There are any number of factors that can affect us as we age: life circumstances, increased stress and anxiety levels, plus the ongoing health issues, including our hormones.

We can become more aware that our body is changing, and so too are our skin and often our energy levels too.

All of these will affect us so if you want to stay ahead of the ageing game here are some suggestions.

1. Socialise and get out more

Being with other people may have a bigger effect on your life span than where you live, where you work, and whether you have a partner.

Spending time with friends and family helps with mood and anxiety and definitely is a major contributor to you reflecting a positive image.

2. Find your creativity

There are so many benefits to doing something creative from simply engaging in a new hobby and making new friends, or discovering you like to write, paint, dance, sculpt – in fact anything that sparks your interest.

Known benefits include you feeling happier, thinking more clearly, and having a better quality of life.

If you are not sure I can highly recommend a book called the Artists Way by Julia Scott Cameron which gives you ideas, daily exercises and a routine in which you might be able to find your own path to discovering your creativity.

If that doesn’t appeal look to your local day or evening classes where you can join in a discussion, learn to make jewellery, learn a new language and much, much more.

3. Keep moving

You don’t have to take up a new sport, just do some form of exercise for a couple of hours a week and it will make a real difference to your energy levels and appearance too.

Whether you like walking, gardening, dance, yoga or something else if it gets your heart going you will feel the benefit.

Known benefits include keeping your weight down and that helps prevent diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

4. Wear sunscreen

As someone who has sunbathed all her life, and in my younger days would never have dreamed of wearing sunscreen, I am now paying the price in terms of brown spots on the skin. So I now have sunscreen in everything from moisturiser to makeup all year round.

Unfortunately, although we do feel and look better with it, a suntan won’t make you look younger as the sun’s ultraviolet rays cause more than 90% of the damage to your skin.

That includes the kind you can see – wrinkles, rough patches, sagging, and skin blemishes – all of which are ageing.

Sunscreen helps prevent those, and the risk for skin cancer, too.

5. Learn something new

Keep challenging yourself, and you may help stop brain fog or more serious decline. Even better, consider a new skill that involves your body.

Dancing is a great example because it allows you to exercise and socialise at the same time, two things that also keep your mind and body young.

Don’t have a partner? Look for forms of dance that don’t require one such as Zumba, circle dancing or line dancing or look at Yoga or Tai Chi if dancing isn’t for you.

They will all get your heart rate up and focus your mind on trying to remember the steps!

6. Take care of your teeth

There was an excellent and very funny poem a few years ago by Pam Ayres called “I wish I’d looked after my teeth“ and it is so true.

Because if you don’t brush, floss and have a regular daily routine then your teeth may get yellow, and you can develop gum disease.

That can eat away at your gum line –  a telltale sign of age – and is linked to heart disease, stroke, and even pancreatic cancer.

7. Don’t smoke

There are so many reasons to give up smoking but your poor skin suffers first as smoking causes wrinkles. It does this because it narrows your blood vessels and limits the blood that can get to the top layer of your skin.

It also causes cancer, heart disease, and lung disease – none of which make you feel or look young.

Helpful information: 

Looking and feeling good can be helped by knowing you are doing the best you can to take care of yourself, and certainly these tips will help you to do that.

Many women often struggle not just with their symptoms but with the mental outlook and anxiety that can often be part of that journey at menopause and beyond.

Always make sure that maintaining hormone balance is also part of your daily agenda as both progesterone and oestrogen in balance are needed throughout life.

Not sure whether you need to supplement oestrogen, or progesterone, or both? This article will be helpful.

https://anna.blog.wellsprings-health.com/which-hormone-or-hormones-might-you-need/