💪 What Health Tests Should You Do Between 30-40 Years?

(And Why Personalization Matters More Than Age)

When you cross into your 30s, the game changes. It’s often the first time many of us start hearing about "routine health check-ups" — but what does that actually mean? Is there a one-size-fits-all health package for everyone in their 30s?

The short answer: No.

While some basic tests are important for most people, the real power comes from personalizing your health checks based on your lifestyle, family history, and individual risks.

💡 Why Personalization Matters

Think of health check-ups like clothes — sure, there’s a standard size, but the best fit is always tailored.

• Someone with a sedentary desk job may need to focus on blood sugar, cholesterol, and vitamin levels.

• Someone who travels frequently may need to track immunity markers.

• Someone under chronic stress may need hormone and inflammation monitoring.

  
  

Personalizing your health tests means you’re not just tracking problems. You’re staying ahead of them.

🔍 Core Tests Recommended for Most 30–40 Year Olds:

Regardless of your lifestyle, these are good starting points:

• Complete Blood Count (CBC) – General blood health, anemia, hidden infections

• Fasting Blood Sugar + HbA1c – Early signs of insulin resistance

• Lipid Profile – Heart health markers

• Thyroid Profile (TSH, Free T3, Free T4) – Energy, metabolism, mood balance

• Vitamin D & Vitamin B12 – Common but often missed deficiencies

• Liver & Kidney Function Tests – Organ health

• Iron Studies (Ferritin, Serum Iron) – Especially important for fatigue, hair fall

• CRP / ESR – Silent inflammation markers

🛠️ How to Personalize Based on Lifestyle

🏃‍♀️ If you’re sedentary, stressed, or have irregular meals:

• Add: Insulin levels, homocysteine, cortisol

• Focus on: Sugar handling, heart disease risk, stress impact

🥦 If you’re vegetarian or on a restrictive diet:

• Add: Detailed iron profile, folate levels, zinc

• Focus on: Nutrient absorption, long-term deficiencies

🧠 If you have high stress levels:

• Add: Cortisol, Vitamin D, CRP

• Focus on: Chronic stress impact, silent inflammation

👩‍⚕️ For women with hormonal issues, PCOS, or irregular cycles:

• Add: Prolactin, LH, FSH, testosterone

• Focus on: Hormonal imbalances, insulin sensitivity

🚀 Why You Should Start Now (Not Later)

• Lifestyle diseases don’t start at 50 — they often begin in the 30s

• Silent deficiencies can lower your energy, mood, and immunity without obvious symptoms

• Understanding your lab reports early means you can prevent, not just treat

  
  

✅ Final Takeaway

The tests you need should reflect your life, not just your age.Your work, stress, diet, exercise, and even sleep patterns can influence what your body needs to track.

If you’re unsure what’s right for you, start by getting a personalized test recommendation based on your lifestyle — it’s more accurate, more relevant, and ultimately more empowering.

Want a tailored test plan? Reach out to Decode with Dr. Supriya — I can help you understand what your body is asking for, before the symptoms speak louder.

How a resident turned into a Pathologist!

It all starts with blurry pink and blue and comes with a lot of self-doubts - What if I misdiagnose something? What if I make a mistake?

The first year as a Pathology resident is full of what-ifs. Your day begins early and with a lot of judgment from your clinical friends who, like you have also just started their residency and are probably unaware that they need you on their sides.

You get inside the laboratory and a chill passes down your spine (don't worry, it's just the air conditioner).The feeling of not belonging creeps in. The overwhelming state-of-the-art equipment you know nothing about and a certain newness you have never felt before.

At least that's what it was for me. Every morning I asked myself if Pathology is the right path for me! The first six months went by just familiarizing myself with the workflow and brushing up on my histology - God, how I wished I had paid attention to histology class in the first MBBS.

And then one random afternoon while you are observing your seniors gross, talking office politics, you hear your name, a prof asking you to identify a structure on a slide! Another wave of self-doubt gushes, but after about 30 seconds of staring into the blurry pink and blue, you utter words - Brunner's gland. Your teacher smirks and says carry on with your work.

That's the first glimmer of hope. The first of many more to come and you never really forget it.

