Know Your History

• When it comes to your health, ignorance is not bliss. Knowing everything you possibly can about your family background and medical history will shine light on what possible diseases you have a hereditary tendency toward. If you cannot find out about your family's medical past by interviewing the actual subjects seek the help of a medical geneticist who can do tests on your DNA to determine if there are predispositions to medical problems.
  
  

Take Control

• Hereditary diseases run the gamut from cancer to diabetes, neurological problems to kidney problems. In some cases those diseases can be prevented or held at bay. One tactic is not eating foods that might bring on problems such as diabetes or high cholesterol. Healthy living and diet and exercise programs geared to combat your particular medical possibilities can help prevent hereditary diseases such as high blood pressure, stress and anxiety as well as several hereditary mental illnesses. In other cases such as obstetric difficulties knowing what to be ready for can solve much of the problem in advance where it could otherwise lead to the loss of a baby or the mother's life.
  
  

Regular Checkups

• Knowing what probably illnesses or diseases run in your family will also alert your physician to test for those problems. Certain cancers or other illnesses might not show up on a regular checkup but will if looked for specifically.
  
  

Prompt Medical Intervention

• Prevention is always the best medicine but in the case of hereditary diseases prevention is not always possible. If you know what diseases or illnesses run in your family you will be able to learn what symptoms to look for in order to spot them quickly. If you cannot prevent a disease or illness the next best thing is to catch it early when treatments are more likely to have the most effectiveness.