Can't eat for a few hours during the physical examination

It is usually recommended that people have a physical examination once a year. If the elderly suffer from chronic diseases, they can have two physical examinations so that they can understand their physical health status. Everyone knows that routine physical examinations require blood draws. So how many hours can you not eat for the physical examination? What time can you not eat the day before the physical examination? If a blood test is required, it is not advisable to eat in the morning. Let's learn more about it in detail.

1. Can I eat before the physical examination?

Can I eat before the physical examination? No, it will affect the results.

A person's blood pressure and laboratory test indicators will change within 24 hours a day depending on factors such as a person's activities and diet. In particular, blood sugar will rise within 2 hours after a meal, the gallbladder will contract, and intestinal gas will increase after activity, affecting the development of the pancreas and kidneys. These factors will affect the results of the physical examination, so the physical examination must be performed in the morning and on an empty stomach.

When doctors ask patients to have their blood tested on an empty stomach, they are not asking them to starve, nor are they telling them about the test results after they have been hungry for more than ten hours (being in a state of hunger). Because when the body is in a state of hunger, the various functional indicators in the body will change, which will cause the collected blood samples to be different from usual. Therefore, even if the test results are "normal", they cannot accurately reflect the patient's actual condition.

The impact of hunger on diabetic patients is particularly obvious, because if they are hungry for a long time, they will experience hypoglycemia shock, cold sweats all over the body, and even faint. In the end, they need to be injected or taken orally with glucose to be out of danger. Even if shock does not occur, the blood sugar test results will be very low due to the long fasting time, which can easily be mistaken as well-controlled blood sugar. Wouldn't this harm yourself and mislead the doctor? Some diabetic patients are extremely sensitive in regulating their blood sugar. If they are hungry for a long time, they will immediately mobilize glycogen in the body to meet urgent needs. At this time, their blood sugar levels are much higher than usual. Such results are incorrect and may mislead doctors and add trouble to treatment. Therefore, diabetic patients must eat dinner the night before testing their fasting blood sugar.

So, what does it mean to be fasting? The specific requirements are: the night before blood drawing, the patient should maintain his usual living habits and eat normally; the meal should be light and no alcohol should be consumed; no coffee or strong tea should be consumed after the meal; and a good rest should be obtained. After getting up the next morning, do not eat breakfast, drink little or no water, do not do morning exercise, and calmly go to the hospital to wait for blood collection. Such a blood sample is a good sample that reflects the real situation. Some patients have extremely high triglycerides, so that their serum is like milk, affecting the accuracy of test results of other blood lipid items. At this time, the doctor will ask them to eat a vegetarian diet for a few days, not eat fatty meat, to make the serum clearer, and then do a fasting blood test.