Translator: Misha Vorotyntsev Reviewer: Robert Tucker
Have you ever thought about your own old age?
Everyone wants to live long and stay young.
But are we being real?
Medical advances have gifted each of us 20, even 25, years of life.
Life expectancy is growing all over the world.
The number of people reaching 100 years of age is growing exponentially.
And it's even predicted that the generation born after 2020
will have an average lifespan of 100 years.
So, a long life is a reality.
But in what way is it becoming extended?
A person's life consists of youth, adulthood, and old age,
and it would be great
if we were able to add these gifted years to our youth.
But, alas, we add them to our old age.
But with what do you associate old age?
Old age is associated with health problems,
with infirmity,
with loneliness,
and with poverty,
and you wouldn't want to extend such a period of your life.
So is there a way out?
Yes, there is a way out:
we have to change the quality of life in old age.
Old age should not be a period of winding up life until death.
Old age should be a period of new opportunities,
discovering new talents,
and the achievement of goals that give meaning to life.
But all this is dependent on one single condition:
on you retaining your health.
I'd like to inspire you to invest in your health.
But we're not talking about money;
we're talking about an investment of time, energy, and effort.
I want to tell you
the story of my own path to a health-maintaining lifestyle.
I was lucky because, at the age of 19,
I saw a documentary on Indian yogis.
And I still remember that 63-year-old yogi
with that young, flexible body,
who performed the most complex asanas.
My grandma was also 63 at the time,
so I was able to make a comparison, and I perceived the difference.
And I realized
that in later years you can have a young, flexible body,
but on one condition:
the performance of certain relevant duties towards it.
And so that's how the first revolution came about in my mind.
The second revolution my mind experienced
came when I was 35.
A Western designer brought a clothes collection to Moscow,
together with a number of models.
These women were aged between 50 and 60,
but they really looked just like girls:
beautiful, slender, with long hair falling loose over their shoulders,
and moved so easily and elegantly on the catwalk -
it was just incredible.
All the stereotypes I held in my head were shattered by them,
and I understood
that you can stay beautiful, stylish, and elegant, at any age,
but again,
subject to you performing certain duties towards your body and health.
And my brain immediately created an image of myself at that age,
one as I would like to see myself then,
and I believed in it.
I introduced physical activity into my daily routine,
and made it a ritual of mine.
I simply started with morning exercises,
and later, I started to incorporate other types of physical activity.
And now I do it on a regular basis,
and if it so happens that I take a break for a couple of days,
I really feel a bit out of sorts.
And I go back to my Nordic walking
and somatic gymnastics.
I have received a wonderful bonus:
my body serves me now as it did at 35.
My movement is without pain;
my movement is not restricted in any way.
I can walk any distance, get up to the ninth floor,
run to catch the bus,
and this kind of bonus money won't buy.
I remember reading an analogy between human life and cycling.
Up to 45, cycling is all on level ground:
you turn the pedals and you move forward;
you stop turning the pedals and you simply stop,
nothing scary happens.
After 45, cycling is all uphill:
you turn the pedals - it's slow-going, but you move forward;
if you stop turning the pedals,
you start to roll backwards.
The further you get through life, the steeper this climb,
the more effort it takes to turn the pedals.
But if you stop turning the pedals, you rapidly roll back downhill.
Where to?
To decrepitude and infirmity, exactly that which you fear the most.
But how do you incorporate physical activity into your daily routine?
The secret is very simple:
choose what you like to do,
something that suits your disposition.
If physical activity brings you enjoyment,
you'll easily find the time for it throughout your day,
and moreover, it'll become a ritual like brushing your teeth.
Try not brushing your teeth for a day or two:
you won't like it.
But caring about your health
also entails an informed choice of diet.
We all know that there are foods
that are capable of disrupting carbohydrate or fat metabolism.
For example.
Sugar and white flour can disrupt carbohydrate metabolism.
Trans fats, margarine, can disrupt fat metabolism.
If we mix all that together, we get those things we enjoy eating most,
without which life isn't so sweet.
I don't buy, I don't bring home, and I don't eat, such things.
I've simply made a choice in favour of healthy alternatives.
I've replaced sugar with stevia sweeteners,
which are made of a natural extract from the leaves of the stevia plant.
And by the way, stevia has been used as a sweetener for 3,000 years.
I've exchanged trans fats for healthy fats.
And you'll ask:
"But how do we go without our favourite treats?
Who needs this kind of life?"
Make your own desserts using healthy ingredients.
Eat fruits and berries in place of the yummies.
I did this 30 years ago, and I've gained a wonderful bonus:
I've been spared diabetes, from which both my parents suffered.
I saw how, in old age,
the consequences of this disease made their lives more difficult.
But at 70, I'm not taking any kind of medication.
Therefore, if you start to build
a healthy lifestyle at 40,
you'll be investing in your long-term well-being,
you won't become slaves to the pharmaceutical industry,
you won't be taking your tribute payment to the pharmacy every month,
and you will be gifted
with a long life without debility.
And your life energy in the third phase
will give you a positive attitude towards life.
In general, such an ability to see the positive side in everything
is a unique talent,
and it needs to be developed.
I once read a parable about flies and bees.
The fly, no matter what garden paradise it flies into,
will always find dirt and take it away on its legs.
But the bee, no matter where life takes it, will always find nectar,
and take that nectar away with it.
It's the same with people:
there are people-flies and there are people-bees.
Which would you like to be?
I realized that there's as much beauty in my life
as I am able to make out in it.
And I forced my brain to focus
on the beauty there is in everyday life.
