New Question Doctors Ask

Get ready for your doctor to start asking you a new question during your next visit.

Health history, check... medicines you take, check... family history, check. Well how about exercise history?

That's probably going to be the new question your doctor asks during your normal exam and visit, and for a very good reason. It turns out that many of us either don't exercise enough or at all, so doctors are starting to emphasize it more and more as a great way to get and stay healthy.

Kaiser Permanente started a program where their doctors started to ask all their patients about how much they exercised. Other doctors and groups are doing the same thing. And since a recent survey found a third of us don't exercise at all, it's a big push to get more of that into our routine.

And for a very good reason. Often times exercise is the first and best thing we can do for our health. Instead of medications, a doctor might find out you have high blood pressure and prescribe daily exercise to see if that works first. And for many of us it will.

So, in addition to getting asked the usual questions about your health, don't be surprised when you get asked about your exercise routine. And when the only prescription you get is to exercise more. A simple step that can go far in improving your health.