Forget the Face Bra – Face Yoga Works 56 More Muscles

When you’re sick of working out, you can end up drawn to those “miracle products” that promise to buzz, massage or trim away your flab without you doing any of the work yourself. However, this phenomenon doesn’t only apply to your physical fitness, but your beauty regime also. Instead of doing face-tightening exercises, the Japan Trend Shop offers the Hourei Lift Bra to do the work for you. And, yes, that’s a bra that you wear on your face.

 

Anti-ageing wellness expert Kriti Saraswat explains, ‘This “face bra” comes with a band which is mounted at the back of your head and the silicon rubber wire sits on your nose covering your cheeks. According to the inventors, the slight pressure it puts on your face results in diminishing those laugh lines which get prominent as you age. Take a virtual tour of their website and you will find many such age-defying items on the menu including vibrating eye pads to reduce lines and puffiness around the eyes, a face exercise stretch mask to reduce wrinkles and other such devices for the rest of your face – nose, lips, forehead, etc.’ But can products like the face bra really work?

 

Face Yoga Expert Danielle Collins notes, ‘The trend of using gadgets and equipments to reduce lines and wrinkles and slow down the ageing process is one prevalent mostly in Japan. According to me, the positive aspect of this is that it shows more and more people are now interested in exercising the face and understand that by strengthening the face muscles, you can slow down the ageing process. It is important to exercise, massage and relax the face, just like we do with the body. Gadgets such as the “face bra” are better than not exercising the face at all but such products are just an addition to face exercises, not a necessity. You actually don’t need any equipment to exercise the face – your fingers are enough to provide the required pressure.’

 

According to Collins, ‘It is much like exercise for the body – you can exercise without any equipment but there are options available should you want one. The only thing with the face is the muscles are so small that there is little need for gadgets and equipment. The “face bra” would benefit the mouth area but doesn’t work the rest of the face muscles, while Face Yoga works all 57 muscles in the face. It also works on holistic wellbeing with techniques such as deep breathing which benefit the mind, body and face meaning you feel good on the inside which radiates on the outside.’ The face bra, then, pales in comparison to face yoga – so which Face Yoga exercises have a similar effect as the face bra?

 

‘I would recommend the Smile Smoother exercise for toning the area around the mouth,’ says Collins. She instructs, ‘Hide your teeth with your lips and then make a small “O” shape with your mouth. Keeping your lips as tense as possible, smile as wide as you can. Keep hiding your teeth. Then go back to the “O” shape. Keep this going by repeating this changing of shape of the mouth. Next, hold the smile shape and place your index finger on your chin. Start to move your jaw up and down as if you are scooping something up with it. As you do this, start to tilt your head back slowly. Relax and repeat twice. This exercise works mainly the masseter muscle and many of the lower face muscles. It helps reduce fine lines around the mouth, the lines between the nose, and lifts and firms the cheek area.’

Categories: ageing process, exercise, face, face bra, face muscles, face yoga, Hourei Lift Bra, muscles, reduce lines, yoga works

Chicory and Ostrich: Anti-Ageing Foods You’ve Never Heard Of

From the day we arrived on the planet, we’ve been trying to stay here as long as possible. Sure, you want to look and feel younger, but the pursuit of the fountain of youth also applies to other areas of your wellbeing; preventing age-related diseases. One way to get your wellness in shape is through your diet, and so many of us turn to well-known anti-ageing foods like blueberries and dark leafy greens. However, there are some less familiar foods that can help you delay the ageing process, so let us clue you in on these secret anti-agers.

 

Chicory: You may not have heard of chicory, but, trust us on this, it’s an anti-ageing food that you need to know about. You can use the pale yellow leaves in salads, or else mix dried chicory roots in with your herbal coffees. The reason why chicory is so amazing is that it contains more vitamin A and beta carotene than any other salad green, which can help to boost your immune system and protect your eyes against age-related problems. Plus, chicory provides insulin, which may be instrumental in preventing the formation of cancer tumours.

 

Ostrich Meat: While you may not find this in your local corner shop, it’s worth seeking out ostrich meat the next time you get a craving for a juicy steak. While having all the glorious taste of red meat, ostrich contains all the benefits of white meat – being a great source of iron, zinc and selenium. Plus, it’s lower in saturated fat than chicken.

 

Tea: Drinking a cup of tea doesn’t only get you going in the morning or provide the perfect break-time beverage; it also slows down the ageing process and makes you feel incredible – as any Brit will attest to. Studies have shown that there is eight to ten times more polyphenols in tea than there are in fruits and vegetables. These antioxidants fight the good fight against the cell-damaging free radicals in your body that promote the ageing process. If that wasn’t enough, tea may help to rev your metabolism, kick your weight loss into gear, slow the growth of tumours, give you glowing and gorgeous skin and protect your mind from Parkinson’s disease. Research has also suggested that tea increases your bone density, which helps guard you against age-related weak and brittle bone disorders like osteoporosis. In addition, it is thought that tea protects you from breast, lung and digestive cancers, and, while all tea comes from the same camellia tea plant, the black variety also contains flavonoids which protect you against heart disease – time to stick the kettle on then!

