What are women talking about or maybe stop talking about anti-age?

Irina Griban, founder, founder of Complete SPA LLC, certified wellness coach, Integrative Wellness Coach - Penn Foster College, Balanced Nutrition and Sitiology - Penn Foster College, Fitness program design - American Council on Exercise (ACE)

In fact, if you delve a little deeper into history, you will find interesting facts that the first anti-age procedures with archaeological evidence date back to years BC. The fascination with prolonging youth goes back to ancient times and has been documented for thousands of years in a completely diverse range of sources. But, despite the fact that the notorious “rejuvenating apples” are still a myth, the abundance of anti-aging products and the variety of anti-aging procedures on today’s beauty industry market proves absolutely the opposite - the quest “Who will find the fountain of youth” has not only stood the test of time, but also actively continues.

By definition, the term anti-aging refers to a product or method designed to prevent the appearance of signs of aging. But growing old before your time or even looking appropriate for your age today is simply indecent. In addition, you don’t want to end your professional career early if it involves an impeccable appearance. After all, a lot of effort and money probably went into finding a profitable image. In a word, the fight against old age has turned into a real expensive war, so serious that many choose to strengthen their positions in advance.

Do you know what phrase is worth 190 billion dollars? Don’t be surprised, you hear it very often: “What should I do to look younger?” Yes, this is exactly the amount - 190 billion dollars - that is estimated at the global anti-age industry market as of 2019. According to Global Anti-Aging Market Research Report & Forecast, by 2024 the market growth will be 7.98% and will only gain momentum every year.

Today, the anti-age market includes a wide range of cosmetics, drugs, services and equipment, ranging from liposuction procedures to skin resurfacing and tightening devices.

However, this begs the question: “If $190 billion was spent on anti-aging products and procedures worldwide in 2019 alone, shouldn’t we finally be satisfied with the results?” Shouldn’t there be a cause-and-effect relationship: “When you look better, that means you feel better?” And if “no,” perhaps anti-age should not start from the outside, but rather, on the contrary, from the inside?

First of all, it is important to debunk the myth that any treatment, procedure or product has anti-age properties. Of course, modern technologies provide incredible opportunities for aesthetic medicine and cosmetology, but the aging process itself is still an inevitable fact of every person’s life. Time cannot be stopped or turned back.

On the other hand, this does not mean that we have to put up with many of the factors that come with age, such as an endless feeling of fatigue, a permanent struggle with excess weight and hormonal imbalance, lack of energy for exercise and just a state of internal discomfort. Not at all! But from this point of view, not anti-age procedures, but age management medicine is a more realistic and, most importantly, effective approach to solving the issue of aging.

Over the past decade, priorities in aesthetic medicine have shifted noticeably. If previously the central place was occupied by comprehensive programs aimed at restoring the health and natural beauty of the skin, in recent years the emphasis has been placed on one-time procedures that provide only a temporary external rejuvenating effect.

However, fortunately, in recent years the situation has begun to change in the opposite direction. Patients began to understand that it was unhealthy skin that spoiled their appearance, and that individual wrinkles and age spots were only unpleasant symptoms, which could not be solved by eliminating internal problems. Coming to the next session, they increasingly draw the attention of specialists not to specific defects, but to the general “flabbiness” and “fatigue” of the skin.

Western specialists have long noted changes in customer needs and began to actively expand their range with complex techniques that complement and greatly enhance the results of basic anti-aging procedures.

In the USA and Canada, leading dermatologists are building skin wellness programs - a comprehensive approach that allows you to achieve excellent results in the long term. At the same time, aging is viewed not as a single process, but as a very delicate and complex complex of internal and external factors, focusing primarily on the root causes and optimization of health. This area has recently received increased attention at conferences on aesthetic cosmetology, dermatology, and wellness.

Getting back to the terminology, wellness is a modern, fashionable word with ancient roots. Key principles of preventative health and wellness can be traced back to ancient civilizations from the East (India, China) to the West (Greece, Rome). Today, the global development of wellness is carried out by the Global Wellness Institute, a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote the active desire to lead a healthy lifestyle. There are two important aspects to this definition. First, wellness is not a passive or static state, but rather a “set of active actions.” Secondly, wellness is about holistic health, meaning it goes beyond just external physical health and includes many different dimensions that need to work in harmony.

Wellness is an individual pursuit - a conscious choice of behavior and lifestyle that is significantly influenced by the physical, social and cultural environment.

Unfortunately, in Eastern European countries, wellness is often confused with such general concepts as “health”, “well-being” and “happiness”, missing the most important point: wellness is a comprehensive lifestyle, an informed choice and it is more than just physical health .

The most common model that defines wellness was introduced by Dr. Halbert Dunn in 1959. He was the first to formulate the tenets of the wellness lifestyle as “a concept of a healthy lifestyle that combines both physical and mental health, which includes proper nutrition, reasonable exercise and a lifestyle philosophy that fights disease and slows down the aging of the body.”

Well there you go! “Wellness is a lifestyle concept that slows down the aging of the body.” In other words, these are active, conscious, preventive actions aimed at preventing diseases, improving the quality of life and well-being. So maybe it’s enough to talk about anti-age, and it’s time to start talking about wellness?

Living in a wellness style is not about the extremes that trends throw you into, it’s not about diets or exhausting sports training. Wellness is a global lifestyle industry, which is based on the harmony of physical health, emotional well-being and, most importantly, disease prevention (Fig. 1, 2).

Rice. 1. A $ 4.2 trillion industry

Rice. 2. Why now?

