Anti-ageing

Investing in the latest celebrity endorsed beauty secret in pursuit of the promise of flawless skin is something we have all fallen victim to. Instead of bankrolling an endless collection of moisturisers, toners and anti-ageing creams; get out of your body what you put in to it, by making some healthy eating changes. With the right food choices capable of giving you the healthy glow you have been longing for, swap sugary snacks for leafy greens and you will be amazed at the changes you see in your complexion, just one of the many benefits of healthy eating.

Remember what your mother told you - you’re never too young to start preparing for healthy ageing. If ageing gracefully and looking after your well-being is important to you, a healthy anti-ageing holiday is the perfect choice for you.

Combining the expert knowledge of a doctor’s clinic and the relaxing atmosphere of a luxury spa, medical spas provide tailored wellness holidays focussed on improving your health. Far removed from the clinical environment of a hospital, these medical spa retreats are situated in some of the most stunning destinations around the world, from Spain to Thailand. 

The big ‘M’ word – Menopause; many women going through this ordeal have to overcome a number of the common symptoms, ranging from hot flushes and night sweats, to mood swings and insomnia, leaving you feeling not quite like yourself. It doesn’t happen overnight, but is rather a gradual process that can prove to be tedious for every woman. Take some time out to treat yourself to a wellness holiday where health specialists can help you to manage menopause symptoms in a natural and healthy way. Banish those sleepless nights and feel ready to continue tackling the menopause when you return home with heightened knowledge on how to manage the symptoms.

Get fit, de-stress or simply discover a more mindful way of living with our luxury transformative retreats that will uncover the new you. With the fast pace of today’s society, often the time we need to concentrate on ourselves and our goals is overlooked or postponed. Combine beautiful surroundings with some much needed me-time by embarking on a wellness escape in a new destination that will inspire change and help you become the best person you can be.

Slow down the signs of ageing and give a healthy boost to your well-being. There are several causes that can speed up the aging process: the fast pace of modern living, unhealthy eating habits and stress. Counteract those causes with this list of age-defying treatments and discover the best anti-ageing holiday to try them in. These experiences will not only be relaxing, but also bring your natural glow back making you look and feel younger as you return.

There is no denying the ticking of our biological clock, but why feel old before your time? The stress of modern day life as well as the usual factors, age, weight and diet can often make you look and feel years beyond your alleged age. 

We are living in a time where life expectancy in the UK is continuously improving, and reaching 100 years in age will become more common. Being 50 can hardly be considered old; it will soon mark the halfway point in many of our lives. But why are we all going to live longer?

When you look in the mirror, how youthful is the face staring back? Proving that age really is nothing but a number, in recent years there has been a growing focus on what our biological age, rather than our chronological age, can tell us about our overall health and longevity. Determined by lifestyle approaches to stress, diet, exercise and sleep; recent studies reveal that one in five people in the UK were found to have a biological age more than eight years older than their chronological age , effectively losing almost a decade of their life.

Letting you in on the biological longevity secret, Health and Fitness Travel, the leading experts in healthy holidays worldwide, take a look at how health and fitness can help to turn back the clock in the battle of biology vs. chronology. Whether pressing pause on ageing by learning to let go of stress or sweating your way to a more youthful you, reducing your biological age is the new mantra of the ‘ageing gracefully’ gurus.

De-stress to stop the clock

Whether it is linked to work, family or money, we all get stressed and anxious. Unfortunately, in addition to sleepless nights and unwanted worry lines, stress can also increase our biological age dramatically by shortening the telomeres in our bodies. Reduce this effect by escaping on an educational stress management holiday where healthy lifestyle practices such as mediation and mindfulness will smooth away those frown lines.

Top 3 De-Stress Holidays: SHA Anti-Stress (Spain), Ananda Stress Management (India), Kamalaya De-Stress Asian Bliss (Thailand)

Sweat your way to a youthful you

With the power to take years off your biological age, sweat your way to a more youthful you whilst improving your skin tone with the post-exercise face flush. As well as maintaining good cardiovascular health, boosting your metabolism and improving your memory, exercise also slows down our cells basic ageing process. Through the emerging science of DNA fitness testing, pre-arrival DNA analysis can reveal an insight into your genetic makeup, allowing fitness holiday programmes to be tailored with the appropriate training response for your body.

