Splashed all over the media, a new report says you can cross “get an annual checkup” off your to-do list. Scientists in Denmark announced that yearly doctor visits didn’t help 182,880 people live longer or sidestep medical problems. Well, just showing up once a year isn’t what makes those annual visits so valuable; it’s actually getting good advice, making a plan to stay healthy and following it. That makes you live younger, longer and happier! So, our advice? Keep those appointments, then use the getting-you-healthier plan that you and your doc devise — PLUS the tips in this column — to kick-start a healthy-living revolution guaranteed to make you feel better and roll back your RealAge.

You can transform that all-too-often rushed and confusing doctor’s appointment (you’re lucky to get 18 minutes — demand more) and make sure you’re not one of the 50 percent of patients who walk out not knowing what to do next.