It's not just our bodies that need work - facial fitness is important, too, writes Phyl Clarke
September: new season, new term, new leaf. Wipe the summer slate clean and stop giving yourself a hard time about those chips/ice creams/full Irish breakfasts you indulged in while waiting for the weather to improve. Weight-loss classes and gyms around the country will see a sharp increase in enrolments this month. Power walkers will take over the pathways. Yoga classes will have waiting lists. In short, diet and exercise will preoccupy the minds of a large number of people. Good luck on your journey to your ideal body (by Christmas).
Most of us are aware of the importance of exercising our bodies to maintain tone and firm up muscles, but have you ever given any thought to exercising your face muscles? It may come as a shock to know that the muscles in the face have less support to begin with. A muscle elsewhere in the body has a bone at each end to support it, whereas in the face there is a supporting bone at only one end. This makes these muscles more susceptible to sagging and loss of tone.
Enter the queen of facial fitness, Eva Fraser, who promises that with her structured exercise programme, you can knock years off your appearance. Fraser has a studio in London where she teaches classes in facial fitness, or you can order a DVD and an illustrated book online from www.evafraser.com.
One look at this 79-year-old will convince you to give this a go; she looks a well-kept 55 and is her own best advertisement. In the DVD programme she first gives us a tour of the muscles of the face, explaining how and why they lose their elasticity as we age. Turkey neck, baggy eyes, droopy mouth - nothing escapes Fraser's attention. These can be replaced by firmer, tighter skin and a more pronounced jawline in just 10 minutes a day, she claims.
The programme is divided into two sections, starting with a basic workout comprising a set of six exercises. Eva advises spending two weeks at this basic stage, then moving on to the main programme, which works like this: do the exercises four days a week - a different set of exercises each day - and that's it, that's all you have to do. No magic creams, no plumping injections and not a scalpel in sight. But you have to do it regularly. I've been known to spend extended times in the ladies' powder room doing my daily routines if I haven't done them before coming to the office. I'm not brave enough to do them on the bus like someone I know. You will be your own best judge of the results, as you will spot any change or improvement immediately. I'm already impressed enough to keep it up and accept the compliments.
TOTAL EYE EXERCISEClose your eyes very tightly for a count of 10. Keeping your eyes closed, release the squeeze and raise your eyebrows as high as possible, again for a count of 10. With eyebrows still raised, open your eyes really wide for a count of 10. Relax and breathe.
TURKEY NECK EXERCISERaise your chin upwards and slowly draw the centre of your lower lip over your top lip. The corners of your mouth should turn down. Feel the stretch from under the chin upwards. Now put the tip of your tongue in the hollow at the base of your gums. With tongue and chin feel a gentle forward pressure for a count of 10. Relax to a count of five.