THE CHEAPEST AND EASIEST ANTI-AGEING TREATMENT

From the number of hours spent in slumber to the way you lie on your pillow, how you sleep affects the way you age. Sleep is the cheapest and easiest anti-ageing treatment available, and if you can fall asleep by 10pm all the better, as the two hours before midnight are when your system (especially your stress glands)recharges and recovers.

Deep sleep is what you are aiming for; as this is when cells are repaired and the human growth hormone (which slows ageing) is released. Lack of sleep not only ages you, but is linked to health problems such as high blood pressure, a low immune system and depression, not to mention making you irritable and unable to cope with what life throws at you (just ask any new mum).

Good-sleep strategies

• The darker your bedroom, the more melatonin you produce (a natural hormone which helps you fall asleep), so if your wooden blinds let in too much light wear an eye mask (ear plugs are a godsend for noisy bedrooms, too). If you get up during the night, keep the lights off, as a sudden flood of light switches off melatonin production.
• The main cause of poor sleep is stress. If you have had a hard day, go for an evening walk to use up excess adrenaline.
• Avoid caffeine (in coffee, tea, cola and chocolate) and nicotine after 6pm, as they stimulate brain activity and raise blood pressure. The food additive MSG (commonly found in takeaway Chinese and convenience foods) will have the same effect, as will very spicy food. And avoid eating a heavy, rich meal late at night - it may make you feel drowsy temporarily, but can seriously disrupt sleep by taking longer to digest, which wakes up your brain.
• Eat early, filling up on serotonin-rich foods (which also help increase melatonin production) like wholewheat pasta, brown rice and baked potatoes.
• Stop smoking as nicotine is a stimulant and has been linked to problems falling asleep and waking in the night.
• Keep your feet warm with bed socks or a hot-water bottle, as it is almost impossible to fall asleep with cold feet.
• If an uninterrupted night is but a distant memory due to young children, try taking 10-minute naps (but no longer) during the day, which will help do the job those eight hours did before.

Good skin strategies
Lack of sleep can accelerate the ageing process. Why? People deprived of good-quality sleep have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which slows down the skin's natural repair functions.

• Dermatologists can usually tell which side you lie on by the 'sleep wrinkles' on your face caused by pressing into the pillow. If you can sleep on your back, so much the better, but if not slip a silk pillowcase over your cotton one to help reduce friction and pressure on your face.
• Traditional night creams are richer in texture than the average day cream, but you may prefer a more lightweight serum, which does the same job of hydrating the skin, without leaving it feeling greasy. Do you need a separate night product? Not really, although wearing a cream containing an SPF at night might overload sensitive skin with chemicals. Many skin experts advise leaving your face naked at night so it can 'rebalance', which is worth a try if your skin has been misbehaving lately.
• Skin likes a well-ventilated, slightly humid room, so keep central heating on low and air circulating through. Natural bedding such as linen, cotton or silk will also allow skin to breathe - and feels much nicer, too.
• Establishing a mini bedtime wind-down ritual is the best way to allow your body and brain to leave the day behind. Brush your teeth and then apply your night-time moisturizer, gently moving your hands from the centre of your face upwards and outwards while taking deep, abdominal breaths to release any tension in your body.

Solutions for Sleep Problems








Keep a pad by your bedside so you can write down anything that's on your mind during the night and deal with it in the morning.




Around 770,000 people in the UK, seek help every year for insomnia and sleep deprivation. If you are one of them, try these expert tips on how to nod off.

