Perusing Victoria Moran's very helpful beauty tome, Younger by the Day, 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit (geez, these subtitles are getting long!), I stumbled across May 23: The Opportunity Age.
It seems that doctors who specialize in extending youth into our later years refer to the 40s and 50s as "the youth corridor." This is this the prime time to make any changes that you hope will stick, and see you through into the bigger numbers.
Moran notes that the ancient Indian medicine called Ayurveda corroborates this, contending that youth as we know it ends at age 60. That means this decade-plus corridor is the time to get your "house" in order, as it were — the best form of "health insurance" for the years to come.
In this "youth corridor" we are beginning to show signs of aging, which can be addressed, slowed down or even turned around, she says. Hmmm.
For instance, a facelift in your 50s is going to be far more effective than one in your 70s. This is also the time that brackets menopause — an ideal time to invest for the future, and not just your savings account: "the closer to the opportunity age you are, the more mileage you'll get from smaller efforts," Moran advises, noting (in her introduction) that she was totally blindsided by the swift onset of midlife markers:
…it was the simultaneous arrival of menopause and my fiftieth birthday that made aging an issue in my life for the first time…. I never expected changes so noticeable—or so rapid. …I went to bed with a flat tummy and round bottom and woke up with a protruding stomach and a washboard butt. It was Invasion of the Body Snatchers in my own bedroom."
To underscore this point, Dr. Gerald Imber, a renowned New York plastic surgeon, has released The New Youth Corridor (this corridor is getting crowded), an updated manual on anti-aging, incorporating his philosophy that it takes more than surgery to retain a youthful appearance. The book covers why skin ages and what, exactly, you can do about it.
A treatment line comes in tandem with the book, also called Youth Corridor, with six products that are designed to target specific aspects of aging skin. The serums, lotions and potions, which include youth-associated ingredients such as vitamins C and E and melatonin, are formulated to support Dr. Imber's credo of prevention, maintenance and correction—the very things Moran says need attention during this crucial time.
Seize the Corridor! We're walking, we're walking….
Check out:
Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005; $14.95)