How to look and feel your best as you age 🤍
When it comes to looking and feeling your best across the decades, nothing beats caring for your skin and managing your weight.
As we get older, lots of things naturally start changing within the body. Your metabolism changes, your muscle mass gradually reduces and your skin begins losing collagen year after year. For many women, menopause can accelerate these changes even further.
But whilst ageing is inevitable, feeling completely powerless about it absolutely is not.
There is so much you can do to support your skin, your health and your confidence as you age - and often, the earlier you start caring for yourself holistically, the better your long-term results can be.
Why does your skin change as you get older?
One of the biggest reasons skin changes with age is collagen loss.
From our twenties onwards, the collagen within our skin naturally starts depleting at around 1% every year. Over time, this affects the firmness, structure and elasticity of the skin, which is why skin can gradually start looking thinner, looser or more crepey.
For women, menopause can accelerate this dramatically. During the first five years of menopause, it’s estimated that women can lose around 30% of their collagen stores.
This is why investing in your skin health becomes so important as you age. Supporting collagen production and maintaining skin quality can make a huge difference to how your skin looks and feels long term.
Why does weight redistribution happen with age?
As we get older, the body becomes less metabolically flexible. In simple terms, it can become harder for the body to switch efficiently between burning carbohydrates and burning fat for energy.
At the same time, muscle mass naturally starts reducing, especially if we are not actively strength training. This can contribute to changes in body shape, energy levels and metabolism.
Many people notice weight starting to redistribute around the middle as visceral fat, which is the deeper fat stored around the organs. This tends to become more common with age and hormonal change.
It can feel frustrating, especially when your usual routines no longer seem to work in the same way they once did, but it’s important to remember that these changes are incredibly common.
What can you do to support your skin and body as you age?
The good news is there are lots of positive things you can do to support your skin, health and wellbeing.
Some of the most important foundations include:
Caring consistently for your skin
Eating a varied diet
Prioritising plants and fermented foods to support your gut microbiome
Lifting weights to support muscle mass
Managing stress levels
Considering fasting to support metabolic flexibility
None of these things are about perfection. They are about creating healthy habits that support your body and skin over the long term.
Which treatments can help ageing skin?
At The Secret Garden, every treatment we offer is designed to support collagen production in some way. Then each treatment has its own specific focus depending on your skin concerns and goals.
For example:
Laser treatments work brilliantly for managing pigmentation and broken veins
NeoGen is exceptional for tightening the skin, supporting thin or crepey skin around the eyes and improving pigmentation
Radiofrequency microneedling helps optimise hydration, minimise fine lines and tighten and brighten the skin
What’s important is that these treatments are not about trying to look like somebody else. They are about helping you look fresher, healthier and more confident in your own skin.
Often, people simply want to look a bit brighter, more rested and more like themselves again.
What if lifestyle changes alone are not enough?
Sometimes, despite making healthy lifestyle changes, people still struggle with their weight or with how they feel in themselves.
In some cases, medication may have a role alongside lifestyle support and skin health treatments. The important thing is approaching weight management holistically and safely, rather than chasing quick fixes.
Your skin, body and overall wellbeing are all connected, which is why looking after them together tends to create the best and most sustainable results.
Getting older is a privilege, but it’s also completely understandable to want to feel good in yourself as you age.
If you’ve noticed changes in your skin, your weight or your confidence, you are absolutely not alone, and there are lots of things you can do to support yourself.
Small, consistent changes really do add up over time, and looking after your skin and body now can make a huge difference across the decades ahead.
And if you ever feel unsure where to start, please do get in touch - we’re always here to help.
Sharron x