Healthy Aging:What Can You Control?

There is quite a lot of debate at the moment on how each of us chooses to age, in other words what you can and can’t control.

Not too long ago, a focus group, comprising women, was briefed to test an anti-aging product. Surprisingly the respondents were so divided on the subject of anti-aging. The company’s objective was to modify the description of a new shampoo that would leave hair shinier, bouncier and thicker. Specifically the company was interested in getting response on whether the product should be promoted ‘anti-aging.’

The dissimilarity in respondents’ views on the word anti-aging stunned the researchers. The group was equally divided between those who unreservedly embraced any ‘anti-aging’ product, and those who countered the idea. 

One half of the group doubted if there is anyone who doesn’t want to look younger, even though they often fail to admit it. The other half of the group believed you can look good at any age, and discarded the pressure to look ‘young’, which is perceived as a trick by companies to make them feel bad about themselves so they can sell their ‘anti-aging’ products and make money.

Factually, it’s an uncomfortable time for this social discourse. People are getting to their 60’s, and with a healthy lifestyle many people will live to reach their 80’s. The average life expectancy for women is sliding more into 70’s or more. As more people are living into the 70’s and 80’s, there’s a sudden challenge about what this means and how we as individuals want to handle it. And of course very forward looking companies have been cashing in on our insecurities by trying to persuade us that looking our best is solely about looking young as much as possible.

For instance, I am interested in looking and, more importantly, feeling my best. I have been campaigning for the ‘feel good, look great’ lifestyle for fifteen years. It’s no rocket science: If you feel good – which a healthy lifestyle gives - it radiates outside and you look better. What is an issue, though, is the question of what it means to look good at 45 or 55 or 65? Is it a smooth brow? Sexy clothes?  Radiant skin? Shiny hair? Infectious personality? Good posture? Beautiful smile? Or even laugh lines? 

Getting older and the ultimate extension of that process - death – is always pushed to the back burner, and not something we want to think about. It’s much easier to look in the mirror and think nothing is changing, which is often a delusion my shortsightedness nicely enables, until I put on my glasses and see that those laugh lines are getting deeper. I used to cringe, but not anymore because they actually add character to my face.  However, perhaps what we really need to help us along the way is a broader range of what ‘old’ looks like. I think just being yourself may actually do the trick, possibly with some anti-aging products to enhance your natural beauty if you so choose.

I may actually be alone in this thinking considering the massive mad rush to drink from the fountain of youth, and remain young forever. I won’t be surprised if by the time my young adult son starts to worry about looking old, the cosmetic/pharmaceutical companies would have been able to figure out how to check the visible signs of aging without the use of drastic and disfiguring surgical techniques. It’s also very likely that by then, there will be pills which you just swallow to give you instant dewy skin. That reminds me of what I read recently that some females now take oral pills to bleach their skin from the inside. Caution is the key word here. If there are no after effects now, sooner or later, you’ll see them. But for those of us aging in this anti-aging era, perhaps we should just simply celebrate that we are all around for another day.

So if you belong to the group who is becoming obsessed with looking young at all costs: cosmetic surgery, flamboyant jewellery, clothing and make-up style that make you look as if you’re trying too hard to be young, it’s time to relax. Mind you, there is nothing wrong in looking young, or feeling youthful, but feeling youthful and young is a thing of the mind and a bit of attitude. No amount of cosmetic surgery, make up, bleaching pills, can give you these attributes if you’re not in the right frame of mind and with the right attitude.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.