Before you realize anything, you are already a second-year resident, with responsibilities and lots of work to do. This is also the most fun year. You are now on good terms with all of your clinical friends. You ask history. They ask for a diagnosis. You fix and gross and teach. You see slides and start your day with a smile thinking about all the patients you are going to diagnose. It's the year of conferences and paper presentations. You enter the lab and feel like there's no place else you belong more than this. You do procedures and report those yourself (of course after getting it cross-verified). This year teaches you a lot and takes a lot out of you. Remember, fix and gross and teach and repeat.

Then comes the hardest year of all - The final year! How are you already so close to taking the exam? and how in the world are you gonna be a Pathologist in another 6 months? And here you thought submitting the thesis would kill you. This is the year you are constantly surrounded by your over-enthusiastic juniors who want to know everything they ought to experience next year whilst also being constantly judged as equals by your attendings.

Life seems tough. You go to bed with books and wake up with one. The library becomes your second home and your co-residents, your second family. Hours become days and days turn into months and one fine day you are taking this mammoth exam and feel the pressure you have never felt before.

Remember the self-doubt from the first year? Oh yeah, that seems like a walk through the park. The what ifs. The unfamiliarity. The newness. Everything comes falling right back in.

But then, even with all the hurdles and tears, you see the result flashing - PASS and all is right with the world again. Every single patient you met, every single slide you screened, every little detail in the requisition form you obsessed over, every time your teacher was tough on you and every single topic you read through the night has made you a different person altogether. A diagnostician who will forever remain a student in her heart. Someone who will never take the smaller things about a patient for granted.

Blink.

And just like that, you are watching the sunset out the window, sipping your cup of tea, reflecting and writing about this journey on a day when a simple 'attention to detail' helped you catch leukemia in a patient at a resource-poor setup, far away from that state-of-the-art equipment or someone to cross-verify it for you! And you think to yourself - Girl, you have come far!

You smile and thank your stars for giving you this giant opportunity in this little thing called life.

How to study Pathology as a medical student?

One question that I consistently get on my DMs is this! How to study Pathology in med school? You know it's funny because I was asking myself the very same question almost a decade ago and it feels like yesterday.

Pathology as a subject is very straightforward, however, as a specialty? Not so much! Diagnosing diseases, getting to the bottom of things can be taxing and exciting, all at the same time. But as a medical student, if you get the Pathology right, it makes other clinical subjects, especially general medicine that much more easily understandable and enjoyable!

So here are some of my favorite techniques and resources to help you study Pathology well!!

1. Always go in order: Whether it is general Pathology or systemic, always learn things in order. It will help you recollect the material easily.

For general pathology, I usually follow the following order - starting from definitions to the normal mechanism to understanding normal from abnormal followed by some examples of the pathology associated with it. If possible, add a note on the clinical implications of the same.

Focus more on new discoveries or mechanisms, the molecular aspect of things, and the new tools of the investigation if you want your answer to stand out. It really is about getting the order right!

For systemic pathology, again start from definition to etiology to pathogenesis followed by clinical features, how to diagnose a particular abnormality, and then a brief about the treatment and prognosis. Almost any answer in systemic pathology can be written under these headings.

2. Concise points: When we read a long paragraph or an entire page, we are bound to feel overwhelmed so try and pick up a few important words that give you a whole lot of information. For example, if I see the word asteroid bodies, my mind immediately goes to sarcoidosis even though it's not specific to that. Similarly, translocation (15;17) makes me think of APML and DIC. Focus on just important words. That's all.

3. Visualize: Pathology is a very visual subject. If you remember the microscopic image, you don't have to even read the whole thing. You will automatically know that the picture of tuberculosis is going to show granuloma with the cuff of lymphocytes and Langhan's giant cells. Visualization is the key. Both, as undergraduate as well as postgraduate. The ability to close your eyes and visualize will take you far in the world of Pathology.

4. Art of making notes: Follow one standard textbook. You can have multiple reference books if you like but for all practical purposes, have only one book that you follow through your final exams. The art of note-making resides in being able to extract information that you haven't found elsewhere and can just jot down on a stick-on sheet or on empty spaces around in your standard textbook. Just so everything is in one place and you aren't going back and forth to find the information on any given topic.

5. Some of my favorite Pathology resources online:

- Pathodoodles by Dr. Deeksha Sikri

- Artifying Pathology

- Pathelective

- Ilovepathology by Dr. Vijay Shankar

- Pathology outlines

Hope this helps you get the gist of how to approach Pathology as a subject! I am all ears if you got any questions for me!

Enjoy reading :)