How can you know where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been? Though a cliche, the saying couldn’t ring any more true than when it comes to talking about your family’s health history. Here are some reasons why it’s important to know your history:

1. You Can Prevent Disease Early On –

By knowing your family history early on, you can often prevent certain diseases. For example, if breast cancer runs in your family, you can share that information with your doctor and get tested earlier on. If any signs happen to show up while testing, it will most likely be treatable since it’s caught in the early stages.

2. Lifestyle Changes –

You’re well-being is important. By knowing your history it puts you at less risk to fall into any type of negative patterns that a previous family member might have. You can begin to take note of how you’re eating and exercising. Even if you can’t change your genes, you can modify your lifestyle to live better.

3. Your Mental Health Could Be At Risk –

Most families don’t like to talk about mental health issues. But just like physical disorders, mental ones are also inheritable. According to PsychologyToday, “ADHD has a heritability rate of 75 percent. This means that if you have ADHD, there is a 75% chance that you inherited an ADHD gene or genes from at least one of your parents. Schizophrenia has a heritability rate of 64 percent, and bipolar disorder has a heritability rate of 59 percent.”

Knowing your family history can really make the difference.

Do you know your family’s health history?