The secret lies in following a simple lifestyle, eating simple, exercise, stop worrying, meditation and a regular skin and hair care programme, writes Suparna Trikha

I  find most people today find ageing to be a malady, seeking solutions in jars and bottles, potions and lotions of promises of timeless youth and beauty. If there were such a remedy, believe me, the discoverer would have become a multi-billionaire ten times over!

Ageing is something that affects everyone in today’s world. I find that even the late 35 year olds start worrying about ageing, little realising that their worry itself could lead to a stray wrinkle here or there.

So where lies the answer to ageless beauty? Is it in the use of never ending beauty products? Or in the new age injectables like Botox and the miracles of plastic surgery and fillers?

How does one find the answer to the elixir of youth and eternal glowing skin?

My answers would perhaps be conservative. Not that I completely believe that the old age rishis and munis had flawless skins and did not age while meditating in the jungles, but to a very large extent it definitely makes me ruminate about their lifestyles.

Many years ago, when I was in college, my mother had organised for a group of people to visit Indonesia on an educational and cultural tour. A certain Professor Bendre who was heading the JJ School of Art at that time also accompanied her with his wife. Mrs Bendre must have been in her 50s and looked no more than to be in her late 20s! Except for her graying hair, her dusky skin was flawless and taut. Her timeless beauty remains ingrained in my mind to date. The secret to this was perhaps the simple diet that she followed — she only ate fresh fruits, dry fruit and juices.

I have travelled quite extensively in my younger years and met  people from various walks of life. Once I met a young 92 year old Colonel, retired from the Kumaon regiment. He had a perfect eye sight, walked straight and did all his driving and gardening himself. He was a living legend of sorts and passed on very recently at the age of 102! His secret, as he shared, was meditation in the morning, breakfast of a king, lunch of a prince and dinner of a pauper. Although that did not stop him from having his two whiskies every evening! He enjoyed being one with nature, pottering around in his herb garden, planting his favourite rosemary, chamomile, lettuce, etc. At 102, that was quite an achievement.

So besides my natural remedies, I always tell people (who come asking for suggestions to slow the ageing process) to follow a simple lifestyle, eat simple, exercise, destress, stop worrying, meditate and of course follow a regular skin and hair care programme.

We abuse our bodies and minds so much that we spend double the amount of time trying to find solutions to undo the damage we have already done.

The other day, I was sitting with the chairman of a well known domestic airline whose skin looked completely dehydrated. As I was trying to offer solutions to the problem, I noticed that his exquisite chamber overlooked a plush green expanse of never ending trees and beautifully trimmed bushes and the rarest of the flowers. There was a huge window to overlook this but no balcony to breathe in the fresh air. Hydrating your skin with fresh air and keeping it away from the maladies of air conditioning is so important.

So to make things easier for you, the answer to ageless youth and beauty is a combination of good health, simple diet, exercise, less stress and a regular skin care programme which would mean taking care of ones skin from an early age.

I am astounded at mothers who tell their daughters at 13 to not bother about their skin as now was not the time. I know for sure that the same mothers 10 years down would run to dermatologists to find a fix for their daughters’ acne marks since that might affect the marriage proposals.

Skin care must be a lifestyle just like brushing your teeth in the morning which we are taught to do from the age of 2 years. Infact, you would be surprised to know that a 5 minutes of skin cleansing, toning and moisturising routine takes you a long way as to what our skin will look like later in the day.

Lots of fresh raw food, plenty of water, regular exercise, sleep, destressing whenever you get the time to do so, regular skin care, meditation is what will define how you are going to look like at 90.

The writer is a nature care, beauty expert