 

Eggs: You never know where you stand with eggs. In the past they have been vilified for their high cholesterol content, but now the tides seem to be turning, and ushering in a new era of egg-cellent health benefits (sorry). In order to stay young, your body needs energy and the ability to be active and fit. Luckily, eggs can provide your body with the protein and B vitamins it needs to accomplish this. In terms of other anti-ageing properties, eggs seem to be especially promising in the antioxidants arena, being packed with lutein and zeaxanthin. These are the antioxidants that may delay symptoms of aging like cataracts. Plus, in some eggs you might find added omega-3 fatty acid DHA which improves the functioning of your heart and brain functioning. If you’re still worried about eggs’ dark past, hopefully the JAMA recommendation that healthy adults can safely consume up to seven eggs per week will turn those concerns sunny side up.

Categories: age related, ageing, ageing foods, ageing process, anti, anti ageing, Chicory, Eggs, Ostrich Meat

How to Have a Positive Outlook on Ageing – and Live Longer!

The problem with the term “anti-ageing” is that it implies a sense of fear, and even anger, towards the ageing process. Everyone gets old, and everyone fears the idea of getting old. You want to feel energetic, vital and healthy, but ageing sounds like the opposite of that wellness ideal. This may be why the global anti-ageing industry is expected to exceed $290 billion by the year 2015 – we hate the thought of ageing, and will do anything to stop it.

 

According to Dr Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist (study of old age) from Cambridge, who is one of the leading figures in the field of ageing, your body is like a machine or a car. It tolerates a certain amount of damage, and can be repaired every once in a while, but the damage accumulates over the years and it ceases to function as it once was. Basically, you are designed to have an expiry date – but that date is not set in stone.

 

Last year, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York undertook a study, published in the journal Nature, which found the answer to delaying the ageing process in a chemical in your body called NF-kB. You produce this chemical in the hypothalamus of your brain, which is where you also regulate your hormones, emotions and food intake. When NF-kB started to become more active in mice, the animals started to show signs of ageing. When the chemical was suppressed, on the other hand, the mice started to act more youthful.

 

However, research shows that having a positive outlook on ageing can extend life by up to 7.5 years. So, all that age fear-mongering from the anti-ageing beauty industry and the media is actually undoing all the good work that their products might achieve for your wellbeing. In his book The Blue Zones, Dan Buettner observed behaviours and habits from people who lived past 100 years, and yet still remained to be vibrant and live an active life. Here are the keys to living longer (and happier) that he discovered:

 

1. Keep ties with families and the community

2. Maintain a strong sense of purpose

3. Consume a densely vegetarian diet

4. Maintain a positive outlook on life

Categories: ageing, ageing process, anti, anti ageing, chemical, fear, nbsp, NF-kB, positive, positive outlook

Mitochondria: The Future of Anti-Ageing Cosmetics?

At the heart of your body’s cells are the mitochondria, small cell organelles which are essential to your proper functioning. Anti-ageing cosmetic manufacturers have developed several strategies in order to protect your mitochondrial wellness, as disturbances affecting them will play a role in the ageing process.

Mitochondria have their own DNA, known as mitochondrial DNA (mDNA), which enables them to multiply or self-destruct regardless of the division of the cell itself.  mDNA also allows your mitochondria to be the main power plants of the cell. The inner part of their double membrane has many folds, which helps to promote an intense transformation activity of substances for energy, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). However, at the same time mitochondria generate the ROS (reactive oxygen species), which makes them a prime target of oxidative attacks.

Because mitochondrial DNA is different to other cellular DNA, it is less protected and has fewer repair systems available. So, if the alterations of mDNA are too important, the mitochondrion will self-destruct. This leads to cellular death, which is part of the ageing process. Mitochondria take part in complex signalling pathways and are involved in a number of neurodegenerative diseases associated with ageing. According to Dr. Johan Auwerx, from the Laboratory for Integrative and Systems Physiology at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, if you decrease your mitochondrial functions by restricting your caloric intake, it could have a positive impact on ageing.

Marwin Edeas, Chairman of the French Society of Antioxidants and organiser of the Congress Targeting Mitochondria, notes, ‘The mitochondrion is at the heart of ageing, hundreds of diseases are related to its dysfunctions. In recent years, scientific advances were achieved on the early detection of mitochondrial alterations but also on the possibility of finding nanocarriers allowing to reach these difficult targets.’

It is therefore crucial to preserve your mitochondria, which is something that cosmetics manufacturers are all too aware of. You may have noticed products boasting innovations in this area for several years now, with your skin being provided with these valuable substances. Mrs C. Peyreigne, a biologist and founder of Oxincell, a company specialising in the study and analysis of the mitochondrial function, adds, ‘it is likely that mitochondriology will become in the coming years, one of the leading disciplines of the 21st century.’

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Mitochondria: The Future of Anti-Ageing Cosmetics?

Categories: ageing, ageing process, anti ageing, cosmetics, mitochondria, mitochondrial, mitochondrial dna, process mitochondria, Research, years