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Self-care is about empowering people with the tools and knowledge to take their health into their own hands. At 2San, we believe self-diagnostics are the future of healthcare, and we are dedicated to supporting individuals with access to high quality, affordable tests that allow them insight into their health from the comfort of their homes. This International Self Care Day, we are shining a spotlight on why self-care and self-diagnostics are so important and delving into some of the steps you can take in order to take better care of your own health and wellbeing.
Firstly, what exactly is self-care?
The pandemic, while posing several challenges, also gave us a huge opportunity to explore the potential of scaling virtual care, transforming the way we access healthcare. It’s also prompted an increase focus on self-care, and today, thanks to our familiarity with lateral flow tests, many of us are much more comfortable with the idea of self-testing in our daily lives.
Doing so not only empowers with insights into our health but also becomes increasingly crucial as our healthcare systems face mounting pressures. With the current demands on healthcare services, it’s no wonder that many of us are actively seeking other ways to get fast, accurate diagnoses.
Self-care is about making positive changes to our day-to-day lives that benefit our health. From running to self-testing, to self-managing common ailments at home, it comes in many shapes and sizes, all with the purpose of promoting physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental health in some way. It’s a powerful tool that emphasises pro-active management of our health that is cost-effective and empowering.
Self-diagnostics have an important role to play here, helping us test for a wide range of health conditions, make informed choices, and effectively manage our overall physical and mental health.
How do self-diagnostics fit in?
At 2San, we believe that one of the major benefits of self-diagnostics is that they can readily improve access to diagnostics for everyone, regardless of their location or economic status. For some, healthcare settings can be intimidating, and self-tests enable insight into their health from the comfort and privacy of their own home. Self-testing is an important self-care approach that empowers people to take their own sample, perform simple tests, and interpret the result themselves, often within minutes.
A recent Global Health & Wellness Study of 17 Markets carried out by NielsenIQ indicates that 48% of global consumers are regularly making proactive choices about their health and wellness and these health-conscious consumers are a significant driver behind the remarkable growth of the over-the-counter home diagnostics market.1
This shift in consumer behaviour reflects a growing demand for greater autonomy in managing our own health. In fact, our own research has shown that, with half of us worrying more about our health post-pandemic, over 80 percent people welcome the idea of being able to effectively manage aspects of their own health and wellness from home using self-tests before needing to approach the doctor.2
The power of self-diagnostics
The home care and testing market has emerged as a powerful tool, granting consumers unprecedented control over their everyday well-being. The availability of test kits that can be conveniently and affordably purchased over-the-counter or online offers consumers access to rapid results. The process is personalised, discreet and fast.
At-home testing kits can be used to detect a vast range of conditions, including health issues, deficiencies, pregnancy, substance abuse, and infections. These kits also come in a diverse range of formats, including cassettes, midstream applications, strips, test panels, and dip cards. Each of these shares a common focus on simplicity of use, accuracy and affordability.
Prevention is always better than cure, and monitoring aspects of your health with reliable self-diagnostic tests can ensure that any health issues are detected and treated at an early stage, when treatments are most effective.
Our research shows that a huge 87% of participants were reassured about the status of their health after using a self-test – most users were happy not only to trust the quality of the product, but also trusted in their own abilities to use the equipment to get an accurate result.3
Take control of your health
At 2San, we believe that everyone deserves the power to take better care of their health, regardless of where they are. That's why we offer a range of Rapid Health & Wellness Tests to give you insight into your health. Our convenient and user-friendly tests provide you with early insight to help you make informed decisions about when to visit the doctor, in turn improving clinicians’ ability to offer better-targeted care.. Our tests are affordable and accessible to everyone, allowing you to check for a range of health issues and conditions:
Check your Vitamin D levels from home - Vitamin D helps keep your immune system healthy. It’s also important for your mental health, with low levels being linked to depression.4 When sun exposure is limited, our Vitamin D levels tend to drop. This makes Vitamin D deficiency quite common. The 2San Vitamin D Deficiency Test is a quick way to check for low levels of vitamin D in your blood. Learn more about it here.
Quickly screen for bowel cancer - Detecting occult blood in the digestive tract can serve as an important indicator of poor bowel health, potentially signalling the presence of stomach ulcers, polyps, or even bowel cancer. The 2San Bowel Health test efficiently identifies low levels of concealed blood in the stool, enabling a swift and precise screening for early warning signs of bowel cancer, even before symptoms manifest.
Test your TSH hormone levels - Hypothyroidism, also known as an underactive thyroid, is a common thyroid disorder. If you frequently experience tiredness and feeling cold, it could be signs of hypothyroidism. If you suspect hypothyroidism, it's important to consult with your doctor and consider taking a reliable hypothyroidism test. Our easy-to-use at-home hypothyroidism test will show if you have a raised TSH level in just 10 minutes.
In recent decades, self-care has gained significant traction as a response to the stresses and demands of modern life. Self-care involves prioritising our well-being and empowers us to regain balance and thrive. Your well-being is in your hands, and we are dedicated to making sure you have the tools to make it a priority.
To check out our full range of health and wellness tests, click here.
Taking place on 24 July, International Self-Care Day was established by the International Self-Care Foundation in 2011 to raise awareness about the importance of self-care. The International Self-Care Day 2023 theme is “Resilience, adaptability, and thriving in adversity”.
