Wealden Times | WT202 | December 2018 | Health & Beauty supplement inside
Wealden Times - The lifestyle magazine for the Weald
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How<br />
to age<br />
naturally<br />
What does it mean to embrace the passage of time<br />
– gently, holistically and positively? asks Eminé Rushton<br />
Ageing – as natural as breathing. So, why do we strive<br />
so very hard to stymie the passage of time? The<br />
Western take on ageing is rooted in fear. We worry<br />
that we’ll become less attractive, less relevant, less important.<br />
A multi-billion pound industry feeds on this deeply ingrained<br />
societal insecurity – promising ever-more innovative (and<br />
sometimes ludicrous) ways to stop the clock.<br />
73-year-old Helen Mirren put it brilliantly when she said,<br />
“You only have two options in life: die young, or get old.<br />
There is nothing else.” It would seem that Mirren’s candour<br />
and common sense are steadily catching on.<br />
“Traditional ways of marketing – specifically around age,<br />
gender and ethnicity – are becoming less relevant,” says Alexia<br />
Inge, co-founder of online beauty giant, Cult <strong>Beauty</strong>.<br />
“There has been a slow move in focus away<br />
from eternal, youthful perfection to a spirit of<br />
positivity, confidence and psychological and<br />
emotional health.” Whereas the impossibly<br />
ironed-out face of a 50-something starlet might<br />
once have propelled those anti-ageing product<br />
sales, now we are savvier and increasingly cynical<br />
and, crucially, fewer and fewer of us want to<br />
look artificially ‘anti-aged’ in the first place.<br />
As Inge explains, the beauty we most aspire to comes from<br />
within – a glow of good health and happiness; a twinkle<br />
in the eye. There is also a societal sea change happening<br />
all around us too. After generations of insecurity-preying<br />
advertising, women have savvied up and are ever more<br />
vociferously rejecting archaic, limiting and perfectionpeddling<br />
beauty ideals.<br />
Big brands themselves are now embracing the pro-ageing<br />
movement and across social media and glossy magazine<br />
covers, the woman of the moment is increasingly real, wise,<br />
strong and inspiring. So, if you’re feeling ready to embrace<br />
“One of the<br />
biggest impacters<br />
on our outward<br />
appearance is<br />
nutrition ”<br />
your age – whatever it is – here are some celebratory, soft and<br />
kind ways to boost your inner and outer glow, and embrace<br />
the skin that you are in.<br />
Feed skin from within<br />
We have all heard it before, but one of the biggest impacters<br />
on our outward appearance and the vitality of our skin, is<br />
nutrition. From getting a diet rich in essential fatty acids<br />
(lovely, skin-restoring good fats, found readily in oily fish,<br />
chia seeds, egg yolks, avocado and flaxseed oil), to those<br />
naturally anti-ageing brightly coloured vegetables, red wine,<br />
darkest chocolate and good olive oil (rich in antioxidant<br />
polyphenols and phytonutrients, which, handily, help our<br />
body mop up those prematurely ageing free radicals from UV<br />
light, pollution and infrared-emitting devices),<br />
it makes good skin sense to eat a varied,<br />
delicious, natural diet.<br />
Happy days for skin<br />
I love Roald Dahl’s quote: “If you have good<br />
thoughts they will shine out of your face like<br />
sunbeams and you will always look lovely”<br />
– because it’s true. Happiness is beautiful, and<br />
there is a scientific reason for this, too.<br />
When we are happy, when we smile, when we laugh, we<br />
produce more serotonin. This happy hormone significantly<br />
reduces our cortisol levels.<br />
“Elevated cortisol levels induce<br />
inflammation and suppress<br />
the immune system,” says<br />
dermatologist, Dr Jennifer<br />
Linder. “Inflamed cells are<br />
also prone to breaking down<br />
collagen, the protein that<br />
<br />
19 wealdentimes.co.uk