• If you typically toss and turn in bed for at least an hour before falling asleep, you need to break the patter your body clock has established. Do this by restricting the time you spend in bed and going to bed at least an hour later than normal. If you normally go to bed at 11pm but don't fall asleep until 12.30, then put off going to bed until 12.30 and see what happens. It might just be a case of reconditioning yourself to sleep better simply by not going to bed until you feel like falling asleep.
• Waking up a couple of hours after nodding off is often a sign of anxiety, so you need to look at what you are worrying about while you are conscious (rather than wait for your unconscious mind to nudge you awake in the night). Writing down what is on your mind literally works like a brain dump, getting the worry out of your head and onto paper, where you can devise a practical course of action. Make this a regular habit and niggling anxieties won't have time to grow and fester. Keep a pad by your bedside so you can write down anything that's on your mind during the night and deal with it in the morning.
• If you do wake up in the night, never lie in bed for longer than 30 minutes. Go into another room and do something repetitive like unstacking the dishwasher, ironing or knitting. You could also try eating tryptophan-rich food (like a small bowl of cereal with chopped banana), as this amino acid aids sleep. And put your alarm clock out of sight (under your bed or in your bedside cabinet), so you won't be tempted to lie in bed practising your mental arithmetic ('If I do not nod off until 4am I will only have another three hours until the alarm goes off at 7', and so on).
• The time you wake up is as important for setting your body clock as the time you fall asleep, which means getting up at your regular time even if you were awake for a couple of hours in the night. Do not use the weekend to catch up on missed weekday sleep, or you will out of sync by Monday.
• White noise (like the background sound of an air conditioner) can help induce sleep. Far more melodic is a relaxation CD of nature-based sounds such as rushing water, birdsong or crashing waves. Play it low at night as you drift off, or have it ready to play should you wake up in the night.
• You are more likely to feel sleepy when your body temperature drops after being warmed up, which is why a bath before bedtime can help you sleep (just do not make it too hot). Or try a hot foot bath, which helps calm the mind by diverting excess energy away from the brain. Soak your feet for 10 minutes or until the water cools.
• Try not to worry about the sleep you have. When tested in laboratories, people who said they hardly slept at all actually got far more sleep than they thought, so if you are concerned about how many hours you are clocking up each night, keep a sleep diary of the times you drop off and wake up. You may be pleasantly surprised.

The Many Joys of Sex
Sex is one of life's feel-good activities, and research says that women who have regular sex not only live longer but look at least 10 years younger too. Pleasurable sex also releases hormones that help boost your immune system, reducing pain and stress levels. So why does sex sometimes seem like too much hard work? Just like exercise, rather than depleting your energy levels, regular sex improves your energy, and no one can fail to notice how radiant they look after an orgasm.

In fact, orgasm do not just make you look and feel younger; they also relieve tension and produce phenetylamine, which helps reduce your appetite (the reason eating goes out of the window when you are in the first stages of lust). Sex is also an invaluable part of bonding in a relationship, creating all those cosy feelings of love, security and togetherness. An 80-year old woman has the same potential for orgasm as a 20-year-old, so there is really no reason why sex should slip down your priority list as you get older.

Think yourself sexy

• Smell is a powerful stimulant, so never underestimate it. Wear a perfume you find sexy, or enhance your natural pheromones with essential oils like ylang ylang , musk or vanilla. Sprinkle six drops in your bath or a few drops on your pillow or (sexy) nightdress.
• No one feels sexy in baggy sweatpants, so dress the part. Wear your best underwear, and clothes that make you feel good about yourself. And wear heels on a night out, for a sexy wiggle that is impossible in trainers.
• Look after your body. So you many not look like those airbrushed models in the media, but nor do they in real life. Never fall into the trap of comparing yourself to these idealized images. Men do not, so why are you giving yourself such a hard time? Instead, make the most of what nature gave you with regular pampering sessions so your body always feels soft and smooth - a more attractive proposition to a man than any picture in a magazine.

Think him sexy

• Remember what you love and find attractive about your partner and, just as importantly, tell him. Men can have negative feelings about their bodies too, so need the same encouragement as you do.
• It is easy to get caught up in wanting your own way in a relationship, but life is much easier if you stop needing your partner to think the same as you in order to feel secure. And never is this more important than with sex. Do not automatically feel rejected if he is not in the mood. More beneficial is to recognize you both have different needs, and use your imagination to find a happy compromise.

Boost both your libidos

• Sex and stress do not mix (stress lowers your level of testosterone, which controls your sex drive), so save sex for when there is time to enjoy it. Set the scene and the performance is bound to be more pleasurable. This might mean soft lighting, flowers and a bubble bath, or romantic music and a candlelit dinner. Keep sex special and it won't lose it appeal.
• A poor diet will reduce the most important sex drive, so eat energy-boosting raw foods and cut down on stimulants such as sugar, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol, which will exhaust you by the end of the day. High-fat and fast food is never going to make you feel sexy. Foods rich in zinc, the lean meat, nuts, eggs and wholegrain, will, as zinc is very important for sexual function (oysters have a very high zinc content). Also important for the manufacture of sex hormones is vitamin E, so include plenty of wheatgerm, dark green vegetables, avocados, almonds and hazelnuts in your diet.
• If in doubt, start anyway. An active sex life triggers testosterone production, so the more you do it, the more you want to do it. Research says that many people with a low sex drive enjoy sex once they get started.....