wouldn’t you want to take precautions to try to prevent it?  Just knowing you may have inherited it may not be enough of a reality slap and it may take a genetic test that actually says, “Yes, you have the genetic marker that makes you susceptible to this disease.”

If you receive a positive genetic test for a disease, it doesn’t guarantee you will suffer from it.  It does mean that you should start taking precautions such as visiting your doctor regularly, getting regular testing done, taking medication or changing your lifestyle such as eating healthy and exercising.

Researching your family history will help you identify what your ancestors died of and what they suffered with before their death.  If that is not interesting enough, it may be intriguing to find out where your ancestors lived, what they did for a living, and how your family became what it is today.  Every family has a story to be passed down, if you don’t know your story, isn’t it time you found out so you can pass it down to your children’s children?

If you’ve researched your family history and wondered what is genetics, what sorts of things have you found out?  Has it helped your outlook on your health or made you take certain precautions?

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spine/2076729686/)

May 25th, 2009 by Marcelina Hardy | Posted in Genetic Roots | (0)