By the time women enter their 30s, most of their major health problems are the same as they were in their 20s. But prioritizing health becomes a bigger challenge, as women in their 30s often take on more life responsibilities and work harder to balance work and family life.
This makes it all the more important to work toward achieving or maintaining the healthiest lifestyle in terms of nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management.
“The reason they call them the basics is that if you do all those things, you’re going to help yourself maximize your health,” says Jill Rabin, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Northwell Health in New York City.
Of these basic aspects, the one that is most often overlooked is sleep, but it is also the one that can have the most profound effects on the rest of your health.
“Sleep patterns and a good circadian rhythm greatly affect hormone release and can impact things as diverse as the inability to lose the three kilos you want to lose, having a regular period or being able to get pregnant,” says Mary Gover, an internal medicine physician at Montefiore Einstein Advanced Care in the United States. “Good sleep” refers to the duration, but also the timing and quality of sleep. And poor sleep “can contribute to anxiety, depression, mood disorders and physical symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and hormonal imbalance,” she explains.
Many women now think about fertility and pregnancy in their 30s. If that’s your plan, it’s important to start taking prenatal vitamins before trying to conceive and “talk to your OB-GYN to find out what else you need to fill in the gaps and maximize your health before you get pregnant,” Rabin says.
There are large sections of libraries and bookstores dedicated to advice on preconception and prenatal care, and your gynecologist can help you prioritize what is most important for your health. It’s also important to be aware of the high risk of perinatal and postpartum depression and anxiety, which affects more than one in eight women. But many women don’t realize the impact pregnancy can have on their lifelong health.
“We really view pregnancy as a window into future cardiovascular health,” says Kathryn Lindley, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.
This is because as women enter their 30s, their risk of pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy may increase.
“We know that all these pregnancy complications are indicators of an increased risk of myocardial infarction, ictusheart failure and the development of heart-related risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” Lindley says. “I think this is an important time for patients to talk to their health care providers about how their pregnancy complications may put them at increased risk for heart disease in the long term and whether they may need more intensive screening, counseling or preventive care to stay healthy.”
Of course, women who do not wish to become pregnant also have important reasons to make annual visits to the OB/GYN, especially to obtain effective contraception and to undergo screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and gynecologic cancers.
“The pelvic exam is not limited to the cervix,” Rabin says; “it’s also about the vulva and vagina, and you want to make sure there are no lesions, lumps or bumps that shouldn’t be there,” including any abnormal masses in the uterus or ovaries.
The only cancer screening test that all women in their 30s should undergo regularly is a cervical cancer test, but recommendations change slightly as they enter their 30s. Instead of only having cervical cytology (Pap smears) as they do in their 20s, women ages 30 to 65 can choose from three options:
- Isolated cervical cytology every three years.
- A high-risk test for human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes 99.7% of all cervical cancers, every five years.
- Joint performance of high-risk HPV testing and cytology every five years.
The decision depends on the woman’s personal preferences and risk factors, which you should discuss with your doctor.
No other cancer screening tests are routinely recommended for all women in their 30s, but there are several that women in higher-risk groups may choose to undergo. By age 30, most women should be well aware of their family medical history; if not, now is the time to gather that information.
Recommendations in the United States (and in most Western countries, for that matter) for cancer screening are based on what is appropriate for the general population, so they are targeted at women at average risk for the disease, Gover says. This means that guidance may be different for women at higher risk for certain diseases because of family history or preexisting conditions.
If a first-degree relative, such as a parent or sibling, had colorectal cancer or breast cancer in their 40s or 50s, it’s recommended to take “a more personalized approach to cancer screening,” says Suresh Nair, a medical oncologist at Lehigh Valley Network in Pennsylvania. A good rule of thumb is to start screening for either type of cancer 10 years before a family member’s earliest age of diagnosis, he says. Ideally, you’ll want to “meet with a genetic counselor and develop your own individual risk profile and shared decision-making model,” he says.
Colon cancer rates are rising among younger adults, so it’s important to know if you’re in a higher-risk group who would benefit from starting screening earlier. Similarly, a baseline mammogram isn’t typically recommended until women turn 40, but the calculation changes for those who have a family history of breast cancer or carry a genetic mutation, such as the BRCA gene, that increases their risk.
Finally, people with a strong family history of melanoma should be extra vigilant about self-checking for signs of possible skin cancer.
They are not the only cancers that run in families, but they are the ones for which routine screening methods are available. If you are at risk for a familial cancer syndrome or have a known genetic mutation that increases your risk for a particular cancer, you should have ongoing discussions with your GP about whether there are other screening tests you should consider.
Arguably the two most important organs in the body are the heart and the brain, both of which are closely linked to metabolism. Working on those lifestyle habits, including following physical activity recommendations, is the most important part of cardiometabolic health, but you should also get your first diabetes checkup at age 35 if you haven’t started yet.
You’ll likely have your blood pressure checked at every doctor’s visit of any kind, but if it’s over 120/80 mmHg, you may need further monitoring or interventions. Similarly, make sure you get your cholesterol (lipids) checked every five years, or more often if it’s high.
When work and family obligations pile up, it’s easy to forget about self-care. If you’re feeling especially stressed or experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, talk to your GP or see a therapist.
Then there’s your skin and hair. Continue to apply sun protection before going into direct sunlight, and reapply if you’re still exposed. Use the ABCDE rule monthly to look for moles or skin discolorations that may indicate early cancer.
More and more young women are reaching out with questions about anti-aging products and routines, largely due to the influence of TikTok, says Jenna Lester, a dermatologist at the University of California, USA, and founder of the Skin of Color Program. The biggest way to prevent skin aging is sun protection and nightly application of a retinol or retinoid.
But another of the main reasons women go to the dermatologist in their 30s is hair loss. “There are many different types of hair loss,” and the cause can be genetic, infectious, autoimmune or lifestyle-related. If you notice that your scalp is becoming thinner or that you are losing more hair than usual, see a dermatologist.
Routine vaccines recommended for women in their thirties are primarily for seasonal flu and COVID, but there are additional ones that should be taken into account during pregnancy.
Starting in 2023, families will finally be able to protect their newborns from another serious respiratory illness: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It’s taken more than six decades to get here, but there’s finally an RSV vaccine that women can get during pregnancy so their bodies develop and pass antibodies to the fetus, protecting it from RSV after birth. (If you didn’t get vaccinated against RSV during pregnancy, there’s another option for newborns.)
Regardless of pregnancy, the HPV vaccine is worth considering. Although it is only recommended up to age 26, women can continue to get vaccinated up to age 45 if they have never done so. You might wonder why you should get a vaccine that is not formally recommended for your age. There is an explanation.
“Not only does it prevent cervical cancer, but it can also prevent anal, throat, vaginal and vulvar cancers,” says Nair, adding that cervical cancer cases continue to rise among women in their 30s. The recommendation ends at age 26 because there is less benefit from more exposure to HPV strains, which tend to increase with more sexual partners as you age. But since you’re unlikely to have been exposed to all nine strains in the vaccine, some benefit is better than none.