Knowing your family history is essential as it contains information about your past and clues to your feature. As you inherit physical traits from your family members similarly you may inherit certain genetic conditions and health problems through counseling. By collecting family history you can come to know of the risks and the ways to reduce them. . For example, people with a family history of heart disease can reduce their risk by not smoking, regular exercise and diet. Family History can be recorded by drawing a Family Tree or “Pedigree”. While drawing a family tree start by recording medical and health conditions of your brothers and sisters and parents. Then go back one generation at a time to record the history of your grandparents, aunts and uncles and relatives etc. You need to record the age, medical problems such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure etc. For deceased members you need to record the age at death and cause of death. Once your family tree is ready you may consult with your doctor if you have any concerns. You also need to update it every couple of years. Finding out your family history can be beneficial to you as well as your relatives.