How to Optimise Your Body and Mind at Every Age – Tips from Vogue 5 Days Wellness Panel

We recently joined Kathleen Baird-Murray, Contributing Beauty Editor and author of The 50 Diaries column on Vogue.co.uk and a panel of women discussing their acceptance of their changing bodies and how to embrace life at all ages. We found it really interesting that the key point to kick off wa  about how you define yourself and how this changes in midlife. The panel talked about how its is the key to positivity whatever you do, whether you have had a prominent career in sports like Sue Campbell or as a model like Rosemary Ferguson.  Here we share the top 4 positive soundbites.

Vanity Not Fitness Can Be a Challenge

British Vogue contributor and nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson articulates what many of us never openly admit:

As you get older you get that sense of things changing. I’m 45 and laughing about my knees and the way that they start creeping down and I suppose that vanity is a challenge at times. I wanna grow old gracefully. I guess I don’t mind I did a bit of help and I don’t mind trying to hold ageing back a little bit but I do think, when I see women have done it gracefully, ‘yeah they got it right’. I don’t feel any different and actually I think I’d say physically I am fitter now than I was then. I feel better now than I did then and I really love being in my 40s, I loved being in my 30s…At the moment I’m actually really happy where I am…I am definitely fitter and feel like I’ve got more stamina.

Prioritise What Makes You Feel Good

Gynaecologist Dr Anita Mitra shares how her experiences as a doctor influence her approach to ageing:

As a doctor you’re seeing everybody’s experience of ageing from birth. I’m 35 but I do I get the pleasure of looking after people literally from the very first day they’re born, to the last few days. It’s 10 years since I became a doctor and when I was doing the nightshift with a lack of sleep, you realise you have to take care of yourself. I really make sure that I do because I just need to be awake and on my game.

I find time for exercise because I love it and I want to do it to keep my body strong. When I’m on nightshift I need to make sure that when I’m up all night operating I’ve got lots of energy and I’m ready for what was going to happen. I do prioritise what makes me feel good both physically and mentally. I think that something that we need to reinforce is how exercise makes you feel good. Build exercise into your life – you do not have to go to the gym, find what works for you. Different exercises for different times.

Tools, Tips, Tactics for Taking Them Menopause

Gynaecologist Dr Anita Mitra talks menopause..

It’s about the awareness of the different kinds of symptoms that are out there and keeping an eye on things you are struggling with. I think it’s really important that we keep dialogue open so that people do not feel that they’re going crazy.

HRT has had a bad rap in the past, but this seems to be changing and it has been accepted into the fold. The most important thing is that each person makes their own decision that they feel comfortable with. That’s where education comes in because you need all the information in order to make the right decision for you that you’re going to feel comfortable with. I know you hear about people whose careers have been quickly changed because of the menopause and if HRT means that somebody can go to work then that’s something that’s really fantastic.

There are so many different kinds of HRT and things that are safe for one person may not be for another person. We often hear about the risk of cancer. For women in their 50s there is 23 cases out of 1000 women of breast cancer now. What’s really interesting is that when we look at people who actually exercise for 2 1/2 hours a week at least we get few cases. There are a few things that significantly impact personal risk of cancer, it’s weighing up the risk and the benefits and it has to be something that’s really personal.

There Are a Lot of Positives about Ageing

Former chairwoman of UK Sport Sue Campbell dismisses the scaremongering about age.

We talk a lot about the negative then it’s no wonder when we look at how society treat the older population. But there are the positives about ageing. I mean you know when I think about my own life..I really liked my late 40s and my early 50s were great times.  

When you think about plans for the future you need to have positive thoughts. One of  the biggest selling point about getting older perhaps is to focus on the positive things. I want to support young people to grow balls, develop in other ways. I guess I’ve stopped focusing on me and started to realise that my role now is to pass on some of that experience of age to support my colleagues to be the best they can be. As I’ve got older I really settled into the feeling that..I’m really comfortable watching and seeing other people develop. I don’t have to prove myself to anybody including myself anymore but I do want to help others evolve and develop…I found that really joyful and I haven’t got children but I would think that’s like parenting… You give your children that support to evolve and be all those wonderful things and share that knowledge that you have of life .

I’m quite comfortable with being who I am and I think as we get older that’s really important that you enjoy who you are. It’s a wonderful time of reflection to notice more things. There is something joyful about getting  older and taking the time to look around you and enjoy it.

2020-10-29T15:16:49+00:00

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