How To Grow Old Gracefully

Day after day we are inundated with cosmetic and food supplement stories that remind us to get slimmer, stay healthier, fight the onslaught of age on our face and our bodies that it is no longer possible not to be painfully aware of growing older each year. We worry about grey hair, wrinkles, sagging breasts and tummies getting bigger and rounder. Surely growing older can be a happiness thing and there must be some easy ways of incorporating safe, simple safeguards into our daily routine without it all getting to be something of an expensive production?

We did some research on the Internet and discovered it’s about getting enough rest, discarding aggravations and making a real effort to look good. Nothing works as well as letting your inner confidence shine through and this comes from looking and feeling good about yourself.

Here are ten vital routines to make you feel this way…

Sleep Right

1. Choose your pillows carefully

The best way to get a good night’s sleep is to get the kind of pillow which enables you to sink your weary head into. Try not to bury your face into the pillow since doing this every night puts pressure on your face and reduces blood circulation in the face. This is what causes lines and wrinkles to form, so get yourself something really soft. And as for pillow cases, nothing is as luxurious feeling or as good for your face as silks and satins.

2. Fall asleep with happy thoughts

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The secret of feeling good is to go to sleep feeling uplifted, so always think happy thoughts as you fall asleep. Remember to take some very deep breaths as you let your mind drift into sleep. The deeper and longer your last conscious breath is, the deeper will be your sleep and this combined with your happy thoughts is the secret to getting a really good rest. If you can do this daily (yes, it’s about developing it as a habit) you will require less and less sleep to stay youthful and alert.

3. Wake up feeling your face and body glow

Here you can try using good night-creams that work on your facial and body skin even as you sleep. There is nothing wrong with benefiting from all that wonderful research done by cosmetic companies, so it is definitely a good idea to invest in good skin care. This is what brings new and extra glow to your appearance so that when you see yourself in the mirror as you brush your teeth and clean your face, the first thought about yourself is positive. This does wonders for you for the rest of the day.

4. The great benefits of water

The body gets dehydrated very easily and that is when we feel tired and sleepy. Think of how plants wilt when they do not get watered. So drink a glass of water at night before sleeping and another glass of water in the morning. Water also dilutes all the salt in the body so giving enough water to the body also ensures it does not retain water. Water retention has been discovered to be the real cause of us feeling bloated and looking lumpy and fat! Drink enough water and the body happily allows it to be drained away as well.

Stimulating Body & Mind

5. Morning Exercise

Develop a routine in the mornings when you stimulate the flow of blood and the flow of chi within your body. There are so many ways to work out and get the adrenaline pumping that there is really no excuse for not inserting at least an hour each day to doing this. The benefits are incredible because accelerated blood flow and usage of muscles and tendons is what invigorates the body, prevents it from stagnating and growing old. Unless you use your body, it is going to grow old.

6. Stimulating the Mind

It is not just the body that must be used. The mind is even more important because it is the mind that powers the body and everything else that makes our life comfortable and happy. So it is vital to stimulate the mind. If you don’t, the mind grows lazy and mental laxity is definitely the first stage of ageing. The best is to learn how to do some form of meditation, aligning it to the vital breath that gives us life. But if you feel that meditation is beyond you, then develop a reading habit, or find yourself a circle of friends to debate and discuss issues with. Remember to exercise your mind and you will stay forever young, because ultimately staying younger and feeling better all comes from the mind.

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7. Cleaning the Body

Alternate between taking short showers and long bath soaks, and use both hot and cold water to stimulate the cleansing process. Showers are invigorating, especially when you alternate cold water with hot water. This causes the body’s natural cleansing systems to get stimulated and also infuses the body with yang energy. Long soaks in the bath are excellent for using all those wonderful aromas that have now become so easily available. You do not need to go to an expensive Spa to feel these benefits. These days there are so many excellent brands of Spa products that offer a whole range of truly beneficial bath salts, foams and aromatic oils. So there is every reason to cleanse the face and body right. Part of feeling good mentally and physically is to feel clean and rejuvenated. Cleaning with water does this for us.

8. Colour & Condition Your Hair

There is nothing more ageing than a head of grey hair. So colour your hair and do this as a most vital part of your anti-ageing routine. Cover those greys and go further. Get into the highlighting and low lighting of your hair. Nothing gives a mature man or woman greater confidence than a shining head of beautiful hair. Make sure it is shiny and glossy. So stay looking younger by colouring and conditioning your hair regularly.

9. Staying in Shape

Young people never appreciate their slim young tummies until they grow older and begin to realize that after a certain age the tummy just refuses to stay flat! Sure we all sit down too much, and we eat too much processed foods and yes we do not get enough exercise – nevertheless, when we grow older, even when we are not guilty of any of these things, we still have to cope with slack stomach muscles and the middle-aged spread.

We need to develop some kind of work-out routine that address the problem of stomach spread and while we are at it, to take care of other problem areas as well. Happily, these days there are a zillion ways to stay in shape – using machines, joining health clubs, taking up a sport, walking, running, dancing, yoga – you take your pick. Everyone will have a personal favourite way of staying younger and looking better. Making the effort to get started is three quarters of the battle won!

10. Fixing your face

It is so important to ensure the face never gets so dried up it starts to look brittle, lined and saggy. All kinds of elements work at doing this to the face as we grow older, so it is really necessary to be at least a little knowledgeable about face moisturizers and other cosmetic serums that rehydrate the face and give it the auspicious plumped up look of the young. Special attention should be paid to the eyes and the lips, which tend to be the first to suffer from the ageing process. Reduce puffy eyes by pressing a refrigerated metal spoon gently under the eyes. Or splash ice cold water on the face each morning before putting on the moisturizers.

Next get into the habit of massaging your face and arms with anti-wrinkle creams. There are some key areas that seem to require special attention – the forehead between the brows is one of the most obvious as these are worry lines that can develop into ugly looking wrinkles; then the crows feet at the end of eyes caused by excessive wrinkling up of the face when we talks; the next are the lines that ‘bleed’ out of the mouth. These and other vulnerable places such as the throat and hands should be regularly massaged with creams, so lines never get a chance to form. Develop your anti-wrinkle care routine so it becomes a habit you cannot live without. The results go beyond the physical because you really feel so good and your confidence level gets such a high each time someone flatters you by telling you how young you look. If you need to jump start your way back to looking younger, by all means go for a face lift. Make sure you consult a reputable doctor.