Not only is Thanksgiving coming up in the United States, but November 24 is Family Health History Day. If you are getting together with your family this Thanksgiving, this can be a great time to learn some answers to those questions that you’ve encountered on medical forms in the past but maybe were uncertain of the answer to. It is always better to know the answer to questions as best you can rather than guess!

Of course, we are not asking you to pull out a health history questionnaire form over Thanksgiving dinner! But if you are wondering about health history—hey, what did Great Grandpa Joe pass away from anyways?—the Thanksgiving weekend can be a good time to get some answers when the rest of your family is also around to hear them. Common conditions that run in families that your doctor should be aware of include heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes (both type 1 and type 2), history of stroke, and cancer. Knowing as many details as you can may also be helpful for setting up preventative screenings. For instance, if there is a family history of colon cancer, your doctor may begin requesting you have a colonoscopy earlier than is typically recommended so that any changes can be detected as early as possible.

For me, when I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 16, it caught me off guard. A few years later, my grandma was also diagnosed, and I learned that her dad had lived with asthma, too—well, there was just one more thing, on top of my prematurity and low birth weight, that might have contributed to me developing asthma… Yet if I was ever asked about family history of asthma in those first few years, I thought it was just me—it wasn’t! Sometimes, even if you’re aware of current health concerns of family members, you really don’t know unless you ask specifically. If you live with a condition that seems sort of random, it can be worth asking about—it won’t change things, but if you’re a curious sort like me, it might help you account for the why do I have this question floating around in your head!

If you have family members with medical conditions who do not wear medical ID jewelry, this can be a good time to plant the seed in their head—if you have a product from My Identity Doctor, it’s a great time to show off how sleek and stylish you can be while staying safe!

What other healthy traditions can you start for Thanksgiving? The options are endless! Maybe it’s simply adding some more vegetables to your table, opting out of that post-dinner turkey induced nap and going for a walk with the family or playing some football to offset that big meal, or playing another active game indoors like Twister or Dance Dance Revolution. It’s a great time to start something new and fun, while creating some great memories with your family—and improving your health at the same time!

And, from all of us at My Identity Doctor—Happy Thanksgiving! We are always thankful for YOU—our great customers! We wouldn’t be doing what we do without you! And of course, Burton is thankful for many things… Especially peanut butter!