Turn Back Time With Simple Healthy Living Tips

‘If I could turn back time’ is a lamentation about lost opportunities, or wishing things had been done differently and seeking one more chance to redress.  It could be in your marriage, your job, relationship with your parents, children, or friends.  

In this article, turning back time has to do with you – how you feel and look.  At eighteen, you're fresh with vibrant energy, smooth skin free of cellulite, no wrinkles, and firm breasts.  You hit twenty, you're even better.  You hit thirty, you're slowly letting go, and forty, wait a minute, ‘Did I see some wrinkles around my eyes and mouth, and some grey’? And fifty you already feel and look sixty. Let’s support this ageing dilemma with a research finding. A poll conducted on people’s attitudes about ageing confirms 45% of women indicated that their fear of losing sexual attractiveness or ‘looking old’ was an issue, against mere 19% of men.

We love compliments. Who doesn’t? Particularly if the compliment is about how gorgeous, beautiful, or handsome you look. Still much better if someone tells you ‘Wow, you look younger everyday’. But you are concerned if the remark is uncomplimentary, something like ‘You’re looking older these days. Hope you are OK’. It may not even get to that stage.  It could be that you’re not pulling the admiring glances from the opposite sex like you did a decade earlier.

It is a fact that hits you suddenly as you're walking down the street with your sixteen and eighteen year old daughters and their friends. You are feeling good and cool in your figure hugging jeans and boyish shirt. Honestly you could have sworn you look every bit as attractive as your teenage daughters. Mind you, you’re not in competition with your daughters, at least not until you realise that a couple of men are smiling sheepishly at your daughters and their friends. 

This could unsettle you for two reasons, not negatively, don’t get me wrong.  First, in your thinking, your children are just babies, but once you see the attention your beautiful daughters are getting,  you wake up to the reality that your ‘babies’ are, as a matter of fact, young women.  Second, you take a quick look at yourself and as an attractive forty-eight year old, with brown-tinted hair, fitted jeans, nice shirt falling seductively over your breasts giving them a soft appeal, you feel you deserve at least a casual male glance on the street. Hmm… So perhaps not getting the attention you're used to in your twenties makes you invisible and you’re secretly longing for those days of wolf-whistling from men.

Now here’s the reality. The fact you’re not getting any younger is a different order of level for women. This is the crunch for many who struggle to look young.  You still want to remain relevant and dislike being ignored. True, on the intellectual level, you’ve paid your dues in life’s experiences which has given you a lot to offer the world. However, on the emotional level, you’re still vulnerable especially when your sense of attractiveness is undermined, it hurts you deeply. That is another truth.  Ouch!

Yes, agree trying to recapture twenty or thirty years look, at forty or fifty, is a losing proposition. That notwithstanding, it’s possible to slow the ageing process, or knock off ten years from your age. So if you cannot join your teenage daughters in the game of attractiveness and youthfulness, you can beat them. How? You can remain visible. The secrets are so simple and related to your health, beauty and style and attitude.

Health 

• ·         Diet

Eat well and you could be 50 and 25 at the same time, because the simple truth is that you’re what you eat. Feed your body with junk, and you’ll feel miserable.  The youthful feel has to start from inside, that is work from the inside not from the outside.  Piling cosmetics on your face may look great but you still feel horrible.  You can’t look great until you feel it. What to do? Go on a powerful diet that includes plenty of water, green and black tea, raw vegetables, fish, lean meats, and fruits. Also the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the healthier you will be.  Fruits and vegetables are packed with wrinkle bursting antioxidants. And not to forget your four portions of whole grains to reduce your risk of heart disease and strokes by 20-40%; and include oily fish like mackerel and salmon or nuts and seeds for essential fatty acids.  Essential fatty acids keep your heart, brain and liver healthy and help to moisturise dry skin, hair and brittle nails.

• ·         Exercise

Research has shown that a regular workout will help strengthen your heart and lungs, lower high blood pressure, improve your energy levels, increase good cholesterol, increase  your bone density to prevent osteoporosis, and could help your weight loss plan.  Just 30 minutes a day of brisk walking, jogging or swimming is enough to make a difference.

• ·         Sleep

Compare your skin texture and feel when you have had a good sleep to when you hardly slept.  They are poles apart.  A good sleep rejuvenates your skin and gives that healthy glow when you wake up.  A bad night makes your skin taut, dull, excessively oily or dry – oh and blood shot eyes.  Research findings discover people who get less than four hours sleep a night are 73% more likely to be overweight than people who regularly get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep.  So go on and give yourself a good night sleep.  Do whatever you need to do to signal your body to wind down.

• ·         Smoking

For women, who smoke, time to kick the habit. The toxic compounds in tobacco smoke contribute to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and respiratory problems.  If this is not enough to make you stop, smoking gives you wrinkles too, and might reduce your life expectancy by as much as seven years.

• ·         Stress

 Another ageing initiator is stress.  While you need stress to keep you going, too much can contribute to all sorts of health problems from headaches and migraines to high blood pressure and diabetes.    Having action plan on how to manage stress is the best way to minimise its negative effects on your body.

