To describe Helena Christensen as a busy woman would be an understatement. The supermodel is also creative director of artisanal perfume brand Strangelove NYC, a charity campaigner, photographer and mother. We spoke to the 48-year-old Danish beauty icon to discover how she manages to look after her physical and mental well-being in the face of such a full timetable. Here are her top tips:
1. Rest
"I feel absolutely the best when I have had good sleep. That’s my number one priority. I actually think it is the number one priority for most people. It just changes your entire day - when you haven't had enough sleep and also when you have." Try Neom Organics' Perfect Night's Sleep Pillow Mist,£20, if you are struggling to drift off, to help calm your senses.
2. Think outside the fitness box
"I recently started pole dancing. It is the hardest physical activity I have ever done in my life and I have so much awe and respect for pole dancers. It's like virtual ballet to me, so the perception of it as seedy doesn't even annoy me; it goes right over the top of my head. To people who think like that, I want to say, 'well, you just go try it.'"
3. Don't ever feel held back by your gender
"I've never looked at myself and thought, you can't do this because you're a woman. Over and over, it’s been proven that women can do the same physical activities as men. Don't hold yourself back, especially if you feel like you can't because of your gender. That shouldn't be the reason stopping you from doing anything."
4. Try boxing
"For me, working out is about instant gratification; I want to see changes if I’m going to put the effort in! My thing is boxing - I like to feel strong. Boxing might seem like a male-orientated sport but there are as many women where I go and that is a very authentic, sweaty club. It’s a little gym in New York, where they train a lot of the champions, and my trainer’s name is Jason Lee. I don't want to reveal its name, though, as then all the models will come and I'll be like, 'get out of my club!' I want to be there with the real gritty people."
5. Sprint, don't run
“Sprint, don't run, because that immediately sparks your metabolism and stuns your body by engaging your muscle groups in a very explosive way. I can't run for 40 minutes at the same pace, listening to music. I will do 20 minutes and then I'm dying. I don't do the long, methodical routines of swimming 40 laps either. I want to be in the ocean fighting waves, not being in the pool staring at the clock and only seven minutes has passed when I'm already exhausted."
6. Find the right yoga
"It took me years to get into yoga because I wasn't into the whole spiritual thing. I didn't want to go to a class and have to chant, though I know it helps so many people. I finally found a place where we get right into it, and I end up leaving completely re-energised and totally sweaty.” Try TriYoga, London, for a range of different class types.
8. Seek balance
"I don't have any rules, so if I was going to put having a healthy approach to life and balance into words, it would be, 'how do I ensure that I can keep eating as much as possible and still stay strong and fit?' That's where hardcore workouts come in as then I can still totally indulge in my obsession with food. To someone who is worried about their weight, I wouldn't talk so much about eating as I would say, just go box. Eat whatever you like, within reason, and deal with any concerns, in a physically active way.”
9. Eat food you love
"I love food more than anything... more than my family and friends and almost as much as my dog! I could eat pasta every night, with tons of parmesan or a few white truffles thrown in (for a hundred dollars more!). I also love Japanese food and I always think I'm eating so clean... before I order a hundred different options! I adore my mother's Peruvian food, which I grew up with, too, and of course, Danish cuisine. I always look forward to going home so I can bite into a real Danish; anything else is just pretending."
10. Take supplements
"I've been taking Lumity supplements for almost a year and I actually approached them [to work with them] because I love the supplements. Before, I was taking all these different vitamins in tiny little boxes, but I realised that Lumity contained a lot of the ingredients in one place and then a few more that I wanted to try. I was interested in turmeric and that's in there, flaxseed - which I know is really healthy - and the basic vitamins too. We can all be low in vitamin D, for example, because we don't get it as naturally anymore. We cover ourselves with sun lotions - or we should - and you really only get vitamin D from dairy products if you drink it literally out of the cow! So while people have all kinds of approaches to vitamins, and it's totally up to them if they take them, I definitely feel better by having them."
11. Never fear being alone
"I'm very bad at meditating, so I do my meditation in untraditional ways. I'm a talker but I spend days just on my own, saying nothing. It's not that I feel lonely but I treasure being alone. In that aloneness, rather than loneliness, I feel a certain personal calm and satisfaction, but I can also be absolutely social and all over the place, talking."
12. Respect yourself and others
"The way I was brought up, I was given a lot of self-confidence but also respect for other people. I think those are the qualities you need. You give your child as much love as you can, instil a certain respect in them and you make them feel confident. In this business, that has really helped me feel grounded and independent. I'm very grateful for the way my parents brought me up and hopefully I have extended everything my parents did for me onto my kid." He [Mingus Lucien Reedus - her son with Norman Reedus, The Walking Dead actor] is a really good kid, so I must have done something right. "
13. Learn from your children
"My son doesn't want to listen to wisdom pearls from me just yet, but I try to filter it in just as you did with vegetables when they were little. Really, though, he's at an age when I learn from him. He's taught me how to be 'cooler' and also, seriously, he's shown me how to be more mellow. He said to me the other day, 'I try to filter out anything or anyone in my life that doesn't make me happy. I really make a huge effort, because I don't want to let anyone in who isn't in my life for a good reason'. And I thought, wow that's so smart, especially for a teenager. If you can stick with that, then you are going to avoid a lot of misery."
14. Embrace natural beauty
"I have a perfume company, Strangelove NYC, and we use very rare, pure ingredients, so I learned a lot about natural beauty. I've recently been using a lot of coconut oil, yellow turmeric masks and, after emptying the espresso machine, I put the coffee grinds into a bowl and place it in the shower so I can use them to wash my body. When putting products onto your skin, you definitely feel so much better if you use ones that you know are clean and healthy. It's also the little changes in all areas of our lives that, in the end, will have a big impact on the world. Hopefully that is something we will instil in the next generation."
15. Find humour in difficult times
"It might sound a little corny but I think you have to be grateful that you are able to feel emotions. Although it's not nice feeling down, I think it's important to remember that if something can affect you that deeply maybe it's a gift. For me, a healthy dose of self-irony works, but it isn't for everyone. Humour is such a strange thing because I really think whatever scares or threatens to overwhelm you will come out as humour. Very heavy subjects bring it out because you either get really down or you try to laugh about it. You certainly need a good sense of humour to deal with what is going on in the world right now. Back home, we actually talk about having a sense of humour that is lower than a pregnant ant."
