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"Every Day Eat Breakfast (Whether You&amp;amp;#8217;re Hungry or Not) Women who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight, a major 2008 study found, and newer research even linked this A.M. habit to less painful periods and fewer PMS symptoms. What&amp;amp;#8217;s more, it&amp;amp;#8217;s often your best chance to pack in a nice dose of calcium&amp;amp;#8212;a mineral many young women are deficient in&amp;amp;#8212;from foods like yogurt, milk or fortified soy milk or OJ. &amp;amp;#8220;Breakfast reallyis the most important meal,&amp;amp;#8221; says women&amp;amp;#8217;s health expert Marie Savard, M.D., author of Ask Dr. Marie. Easy tip: Keep a bowl of hard-boiled eggs in your fridge; grab one, plus an apple or yogurt, on your way out the door. Swipe on Some SPF-30 Sunscreen The everyday UV exposure you get on your hands, face, arms, chest and legs can increase your risk of melanoma and other skin cancers; it also damages collagen, leading to fine lines and wrinkles. The fix: &amp;amp;#8220;Use a broad spectrum SPF-30 sunscreen on your face, neck and chest before you leave the house. I use it on my hands and arms, too&amp;amp;#8212;any skin that&amp;amp;#8217;s exposed,&amp;amp;#8221; says New York-based dermatologist Debra Jaliman, M.D. Brush Twice, Floss Once That&amp;amp;#8217;s the daily recipe for healthy teeth&amp;amp;#8212;and no, you cannot skip the flossing. When you do it tonight (you will, right?), keep an eye out for bleeding, which can be a sign of early-onset gum disease. &amp;amp;#8220;But it&amp;amp;#8217;s not too late!&amp;amp;#8221; says Maria Lopez Howell, D.D.S., a San Antonio-based dentist and spokesperson for the American Dental Association. &amp;amp;#8220;Early gum disease can be easily remedied by daily flossing.&amp;amp;#8221; Chill Out for Five Minutes This is a must for busy young women, since stress can lead to &amp;amp;#8220;all kinds of diseases, ranging from anxiety and depression to high blood pressure and most heart diseases,&amp;amp;#8221; says cardiologist Herbert Benson, M.D., director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. If you can manage it, a half hour of R and R a day is ideal, but Dr. Benson says even five minutes of deep breathing, meditation or other &amp;amp;#8220;purposeful relaxation&amp;amp;#8221; will help. Take a Multivitamin With Iron A large study of older women recently found that taking multivitamins didn&amp;amp;#8217;t reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or common cancers. So why did doctors Glamour talked to say you should still take one? Two reasons: vitamin D and iron. Young women often have insufficient blood levels of D, a nutrient that may play a role in everything from keeping your heart healthy to reducing your risk of breast cancer. We also tend to be low on iron since we lose a significant amount each month during our period. &amp;amp;#8220;Iron is the oxygen carrier in the blood, so if you don&amp;amp;#8217;t have enough, you are literally suffocating your brain and tissues,&amp;amp;#8221; says women&amp;amp;#8217;s health expert Pamela Peeke, M.D., author of Body for Life, for Women. Simply put: &amp;amp;#8220;A multivitamin provides a form of insurance for younger women,&amp;amp;#8221; says JoAnn Manson, M.D., a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Look for one with 800 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D and 18 milligrams of iron, she says. Get Seven to Nine Hours of Sleep (We Mean It!) &amp;amp;#8220;I believe that sleep is the single most important thing you can do for your current and future health,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Savard. Studies have found that people who skimp on sleep have a higher risk of mood disorders, obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. The exact amount of sleep each of us needs varies, but it&amp;amp;#8217;s usually between seven and nine hours nightly. Set a bedtime and try to stick to it most days a week. Every Week&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Every Week Eat Fish Twice There&amp;amp;#8217;s good reason for all the hype about the omega-3 fats found in fish. &amp;amp;#8220;Omega-3s protect against heart disease,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Peeke, and may also help lower your risk for hypertension, depression and even memory problems. Some rich sources of omega-3s are fish and seafood, especially salmon, herring, halibut, oysters and flounder, but if you&amp;amp;#8217;re not into fish, walnuts, flaxseed or seaweed (like in sushi rolls or Japanese salads) work too. Sweat for 2.5 Hours No, not all at once&amp;amp;#8212;phew! Our experts say you can break it up however you like: 10 minutes of walking here, 40 minutes on the treadmill there, and you&amp;amp;#8217;ll easily hit the two-and-a-half-hour quota that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends. While a recent study made headlines touting that women may require 60 minutes of activity a day, our experts say not everyone needs that much. &amp;amp;#8220;You&amp;amp;#8217;re dealing with two different issues here, health versus weight management,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Peeke. &amp;amp;#8220;Two and a half hours a week will improve health and help prevent disease.