I know how to save the NHS £81billion - and it will make every Brit healthier

Next year will be the fifth year Julia Bradbury has been cancer-free. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, she has been determined to avoid a recurrence. "We are our thoughts - and I will not let thoughts of getting ill again enter my head," she insists.

In her new book Hack Yourself Healthy, the popular TV presenter and author has embarked on a rigorous journey to uncover the ultimate health and wellness "hacks". Volunteering to test the latest in bio-hacking, screening and testing, her aim is to be the fittest and healthiest she has ever been, while passing on top tips to readers.

"I'm aiming to be a 90-year-old super yogi granny," laughs Julia, 55. "That's what this book is about. It's about health span. It's not just about living longer, it's about wanting to get down on the floor with my grandchildren. I want to be mobile. I want to be really present in those last years of my life."

The former Countryfile star says one of the experiments she undertook proved the NHS could save billions just by encouraging people to get outside. It is research she wants to take all the way to Westminster and Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

"I went to Cornwall and worked with professors at the University of Exeter who have done ground-breaking work on environmental and human health," she says. "I was given a written test, and then Ire-did it after a half-hour coastal walk. My productivity had gone up 20%.

"They asked me about my nature appreciation time - I boost and pepper it throughout my day - and essentially they worked out that the amount of time I spend outside saves the NHS £1,700 a year. This is because people who spend more time outside are happier, healthier and more resilient. Then they worked out that if the population of England did the same it could save the NHS £81billion.

"I am serious about it - I'm going to try and get a meeting with Wes Streeting."

To research the book Julia travelled across the world to examine different cultural approaches to health - from India to Antarctica, from Cornwall to Yorkshire - speaking to world-renowned experts.

"I went to Antarctica because I connect planetary health and human health. I also explored the world's oldest medical system, Ayurveda, in the Himalayas," she says. "I discovered the benefits of saunas and even tried Europe's coldest cryotherapy chamber. I managed three minutes."

The main reason behind her superhuman efforts to stay healthy is to be around for her son Zephyr, 14, and her twin girls Xanthe and Zena, ten, whom she shares with her Irish property developer partner Gerard Cunningham. Diagnosed with endometriosis in her 30s, Julia had her son at 40 and the couplewelcomed their twin girls three years later, after undergoing five rounds of IVF.

"They're my motivation. From the moment I was diagnosed with cancer, I thought,'I am going to get through this because I have to see my children as adults,'" she says in a determined voice. "Every time I do a sprint, every time I don't want to do my resistance training, every time I think, 'Oh shall I have thechocolate cake?' I remember, 'No, I'm here for the long haul, I'm here for my kids'.

"I am going to see my children get touniversity, get married, have kids, work for the best charities in the world, whatever they're going to do, I have to be there for that. And I will be."

The presenter had a 6cm tumour, two lymph glands and her left breast removed before having reconstruction surgery. The diagnosis changed her life, leading her to adopt a much healthier diet and go teetotal.

"I had some bubbles on my birthday but now it's olive shots and not vodka shots," she smiles.

I point out that she has employed very healthy strategies to cope with her traumatic diagnosis.

She agrees: "Yes you need to deal with it, and you need to be comfortable with it. But what I've also learnt is that we all go through traumas. Trauma doesn't have to have a capital T. Trauma can be a really horrible situation you're going through at work.

"Trauma can be an argument you have with a family member. Trauma can be a car accident. An incident, any incident. Maybe a small one. But these small things are really pummelling on us."

She recommends flossing daily, in line with the latest research which suggests that oral health is linked to heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, diabetes and pneumonia. She's also abig advocate of regular saunas, for their "calming psychological and physical benefits", daily 10 minute meditations to quiet the mind, and breathing through the nose rather than the mouth to deliver more oxygen to the muscles.

"One of the biggest lessons in this book is understanding that our lifestyles, no matter how much we love them, are actually prodding at our quarters on adrenaline and our stress responses all day - and that's not good. But through breath work, we can actually change our heart rate and shift into our parasympathetic mode. We can calm down, which I think is the best hack of all. It's amazing we can do that.

"I do breath work in the morning, some time in the afternoon, and then my meditation - legs up relaxing time at the end of the day. Those three things anchor my day - helping me get back down from the cortisol highs. The reset is massively important. And saying 'no' to things so people can make way for their health. "I'm probably the healthiest I've ever been - I've been told my biological age is 48, which I'm pleased with."

She's about to start more therapy. "I did it in my 30s when I was going through a bad spell with my endometriosis and had low moods. This is deeper for me. Now I'mmore about exploring my emotional health, who I am, and trying to make tweaks so I am calmer and happy.

"Something that I didn't spend time doing in the past. How many of us do? It's taken me a while to come to terms with. You have to accept that you are not perfect."

She has admitted that guiding her children through her diagnosis and surgery was one of the toughest moments of the past few years: "I want them to be happy children, so I am really open with them about their emotional health, and we share a lot.
"We're very close. They're very bonded as siblings, but of course they bicker and argue, as if there was no tomorrow. Family life is brilliant, it's great, it's stressful, it's hectic!"

Julia and Gerard have been together for 15 years. "It's a long old time," she reflects. "We have a great relationship, but right now - I don't care what anybody says - it's all about the children. Everything is so about them and their lives, because these are such fundamental years for them. We don't manage date nights, we have family date days."

Green space and nature is her happy place. Would she consider moving to the country? She nods. "It is a possibility. It's on the cards. Again, it's for the kids. We just think, is it going to be a better lifestyle for the kids? Can we give them different things?

"Because London for young people is pretty full on. You have to be careful. We live in an area in West London where there are a lot of drug and drink incidents. But we've got to be practical. Gerry's job is still London-centric, so it would have to be commutable for us. We'd be looking at Marlow or Henley, or somewhere in Berkshire or Surrey.

"But it's not imminent because we had a flood this year so the house has to be fixed before we can sell it and go anywhere. But my children are outside every day. We're very fortunate. We've got a communal garden, and it's part of the negotiation when it comes to screen time.

"It's like, 'Okay, you want screen time? Get outside in the garden. You give me 20 minutes, I'll give you 20 minutes.' I walk every day. I take our new dog Zeus out. I do rebounding [on a mini trampoline] and yoga and I have added resistance training. I do sprint running. I use my daughter Zena as my control, she's one of the fastest girls on the planet!

"She came home clutching running gold medals after her sports day. She runs and I try to catch her, which I can't because she's so fast. So, I do that once every eight days."

As for TV projects, Julia will be back on our screens next year. In July she had a full body MRI scan which revealed a benign cyst next to her pineal gland in her brain.

"People say, 'I couldn't do what you do because I'd be so anxious', but I'm the opposite," she says. "I am empowered. I had the scan to check the breast region to see if there were any changes. Nothing. Then they found a bloody cyst in my brain! I didn't want that, but I went to Kevin O'Neill, a wonderful progressive neurosurgeon.

"Davina McCall introduced us. She credits him with saving her life last year. He's opened about 6,000 or 7,000 brains. And he told me, 'There is nothing to worry about. I will see you again in six months to check the cyst isn't growing and taking up any real estate in your brain'.

"That is his opinion so I'm not worried. That's my way forward. No worries."

Hack Yourself Healthy By Julia Bradbury (Piatkus, £22) is out now