Why should women in their 30s have preventive health screenings?

It is never too early to start preventive health screening. The steps you take in your 30s may very well make your transition to perimenopause and menopause easier. Screenings for women in your age bracket are not much different than those for women in the 20- to 29-year-old age bracket. It's true you are still very young! The point being, now you are in a prime position to create the foundations that will keep you in an excellent state of health for decades to come.

It's best to schedule visits with your health care provider while you are young and healthy. In this way you can develop an excellent and accurate snapshot of your health that you can use as a baseline to take with you into the future. Now is the time for you to learn and understand what factors you may need to consider as you move through the next few decades -- such as what conditions if any run in your family, and what aspects of your health you need to pay attention to and build upon so as to avoid any risk factors associated with those conditions.

It's also very important to understand that even young adults can develop health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. These conditions (and others) don't have any symptoms. Your doctor can do screenings to make sure none of these conditions are festering below the surface.