• ·         Anger

 Shout it out! Getting into a rage raise your blood pressure and contributes to other illnesses, from digestive problems to skin conditions, to more serious illnesses like cancer.  Shouting it out may make you feel better, but may upset your stability while upsetting people around you. If your fuse is short, take a few minutes to calm down and take some deep breaths.

• ·         Friends

‘I’ve got friends’, is a popular song.  What this means is that good friends are important to our wellbeing, so we are proud to have them.  They make us laugh, provide shoulders to cry on, they listen, encourage, support, defend our interests, and they're there in a jiffy when you need them most.  Not surprised when a new study confirmed that keeping in touch and meeting up with friends could keep us young.  Get in touch with your old friends, and keep your good ones.  

Beauty and Style

• ·         Avoid severe hairdos

Facial contours tend to sag as years go by.  Your youthfulness stays longer if you wear flattering styles that take years off your face.  Short or shoulder length hair suits older face.   Take a cue from Hale Berry.

• ·         Makeup

Less is more.  Sounds hollow in an age where makeup has gone high tech.   But keeping makeup light and dewy keeps eyes off lines and wrinkles.  If you wear lipstick, a hard deep crimson, purple or black colour is very unflattering to older mouths.  Aim for a soft shade and apply impeccably, otherwise opt for natural gloss. Buffing your lips with dry toothbrush takes the dead flakes off.

• ·         Get rid of frumpy clothes

‘Oh, I like to be comfortable, so can’t be bothered to experiment’. There is no problem keeping your  ‘pull- over- my- head- and -off –I- go’ clothes, the danger is that your ‘comfort’ clothes start to bulge in your wardrobe.  Could it really be due to lack of confidence to try new things or laziness?  I am guilty in this aspect.  The truth is that frumpy clothes are ageing.  Keep one or two comfy clothes, and chuck out the rest.

• ·         Have fun with fashion

For the forty and fifty plus women, it is tough to know if you are looking more disastrous than elegant, because there is a thin line between youthful dressing and dressing young.  Dressing young puts you in danger of competing with your teenage daughter.  You want to look stylish and modern without looking like a frumpy matron dressed like a sixteen-year-old girl. So what to do?  Rather than follow trends slavishly, take the main idea and adapt it to suit your person.

• ·         Be careful of over-accessorising

 Careful accessorising can make an outfit look gorgeous – but too much can also rubbish it.  As a general rule, less is usually more as you get older.  For instance, let’s say the trends feature chunky large earrings and necklaces, one of either will do, while a nice beaded belt slung over the hips will give you a trendy look. 

• ·        Right Fabric and Fit

It is good to understand what materials and shapes suit you best.  If you’re lucky to have a curvy shape, you need smooth fabrics that slide over any lumps and bumps.    If your outfit is being tailored made, ensure it is the right fit.  If you’re buying from a store, ignore the size label and go for fit.  If you wear clothes that are too small, you will look bigger.  If you wear clothes that are too big, you will look frumpy.  An outfit that fits perfectly will take off years.

So also is the right colour which you can choose by holding fabrics in different colours up to your face to find which shades suit you best.  The colour that flatters your face by giving it an instant glow should be in your wardrobe.

• ·         Right Underwear

What lies down below can improve your confidence or make you uncomfortable. Finding a well-fitted bra will take at least ten years off.  If you have a bulging tummy, try contouring underwear that can lift and hold you in.  Lacy pants look good, but often show if you are wearing a fitted skirt or pants, while G-string may look great on some, but disastrous on others. Wearing good and flattering underwear can change how you see yourself. So go on and reassess your underwear closet.

• ·         Good Posture Matters

Do a few stomach exercises to pull your tummy in.  Poor posture can ruin an outfit, but standing tall can make it look fabulous.  Try walking with your head held high – lifting your chest and hips in the process.  There you are – perfect posture and a younger slimmer you!

Attitude

Your attitude to life is also important to how you feel and look.

• ·         Avoid the ‘I am too old’ syndrome

Don’t see people as ‘younger or older than me’, but rather as people. With such thinking it is easy to become stuck with your age group only.  Without friends of all ages, you miss a lot of laughs and lessons, and risk becoming rigidly stuck with a very limited view on life. Do not put age barriers to potentially rewarding new relationships.  Get out of the habit of referring to the ‘good old days’ or complaining about being too old.  Age is relative. Being older just means that you have had more days to do things in a certain way. 

• ·         Get excited about now

Clear the cobwebs from your closet and this is a good time to turn a new leaf and start something new.  See each day as an opportunity for new, wonderful experiences.

• ·         Feel young; act young

It is easy to get strung out, as you get older. Feeling young and acting young does not mean wearing teenage clothes or doing childish things.  It is more a positive attitude to life, cheerfulness that shines through.  You are firm, but have a softer side too.  You are unpretentious and love being you.  You are relaxed and easy going.  You laugh out loud and even if you are serious, there is always a promise of a smile any minute.  All these make you youthful inside which invariably radiates outside making you feel and look good.

• ·         Consider a career change

Deep down you know exactly what you have always wanted to do.  This is the time to go out and do it.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.