The diversity of potential in the wellness industry

Platforms that allow you to regulate sleep cycles; software for virtual nutritionists; digital-free wellness retreats and telemedicine... Probably many still do not realize how much wellness has already absorbed many aspects of our lives: yoga, group fitness in parks, stores with organic products, antioxidants, meditation, fresh and protein bars, almond / soy / oat milk, light therapy, hydrotherapy... The list goes on and on, but fortunately, all these already familiar elements of everyday life are parts of one big puzzle called the wellness industry (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Wellness 24/7: vitamins and supplements; leisure; personal hygiene products; fitness; corporate wellness; mental wellness; food and drinks; dream; trips

Let's take a look at the rapidly developing wellness trends

1. Proper/healthy fast food. "We are what we eat". Many diseases are directly related to the food we eat. Food can both harm your health in the long term and prevent diseases, strengthen your immune system and significantly improve your quality of life. Today, there are more and more requests to invest in healthy eating. After all, in fact, if you think about your health in advance, it is much cheaper to eat right now than to undergo treatment later.

In 2019, the global “healthy fast food” market was valued at $60 billion, rising to $67 billion by 2024.

2. Restaurant chains offer “healthy menu” options. To attract and retain wellness-conscious clients, a “transparent menu” with prescribed ingredients used, online platforms for calculating the calorie content of dishes and the proportionality of the ratio of macro and micronutrients are used.

3. Wellness travel. Wellness services at airports and on board airlines continue to become increasingly popular in response to customer requests. As an example, the in-flight massage service has become an integral part of the Air Malta service; Lufthansa Airlines provides humidifiers for passenger comfort; Singapore Airlines has developed a program for nutrition, muscle stretching and healthy sleep; Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Hawaiian Airlines have included meditation in their in-flight wellness program.

In the waiting areas of airports in the USA, UK, and UAE, luxury mono-brand SPA is highly valued. Passengers during transfers between long flights are offered free relaxing express treatments. Hamad Airport in Qatar, among other things, is equipped with a swimming pool and includes hydrotherapy services.

4. Hotel business. Incorporations with fitness and wellness brands, active development of wellness retreats, development of individual immersive wellness programs - wellness within the hotel business has absolutely limitless incarnations and, at the same time, colossal opportunities. Taking into account the individual wishes of the guest, a holistic approach is taken to create a solid foundation for the formation of behavioral lifestyle changes. By addressing the underlying causes of current health problems and treating all associated aspects of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, real changes are achieved, supported by long-term results.

Finally

In Western countries, preventive anti-age medicine is becoming a separate promising direction in the development of wellness medicine with a personalized approach. Scientific publications are accumulating, application experience and expert assessments are growing. And, despite the fact that wellness in Ukraine has not yet become widespread, I personally hope in my heart that leading Ukrainian clinics and centers will begin to pay more and more attention to this area.

*Data source: cbinsights.com

Evolution of wellness

3000-1500 BC Ayurveda is an ancient system of Indian medicine that has greatly influenced both European, Arabic and Chinese medicine. “Knowledge of Life” (Ayurveda) is a holistic system of treatment that considers the body, spirit and soul as a unity, with the goal of bringing a person into balance and activating the powers of self-healing.

3000-2000 BC Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the world and is still actively developing. Influenced by Taoism and Buddhism, TCM takes a holistic approach to achieving health and well-being by cultivating harmony in your life. Acupuncture, herbal medicine, qi gong and tai chi have not only become fundamental to wellness, but are also actively used in Western traditional medicine.

500 BC The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is perhaps the first physician to focus on preventing disease rather than simply treating it, and argued that disease is the result of diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors.

50 BC Ancient Roman medicine was also based on the prevention of disease, continuing to develop the theory of Hippocrates. It was ancient Rome's highly developed public health system, with its extensive system of aqueducts, sewers, public baths and Sanitas Pro Aqua, Latin for "health through water", that helped prevent the spread of germs and maintain healthier populations.

1650 The Oxford English Dictionary first introduced the word wealnesse, which means the opposite of “disease” or “a state of well-being, in good health.” The earliest published reference, from 1654, is an entry in Sir Archibald Johnston's diary: "I...blessed God...for my daughter's wealnesse." .

1790s German physician Christian Hahnemann develops homeopathy, a system that treats the body as a whole. One of the most important principles of homeopathic medicine is that treatment should be individualized and adapted to specific symptoms and characteristics of the body.

1860s German priest Sebastian Kneipp, a representative of naturopathy, founded Kneipp Cur - a combination of hydrotherapy with herbal medicine, exercise and nutritional correction.

1870s Andrew Taylor Still develops osteopathy, a holistic approach based on the manipulation of muscles and joints. For Dr. Still: “Disease is a consequence. All effects have causes that appear on the physical level. The task of an osteopath is to find the causes and help eliminate them.”

1880s Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner is a pioneer in the field of nutritional research and advocates a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables. Bircher-Benner's patients at the sanatorium in Zurich not only adhered to the developed diet, but followed a monastic daily routine, including early hours of falling asleep, physical exercise and active gardening. Bircher-Benner's theory was based on harmony between man and nature.

1890s Daniel David Palmer is an American physician and alternative medicine practitioner who develops chiropractic care that focuses on the structural functioning of the body. Palmer developed the theory that misalignment of bones in the body is the root cause of all disease, and most of these "misaligned" bones are found in the spine.

1900s John Harvey Kellogg was an American physician, known for his work in the field of sexology, who promoted healthy eating and vegetarianism, physical exercise, active walks in the fresh air, and hydrotherapy.

At the same time, naturopathy, a type of alternative medicine that focuses on the body’s ability to heal itself through nutritional correction and lifestyle changes, is actively developing.