Common health habits deemed 'a waste of time'
Go for an annual full-body scan
Credit: safepatientproject.org
Go for an annual full-body scan: They're pretty useless, particularly for the abdomen and pelvis, says Jonathan Goldin, M.D., a radiologist at UCLA. Often, scans miss lesions, giving a false sense of security—or they "find" something that's not there, leading to unnecessary anxiety and more tests. Scans can help detect lung cancer and coronary-artery calcium, but these tests are recommended only for people over 45 who have risk factors like smoking, moderately high blood pressure, or moderately high cholesterol. If that isn't you, you don't need a scan.