Top 3 Fitness Holidays: The BodyHoliday Body Science (St Lucia), Phuket Cleanse Detox & Fitness (Thailand), The Body Camp (Ibiza)

Sleep to turn back time

As well as being an enjoyable way to stay cosy in winter, spending an extra hour in bed can actually increase your lifespan. Our bodies need sleep to carry out vital cell repair, so we awake the next morning fresh and re-energised. Without the recommended 7-8 hours, our bodies are not able to complete this repair, meaning that over time the cells break down faster. Sleep also lowers the stress hormone cortisol, which is a significant barrier to achieving youthful longevity. If you struggle to fall asleep, learn to banish insomnia on a sleep retreat and wake up with youthful energy.

Top 3 Sleep Retreats: Absolute Sanctuary Sleep Well (Thailand), SHA Sleep Well (Spain), Kamalaya Sleep Enhancement (Thailand)

Reduce ageing with healthy nutrition

Processed foods encourage the formation of free radicals, which will have your biological age soaring above your chronological one. Get a radiant complexion by eliminating these foods and replacing them with nutrient packed fresh fruits and vegetables, which will cleanse and detox your body, lowering the risk of diabetes and heart disease. With nutrition experts and educational cooking classes, learn about healthy nutrition on holiday to make changes to your diet which will reward you with a lasting feeling of youth and vitality.

Top 3 Healthy Ageing Nutrition Holidays: SHA Healthy Ageing Women (Spain), The Farm Healthy Ageing (Philippines), Longevity Anti-Ageing (Portugal)

Learn healthier habits to feel younger

The first step towards biological longevity is swapping bad habits which damage your body for healthy habits that nourish it. It needn’t be all at once, make small and lasting changes and notice how your body begins to defy your chronological age. Discover healthier habits on a healthy learning holiday where wellness experts will introduce you to practical lifestyle changes and how to maintain what you’ve learnt long-term, for a healthier and more youthful you.

Top 3 Healthy Learning Holidays: Kamalaya Embracing Change (Thailand), Shreyas Silent Retreat (India), Grantley Hall Fitness & Wellness (UK)

Laugh away the years

There is a good reason that laughter is often known as nature’s best medicine. Prompting a flood of serotonin into the body, laughter can boost your mood, relieve pain and release tension. Releasing positive energy through a smile or laugh can not only have a healing effect, but can also make you look younger as it lights up your face and brings a glow to your skin. Discover the healing benefits of laughter yoga on a yoga retreat and feel the years disappear as you laugh away your stress and worries.

Top 3 Yoga Retreats: SwaSwara Rejuvenation & Yoga (India), Absolute Sanctuary Yoga (Thailand), Paradis Plage Yoga (Morocco)

Talk to one of our travel specialists today on 0203 397 8891 or contact us here to discuss your tailor made healthy ageing holiday

Dr. Vicente Mera is the head of Internal Medicine and Anti-ageing at theSHA Wellness Clinic as a specialist in the ageing process, Dr. Mera has been a key figure in developing theHealthy Ageing Men andHealthy Ageing Women retreats that focus on healthy and graceful ageing. We had the privilege of speaking to him to learn more about him, his process and the healthy ageing retreats at SHA Wellness Clinic. 

There are lots of simple, easy and fun ways to get an extra boost out of life and improve your health and fitness. You should start by simply being in nature and the great outdoors. Too many of us are hunched over desks all day and without natural sunlight. Top up your vitamin D levels by getting a burst of beautiful autumn sun as and when you can; fifteen minutes a day should get you feeling full of beans!