And my brain always focuses on
the beauty of flowers, landscapes, architecture,
on the rustle of leaves, birdsong, the chuckling of babies, for example.
But I don't just focus on these things, I find pleasure and joy in it.
And there's this feeling of gratitude that I'm able to take all this in.
And the feeling of gratitude alters my brain chemistry,
fills me with energy,
and allows me to build a good relationship with myself
and the world around me.
And I've learned how to retain that positive feeling about the world.
I even believe that that wave of good fortune
that I've been riding on for the past two years
has been linked in some way to this positive outlook.
But what scares women most - and I know it personally -
are those changes in appearance that come with age.
I went through this crisis when I was 43,
when I first noticed age-related changes in my own face and my own posture.
Panic gripped me.
I understood that things would only get worse from then on.
But to take the plastic surgery route
was something I, as a doctor, could not choose,
because I know that every surgical intervention
is stressful to the body and carries a risk of complications.
So I started to chart my own path.
I began, bit by bit, to collect information
and try it out on myself.
In the end, I took to ancient techniques,
face yoga and face shiatsu.
These are very light exercises, they can be done at any time,
so they don't even need special time allocation.
They can be done while sitting at the computer
or caught up in traffic,
but they are really effective.
There was a wonderful bonus for me:
my face has remained its recognizable self.
People that haven't seen me in, say, 30, 40 years,
easily recognize me
and even tell me that I've barely changed.
Although I do realize
that my face does have wrinkles, and there are other age-related changes,
they don't bother me,
I've just learned to accept myself the way I am at my age.
And instead of chasing after youth and fighting the wrinkles,
I've simply created the best version I can of myself at my age.
I've performed a sort of sui generis experiment on myself
over the course of 27 years,
and can state with confidence
that the path of natural, healthy, elegant ageing exists.
But what's especially important for women
is to feel like a woman at any age,
and to keep the habits and rituals of their youth.
For example, if you used to use makeup in your youth,
continue to do so throughout your life.
If you were interested in fashion and loved to dress fashionably,
continue to do so throughout your life.
If you loved to sing karaoke, sing.
If you loved to dance, dance.
Your brain will see you as a young woman,
and your body will automatically follow your mood:
you will move differently, you will hold yourself differently,
your outlook will change as will your facial expression.
But most importantly, you'll see yourself just as a young woman sees herself.
And what's more, it will be infectious towards those around you:
they will see you in that way,
and you will turn off the old-age centre of your brain.
But unfortunately, in our society,
norms exist in the perception of people in this third phase.
These norms are outdated,
they seem as if taken from the last century,
they in no way correspond to the way age is looked at now,
though they still exist to impede women.
Many women fear not conforming to these norms.
They have thoughts like, for example:
"This colour is too bright for me at my age",
or "This fashion trend is not for me, it's for young people",
"This style is not acceptable for someone my age".
Of course, we have to crush these norms
and create a new way to think about people in the third phase of life:
one that sees them active, life-loving, healthy,
in step with the times.
Who might help with that?
The fashion industry and advertising, of course.
They are the ones creating role models,
but our fashion and advertising industries
are stricken with ageism.
Our understanding of beauty, elegance, style, glamour,
is associated exclusively with the young.
If you're approaching 45 or 50,
you will not see your peers, women who look like you,
in Belarusian glamour magazines,
in the advertisements of Belarusian designers,
nor on advertising placards and displays,
nor even in popular television shows -
you'll not see them there.
And that's dangerous
because you'll get the feeling
that, at your age, you are now on the sidelines of life,
that a bright, interesting life is passing you by,
and it creates a feeling of anxiety,
some kind of fear about your prospects,
and most of all, you'll subconsciously begin to dislike your third phase,
and that's very dangerous.
There are studies that have shown
that the health of people in their third phase
is directly related to their outlook on their third phase
and how they feel in themselves in this third phase.
I decided to make my contribution to the fight against ageism.
The fact is, the West has long understood this social, negative side of ageism.
And there they are fighting very successfully against ageism.
Models aged 60+, 70+, appear on the catwalks of all fashion weeks.
They appear on the covers of glamour magazines,
and are written about.
Global brands sign them up and make them the faces of their brands.
They're on the advertising in shopping malls,
in airports, all around the world.
And everyone has discovered the beauty of an older woman for themselves.
At 69, I became an ageless model.
And I want to tell you that there's good news:
the ice has been broken:
I'm invited by Belarusian clothing and accessory brands,
and fashion stores,
to do advertising.
And even advertising agencies
are inviting me to appear in advertisements -
and not in advertisements for dentures or adult incontinence pants -
(Applause) (Cheers)
but in electronics advertisements, in banking services advertisements.
And at 69 years of age, I became a blogger:
I run my own blog on Instagram.
I share my experiences, knowledge,
I talk about my life and the vision behind my blog,
which is to free women from the fear of the number that is their age,
and to show that you can have a bright, interesting, fulfilling life at any age.
Around my blog, there's even to be found forming
a kind of community of like-minded people.
Sometimes full-on discussions take place in the comments,
I receive many "Thanks",
and that fills my life with purpose.
In my 70s,
I live my life as if on school holiday:
I only do what I like to do,
things that give me pleasure.
I meet with creative people, attend interesting events,
set goals and achieve them.
And I look to my future without fear.
So, I'd like to inspire you to not fear that number that is your age,
to take care of yourself,
to create the best version of yourself at whatever age you are,
to maintain a positive outlook on the world.
Turn the pedals,
and reap the gift of the longevity of your dreams.
(Applause)