Every Home Needs Basic Medical Information

In this age of information, it is easy to get information that is partial or misleading. Creating a small home library of essential books on medicine can keep you from being misguided. A basic knowledge of your body and how it works will help you talk to your doctor. You’ll be able to ask
informed questions.

In times of emergency you’ll know what to do and what not to do. Once the emergency team arrives you’ll know what to tell them. Here are six of the best medical books for your home library.

General Knowledge and Basics of Medicine

A basic understanding of your body – how it is constructed (anatomy) and how it works (physiology) – is the starting point of approaching your health. Encyclopedic medical books contain information on all aspects of your body.

Two books to have on your home shelf for quick reference and to build your understanding includes:

The Johns Hopkins Family Health Book: The Essential Home Medical Reference to Help You and Your Family Promote Good Health and Manage Illness This reference guide contains material on medicine, interpreting symptoms, and general health and nutrition facts from over 100 specialists from one of the nation’s top medical institutions. You’ll find information on staying healthy, changes over your lifespan, first aid and emergency care, body systems and disorders, and how to be a partner in your medical care.

The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide is a simple to use but comprehensive reference guide. It has in-depth reference material presented in language that is accessible to those outside the medical profession.

Health Books For Men and Women

Each gender has specific medical concerns and books specific to men or women are great home references. Two books to add to your family book shelf are:

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Men’s Health: Lessons from the Harvard Men’s Health Studies.  This book provides knowledge assembled to help men live longer and healthier lives. From stress control to diet, exercise, and over-the-counter drugs and supplements, this is a text worth studying.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era. This book is a long-time, best selling medical guide to help women understand their bodies to help them make key decisions about health.

Emergency  Health Books

When accidents happen it’s easy to panic and not know what to do. A basic, but comprehensive emergency guide is a must not only in the home but also in your vehicle along with the first aid kit.

The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook A comprehensive and easy to follow guide to first actions for injury in the critical first moments.

Nutrition and Body Health

Often underrated medicine books are those that address how our body gets nutrition from the food we eat. Understanding how our body processes food is beneficial to maintaining health.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. This book takes you through the entire process of digesting food in an easily accessible and often humorous journey.

Lifelong Health

Knowledge is the key to maintaining good health. Although you can piecemeal information from the Internet, a sound basic library of books is the basis for getting to know your body and preserving health through life stages.

These six books create a reference library you can turn to again and again no matter what your age or sex. Begin your journey to self-discovery to lead a healthy life, communicate with emergency technicians and doctors, and increase your general well being.