Not to be too depressing about it, but as Dr. Scott Hansen says, "as soon as we reach our adult stature, we slowly die." Our bodies start to fall apart and run down, which is why we need what Hansen calls "periodic health maintenance."

"It's much like taking care of a car you treasure," says Hansen, a physician with the Health and Fitness Institute at LDS Hospital. And that means the equivalent of 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000-mile check-ups and oil changes— periodic medical tests and screenings, as well as lifestyle changes, that "will keep you working well and not coughing and sputtering in the later miles."

Hansen and Dr. Ted Adams, co-founder of the institute, will participate Saturday in the Deseret Morning News/Intermountain Healthcare Health Hotline. "Test and Prevention That Can Save Your Life" is the subject of the hotline, from 10 a.m. to noon. All calls are confidential.

"The more you procrastinate this periodic health maintenance and preventive care, the more you place your health in the hands of nature and health-care providers," says Hansen. "So if you want to stay in control of your health, you have to start early."

A good place to start in your 20s, he says, is by looking at your weight and your waist. The greater your circumference, the more fat is surrounding your heart and other internal organs, and therefore the greater the risk of developing coronary heart disease and diabetes later on. Hansen recommends a waist circumference under 35 inches for women and under 40 inches for men.

The 20s should also include dental check-ups every six months, and a skin exam by a health-care professional as a baseline for exams that should be repeated every five years to check for changes in moles, skin cancer and other skin damage, he says. Women, especially, should make sure they're getting enough calcium and enough exercise to keep their bones strong. Women who are sexually active should have Pap smears beginning at age 20, repeated every three years.

Beginning at age 30, both men and women should begin measuring cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar for diabetes. At age 40, add mammograms (earlier if there is a family history of breast cancer) for women, and digital rectal exams and baseline PSA tests for men to check the prostate. Hansen estimates that only 25 to 30 percent of people actually undergo the kinds of tests that can save their life. "Many people don't want to take the time, or they don't have access to a primary health-care provider." And if they're still young, "where there's no pain there's low motivation." It's at about age 40, he says, that most people start to notice fatigue and aches in muscles and joints.

"Health is better built a day at a time rather than by remodeling," Hansen says. "The state of health we maintain in early life acts as a reserve for us as we age."

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com