During a routine physical, your doctor will ask about dozens of topics spanning your daily habits, mental health, medications, sexual health, and family history. Some questions feel straightforward, others surprisingly personal. Knowing what to expect helps you prepare honest, useful answers that make the visit more productive.
The exact questions vary by your age, sex, and medical history, but most physicals follow a similar pattern. Here’s what you’ll likely be asked and why it matters.
Medical History and Family Background
Your doctor will typically start with an update on your medical history. If you’re a new patient, expect a thorough review. If you’ve been seen before, they’ll ask what’s changed since your last visit. Common questions include:
- Have you been diagnosed with any new conditions?
- Have you had any surgeries, hospitalizations, or ER visits?
- Has anyone in your family been diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes, or cancer?
- Do you have any new allergies?
Family history questions are especially pointed because conditions like heart disease, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes have strong genetic components. Your answers directly influence which screenings your doctor recommends and how early they start.
Your Current Medications
Every physical includes a medication review, and doctors are trained to ask about far more than just prescriptions. A complete medication list covers prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications like pain relievers or antacids, vitamins, herbal supplements, and nutritional products. Many people forget to mention supplements or assume they don’t count, but these can interact with prescription drugs or affect lab results.
Your doctor will want to know the dose and frequency for each one, whether you’ve had trouble taking anything as prescribed, and whether you’ve experienced side effects. If cost is a barrier, this is a good time to mention it. Doctors can often suggest a generic alternative or a less expensive option in the same drug class.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use
Expect direct questions about substance use. These aren’t meant to judge you. They’re standardized screening questions asked of every patient because alcohol, tobacco, and drug use affect nearly every organ system and change how your doctor interprets lab results and manages your care.
For alcohol, many doctors use a validated three-question tool called the AUDIT-C. The questions are: How often did you have a drink containing alcohol in the past year? On days when you drank, how many drinks did you typically have? How often did you have six or more drinks on one occasion? Your doctor is trained to ask open-ended questions rather than yes-or-no ones, so you might hear “Tell me about your drinking” rather than “Do you drink too much?”
For tobacco, you’ll be asked whether you currently smoke or have ever smoked, and if so, roughly how many years and how much per day. This matters for cancer screening: adults aged 50 to 80 with a 20 pack-year smoking history who currently smoke or quit within the past 15 years qualify for annual lung cancer screening. You’ll also be asked about vaping, chewing tobacco, and recreational drug use.
Diet and Physical Activity
Your doctor needs a quick snapshot of how you eat and move. Some practices use a structured set of questions. One common clinical tool asks two activity questions and one diet question: How many days per week do you do moderate to strenuous physical activity (including walking to get places, sports, or physical work)? On those days, how many minutes are you active? These two answers are multiplied to estimate your weekly activity minutes, which your doctor compares against the general recommendation of 150 minutes per week.
For diet, you might be asked to rate your own eating: “Based on your understanding of healthy eating, how would you describe your diet?” with options ranging from “almost always healthy” to “almost always unhealthy.” Some doctors go deeper, asking how often you eat past the point of fullness or eat in response to stress, sadness, or depression. These questions help identify patterns that contribute to weight changes, blood sugar problems, or digestive issues.
Mental Health Screening
Depression and anxiety screening is now a routine part of most physicals. The most widely used tool is the PHQ-2, a two-question screener that asks:
- Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things?
- Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by feeling down, depressed, or hopeless?
You score each question from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). If your combined score is 3 or higher, your doctor will typically follow up with the full nine-question version, the PHQ-9, which asks about sleep changes, fatigue, appetite, concentration, feelings of worthlessness, and thoughts of self-harm. The maximum score is 27, and higher scores indicate more severe symptoms. These questions aren’t a diagnosis on their own, but they flag who needs a closer conversation.
Sleep Quality
Sleep questions often come up alongside mental health or as their own topic. Your doctor may ask something as simple as: “When you wake up in the morning, are you refreshed and ready to go, or groggy and grumpy?” From there, expect follow-ups about how many hours you sleep on a typical night, whether you have trouble falling or staying asleep, how often you wake during the night and for how long, and whether a partner has noticed snoring or pauses in your breathing.
These questions help identify insomnia, sleep apnea, and other disorders that raise risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and mood problems. If you track sleep with a wearable device, bringing that data can give your doctor more to work with.
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Sexual health questions are standard for patients of all ages, genders, and relationship statuses, though many people find this the most uncomfortable part of the visit. The CDC recommends doctors frame these questions openly, often starting with something like: “I ask these questions to all my patients, regardless of age, gender, or marital status.”
Your doctor will ask whether you’re currently sexually active, how many partners you’ve had recently, and whether those partners are male, female, or both. They’ll ask about the types of sexual contact you have (oral, vaginal, anal) because different practices carry different infection risks and require different testing. You’ll be asked whether you use condoms or other barrier methods, and how consistently.
For people who could become pregnant, expect questions about pregnancy intentions: Do you want children, and if so, when? Are you using contraception? Would you like to discuss birth control options? Your doctor may also ask about HPV vaccination, hepatitis A and B vaccination, and whether you’re aware of PrEP for HIV prevention.
Age-Specific Screening Questions
The questions your doctor asks shift as you age because different health risks become more relevant at different life stages.
Adults Under 40
Blood pressure screening starts at age 18 and happens at every physical. Your doctor will ask about contraception, STI risk, and mental health. Cervical cancer screening with a Pap test begins at 21 and repeats every three years through age 29.
Adults 40 to 64
This is when cancer screening ramps up. Mammograms are recommended every two years for women starting at 40. Colorectal cancer screening begins at 45 for everyone. If you have risk factors for heart disease (high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, or smoking), your doctor will assess your 10-year cardiovascular risk and discuss whether a cholesterol-lowering medication makes sense. Expect more detailed questions about chest pain, shortness of breath, and exercise tolerance.
Adults 65 and Older
Physicals for older adults add questions about functional ability: Can you bathe, dress, cook, and manage medications independently? Have you fallen in the past year, and if so, how many times? Do you feel unsteady when walking? Your doctor may also screen for cognitive changes by asking about memory, orientation, and the ability to manage finances or appointments. These questions assess whether you can live safely on your own and whether any support services would help.
Questions You Should Bring
A physical works both ways. The National Institute on Aging encourages patients to come prepared with their own questions, especially about any new symptoms, upcoming tests, or current treatments. Useful questions to ask your doctor include:
- Why is this test being done, and what will we learn from it?
- How should I prepare, and when will I get results?
- What caused this condition, and will it be permanent?
- What are the long-term effects on my daily life?
- Is there a generic or less expensive version of this medication?
Writing your questions down before the visit helps. Appointments move fast, and it’s easy to forget what you wanted to ask once you’re in the exam room. If you leave with a new diagnosis or medication, make sure you understand the name, the dose, how often to take it, and what side effects to watch for.