&amp;amp;#8221; (If weight loss is your goal, then you will need the extra gym time.) Most of all, just do something&amp;amp;#8212;almost 70 percent of women under 30 don&amp;amp;#8217;t get regular physical activity, according to the CDC. Have an Orgasm As if you needed a reason: &amp;amp;#8220;Sex is not only fun; it has tremendous health benefits,&amp;amp;#8221; says sex educator Patti Britton, Ph.D. Sex and orgasm stimulate the release of mood-boosting neurochemicals like oxytocin, and can lead to deeper sleep, says Dr. Savard. You get benefits alone or with a partner. Every Month&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Every Month Jump on a Scale Weighing yourself daily is an easy way to drive yourself crazy, but your weight is a number you should know, says Dr. Peeke. Getting on the scale once a month or so can tell you whether that number is creeping up or down so you can decide if you need to exercise a little more or eat a little healthier or if there are other changes&amp;amp;#8212;perhaps side effects of a new medication&amp;amp;#8212;that you need to talk to your doctor about. Addressing weight changes when they&amp;amp;#8217;re small is &amp;amp;#8220;a heck of a lot easier than tackling a 20-pound weight swing,&amp;amp;#8221; she says. If you truly hate the scale, use what Dr. Peeke calls the clothes-o-meter: Just try on the same pair of pants every month. Note When Your Period Starts Normal menstrual cycles range between 21 and 35 days and should be fairly consistent. If yours is shorter or longer than that, or changes from month to month, the irregularities could be a sign of fibroids, uterine polyps or hormonal imbalances that can affect fertility.Easy tip: Use a tracking app like iPeriod Ultimate or My Days, both of which double as ovulation predictors if and when you want to get pregnant. Every Year&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Every Year Go to the Dentist&amp;amp;#8212;Twice We&amp;amp;#8217;re all supposed to get a professional teeth cleaning at least twice a year, but only 40 percent of women under 35 actually do it. Not only can a dentist make sure you are cavity-free, but she can spot more serious problems: &amp;amp;#8220;We&amp;amp;#8217;re starting to see oral cancer, which often presents as a lump, bump or reddish or whitish area in the mouth, in younger age groups,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Howell. See a Derm for a Head-to-Toe Skin Check Here&amp;amp;#8217;s why it&amp;amp;#8217;s important to see a specialist: One study found that dermatologists correctly diagnosed 93 percent of skin cancers, compared with 70 percent among family doctors and just 52 percent among internists. Once you&amp;amp;#8217;ve established a baseline, you and your derm may decide you can wait longer between checks, but the general rule is yearly, especially if you had sunburns as a kid, went to tanning beds or have a family history of melanoma, says Dr. Jaliman. Easy tip: Go to skincancer.org and click on &amp;amp;#8220;Road to Healthy Skin Tour&amp;amp;#8221; for free screenings near you. Get a Pelvic Exam The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends women 21 and up have a pelvic exam every year, even if you don&amp;amp;#8217;t need a Pap smear (see &amp;amp;#8220;4 Fewer Things to Worry About,&amp;amp;#8221; right). &amp;amp;#8220;During a Pap, we take cells from your cervix to test for cancer, but during a pelvic, we examine the whole area inside and out&amp;amp;#8212;your vulva, cervix and vagina&amp;amp;#8212;looking for signs of infection or other irregularities,&amp;amp;#8221; says Los Angeles ob-gyn Lisa Masterson, M.D., cohost of the show The Doctors. And if your gyno doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t bring it up, ask about STDs: Sexually active women under 25 should be tested annually for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Use this appointment to get a clinical breast exam, too, something ACOG also recommends annually. Have Your Blood Pressure Checked Every woman needs to see a doctor at least every two years to have her blood pressure and general health assessed, says Dr. Manson. If your ob-gyn acts as your primary care doc, you can combine this with your regular pelvic exam, she says. Just make sure your gyno knows that she&amp;amp;#8217;s the only doctor you&amp;amp;#8217;re seeing, so she can keep an eye out for nonreproductive issues and make sure you&amp;amp;#8217;re current on other important tests such as blood cholesterol, a screening you need every five years or so. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2010/06/health-rules-for-every-woman>