For many dads, the start of a New Year brings a whole new set of resolutions – with living a healthier lifestyle often at the top of the list.  While most fathers look to do that by exercising more and eating right, one part of the equation is sometimes ignored – visiting their primary care physician for an annual checkup.

If you’re a dad who falls into that category, you’re not alone.  Nearly 30 percent of the more than 1,100 men polled in a 2007 Harris Interactive online survey for the American Academy of Family Physicians said they would wait "as long as possible" before visiting a physician if they’re sick.

Dr. Samuel Sandowski, Director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at South Nassau Communities Hospital, believes some men are more inclined to put off a visit to the doctor because they believe they can work through any pain or ailment – or don’t see any longterm benefit because they don’t feel sick and believe that nothing bad is going to happen to them.  However, Dr. Sandowski has seen that belief change in many of his male patients once they have children – when they realize the quality of their health no longer impacts just their own lives.

“Recently, a patient of mine and his wife were trying to have a child,” says Dr. Sandowski.  “He was a smoker with diabetes and hypertension.  However, once his wife had conceived, he decided to quit smoking and get these issues under control so he can be around for his child for years to come.”

So, consider making that annual checkup a regular part of your New Year’s “Things to Do” list.  Not only does it help you live a longer, healthier life with your children.  It also minimizes the chances of your kids needing to take care of you physically as you grow older – because you’ll have taken responsibility to know what’s going on with your own health so you’ll be able to take care of yourself.