Ever wondered how your face can reveal what you eat? Naturopathic experts take a different approach to explaining how your diet plays a major role in the aging process, through a method called ‘skin mapping’. This is an ancient idea which suggests that parts of the face are linked to particular organs in the body. The redness, puffiness, dark shading, sagging, lines or spots on certain parts of the face can reveal a lot about a person’s diet, and so naturopathic experts use this information on anti-ageing holidays to suggest the necessary supplements and diet changes to promote healthy ageing. Naturopaths have found that sugar, wine, dairy and gluten are often the underlying cause to people’s inner problems which can result in the onset of premature ageing. Naturopaths therefore use the skin mapping technique to reveal which type of ‘face’ or ‘faces’ a person has, with different faces indicating different issues.

With the 2014 Football World Cup under way, Health and Fitness Travel, experts in tailor-made active and wellness holidays are seeing an increase in the number of travellers looking to improve their own sporting skills. On offer is an enormous range of sports and wellness holidays backed by world-class professionals. You can take advantage of some of the world’s best sports coaches and lift your performance to the next level with cutting-edge sports psychology, focus on weight loss or anti-aging with a medical approach using advanced diagnostics and treatment plans to help you achieve your goals.

It’s no secret that stress can take a hold on all of us from time to time, filling our minds with worries and negative thoughts. However, when stress builds up and maintains itself in our heads long-term, it can become unhealthy and lead to adverse long-term health effects such as mental health and depression. In fact, according to a medical review by The American Institute of Stress, 77% of people have experienced stress that affects their physical health, and 73% of people have experienced stress that affects their mental health. We worked with Dr. Vicente Mera of the SHA Wellness Clinic to learn more about stress and ageing, especially during their anti-ageing retreat. Let’s break down different causes and factors of stress and how they can affect our physical and mental health.

Medical spas or “medi spas” as they have become known, have become increasingly popular in recent years. Offering a one-stop destination for health and cosmetic treatments, medical spas help target any number of specific health issues on a rejuvenating spa holiday. Medical doctors oversee the spa, whilst other health professionals, such as physiotherapists and osteopaths, carry out daily treatments and therapies to help you on your wellness journey. Medical spas focus on aesthetic enhancement and wellness, and address issues ranging from specific skin issues and healthy ageing to permanent hair removal and help quitting smoking, all in a professional and safe environment.

Today's news about lazy lifestyles and couch potatoes highlights the importance of how an active and healthy lifestyle is crucial for our longevity. The new report in The British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests a sedentary lifestyle is as bad for your health as smoking and obesity because of the dangers posed by inactivity and unhealthy eating.

Dr Michael Prager

With a reputation as one of Europe's most skilled practitioners of cosmetic medicine, London-based, German-born and internationally-educated Dr Michael Prager has perfected the art of the natural-looking, non-surgical facelift using Botulinum Toxin and Hyaluronic Acid based dermal fillers. His trademark approach - along with the safety of his procedures has led to Dr Prager becoming one of the most sought-after aesthetic doctors in Europe. He is regularly featured in the media including; The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, BBC Radio, Tatler and more recently appeared on Channel 4's 10 Years Younger.

Jo Foley

For over quarter of a century, Jo Foley has been visiting and reviewing Spas, Sanctuaries and Wellness Centres on four continents and has written about them for many publications including the Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveller, Tatler, Harper's Bazaar, Daily Mail, The Times and Sunday Telegraph. She has observed as Fat Farms have morphed into Pleasure Palaces and Health Centres into Holistic Hideaways, and has experienced rather more than her fair share of ayurvedic retreats in India, to detoxes in the Dolomites, and hammams throughout the Middle East. Hence, she can spot a charlatan at fifty paces, and is quick to differentiate between those who can truly cure and those who merely con.

The key to life-long well-being is a healthy lifestyle; so adopt healthy habits and live longer.  Here are some top tips:

As the name suggests, this new resort which opened in July 2010 offers a wellness experience for those wanting to improve their longevity. Programmes include a wellness and fitness boost week, detox, stress management and weight loss. Situated in the beautiful natural area of Monchique in the Algarve Portugal, this perfect natural and wellness getaway is surrounded by breath-taking views over coastal mountains, making it the ideal location for a health retreat. All guests have access to a weekly health and fitness schedule which include morning and afternoon hikes, classes in Pilates, dance, aqua aerobics, mind fitness, stretching and lectures in Osteopathy, stress management and nutrition.