Follow these 6 strategies to help lay the foundations for
a healthy future.

Strategy #1 Care for your skin

In order to have great skin at any age, it is important to nurture it. When it comes to ageing gracefully a good skin care range is your  best friend .

You might be starting to notice a few lines around your eyes because the skin around the eyes is under a millimetre thick, less than half the thickness of the skin on the rest of your face. 

Eyes are also surrounded by muscles which are constantly on the move, squinting and blinking, making expression lines more prevalent, so start reaching for an eye cream morning and night.

In your 30s your skin becomes a little less supple, due to the loss of collagen and elastic fibres and a litter drier due to a decline in oil production.

The contraceptive pill and pregnancy can also cause hyper-pigmentation around the cheeks, forehead and upper lip. 

This pregnancy ‘mask’ is the result of an increase in oestrogen and your skin not being protected when directly exposed to the sun. To avoid this ensure you use SPF50+ when you are going outside.

Strategy #2 Exercise

Even though you may have a young family, and/or a busy career, leaving you less time to exercise it is important for your overall health.

Surprisingly only 46% of woman work out regular in their 30s. So, if getting to the gym is impossible try exercising at home – aim for 30 minutes three times a week.

You don’t need an expensive gym membership to get fit if you allocate time to go for a walk or run. 

You can even turn your loungeroom into an exercise studio and try subscribing to a YouTube channel for some regular weight training sessions to help maintain bone density and muscle tone.

Besides strength training, include some flexibility exercise in your regime like Pilates or Yoga to keep your muscles flexible.

Strategy #3 Diet

Reviewing your diet regularly is also an important part of self-care. Making sure it includes plenty of fibre and anti-oxidant rich fruits and vegetables is a priority.

Although convenient, keep fast, high fat foods to a minimum. Replace fatty meats with oily fish, such as sardines or salmon, and try eating vegetarian proteins, such as soy patties or tofu.

Cutting down on high glycaemic index carbohydrates, such as white bread and pasta, may also give you more energy and help you lose body fat.

Drinking plenty of water will help keep your joints, muscles and brain lubricated, maintain good kidney health and flush toxins from your body.

Strategy #4. Breast Cancer

One in 12 women are at risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 75.

While the role of diet in breast cancer is still the subject of debate, reducing intake of saturated fats and increasing fibre, especially cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and bok choy) all contain a group of chemicals called indoles, all thought to have a protective effect.

Reducing alcohol intake is also a good idea. A new study published by the National Breast Cancer Centre found that a daily intake of 3 drinks a day by women was associated with a 35% increase in the risk of breast cancer and 4 or more drinks with a 67% increase.

Including plant oestrogens in your diet may also have a protective effect against breast cancer although more research is needed to be absolutely sure of the benefits.

If you are looking for some added protection, try adding omega fatty acids found in oily fish, walnuts and avocados to your diet.

Strategy #5 Avoid excess sun exposure 

The sun is your skins biggest enemy as UV radiation from the sun cause premature ageing of your skin. 

You don’t have to be a beach babe to look old before your time – incidental damage occurs whenever you drive the car, walk the dog or hang out some washing… and its cumulative.

Sun injures skin cells in many ways because the UV radiation damages the DNA in individual cells so that, when they reproduce, they pass on a jumbled message resulting in problems such as hyper-pigmentation.

UV rays can also trick the body’s immune system into damaging its own collagen and elastin tissue. And UV radiation destroys the protective lipid layer on your skin, causing dryness and increasing the number of free radicals. 

Free radicals are destructive molecules missing an electron. They wreak havoc on healthy cells, tearing them apart as they try to pinch an electron to make up for their missing one. Antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C & E are necessary to restrict free radical action.

Your best defence against premature ageing is a good skin care routine, reducing sun exposure and using an SPF50+ sunscreen daily. 

When applying sunscreen don’t forget to apply it on your neck, décolletage and the backs of your hands.

Strategy #6 Important medical checks

Even though 30 isn’t ‘old’ you should start having regular medical checks, so you have a baseline from which to start monitoring:

It is important for your longevity that by the time you hit the big 3-0 you have crossed these medical checks off your to-do-list

· Smears

· STD

· Rubella

· Monthly breast self-check

· Annual breast and pelvic examination

· Six monthly and annual dental check

· Yearly skin checks for skin cancer

· Regular eye checks

· Regular blood pressure checks