The Fascination of Nose Hair

Photo by Ivan Rohovchenko on Unsplash

I’m not one of those people who frequently look in the mirror, but I do try and comb my hair and make sure I don’t have the ubiquitous spinach-in-the-teeth look, most days. This week I discovered I had a white nose hair protruding from my right nostril.  Not a grey one or a black one - a white one. I found it rather mesmerising. I suppose some ladies would be horrified, but I have long since come to terms with the ageing process. The wrinkles and fine lines don’t bother me and whilst I still chose to dye my hair, frankly, the grey hair doesn’t either.

Ageing is a natural process. No matter how many anti-ageing products you buy you will not defeat it. Save your money. Eat, sleep, move and love well - these are the things which will prolong your life. And s a by-product make you that bit happier. There are plenty of studies on so called ‘Blue Zones’ - where people live in good health well into there 80’s, 90’s and beyond - and the critical factors for healthy ageing are undeniably based largely on lifestyle choices.  Older people in these areas remain active: they walk to the market, they tend their gardens, they cook from scratch.  They value friendship and family above accumulating money and things and as a result have way less stress - a critical factor in inflammation and illness.  Their diets are largely based on local produce - meats, dairy, vegetables, bread and wine.  They don’t avoid carbs or fats, but largely eschew processed foods.

Old age is not the issue, but ill health is. In the UK and the US older generations are plagued with cardio-vascular disease, osteoarthritis and Dementia.  What if simple lifestyle choices could really help us to avoid a lot of what we regard as ‘ageing maladies’, so that we live well, long into our old age? Think of the joy that could bring to families - and the savings on the health care purse.  We can’t all head off to Sardinia and live on bread, cheese and wine, but we can all adopt more physical, stress-free lifestyles, where our priorities are not solely accumulating stuff and are more about the joy of living, loving, eating and moving.  It seems less possible than ever in this money- obsessed, joy- deprived country, but small changes can pay big dividends.

I’ll bet the elderly ladies of Sardinia, IKaria and Okinawa have more interesting things to consider than a stray white nose hair!