Important: Your thyroid.

If you don't know what your thyroid is, you should go and read this right now.

If you don't want to read it, "the thyroid controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones."

Just like the Scout, it's a pretty big deal.

My mother's been dealing with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis since she was about 30 years old. She has to worry about taking artificial replacement hormones to maintain a feeling of wellness- and to ward off the possibility of muscle and heart failure. Statistically speaking, it occurs more often in women than it does in men, and it's the primary cause of hypothyroidism in North America. More on that here.

Even if you're not suffering from a disease, it's important to know how it works and what you ought to watch out for. When things go wrong in any part of your body it impacts the mechanics of the whole.

If you haven't gone to the doctor recently, make sure to at least make an appointment for a regular checkup. The cost of a visit that helps catch something early is far more valuable than the hospital visit required to clean up the metaphorical train wreck.

This public service announcement brought to you by a concerned citizen.