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Young want to be younger Smart kids end up as safer adults
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Young want to be younger
Sonia Khanna was very upset. She had just seen those dreaded laughter lines beneath her eyes. Sonia knew it well that she could not take things lightly and had to take charge if she was keen on continuing her career as a professional model. The obvious solution was to fix up an appointment with a well-known cosmetic surgeon whom many of her friends regularly visited to have those laughter lines removed. Or perhaps she should have a talk with her beauty therapist to check out if she could start some kind of anti-aging treatment. In our beauty-obsessed times Khanna’s behaviour might not have been out of sync had she not been just 19 years. It’s incredible but true girls even as young as 18 are desperate to stop any signs of aging. Botox, once an anti-aging solution for middle-aged women with wrinkles, is becoming increasingly popular even among the young. Meet Rima Ghosh, an aspiring TV journalist who is keen to try out botox shots. “My mom gets regular botox shots and she is gorgeous. I want to get in media which is quite a glamour-oriented industry. So I want my face to look perfect. That’s the reason I am keen to take these shots to remove the laughter lines from beneath my eyes,” she says. Model Sheena, 21, took botox shots when she felt that her skin was not as smooth and glowing as it used to be. “I started modelling when I was 14 and had great skin then. But exposure to harsh light and make-up have robbed my skin of its natural glow. I want it to look younger and botox helped me achieve that,” she says. Studies show that botox is effective not against just wrinkles and aging lines but is also effective for acne and excessive sweating. Maybe this attribute makes botox quite popular among the youth across the globe. According to a survey done by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, people from ages 19-34 had 4,27,368 botox procedures in 2004. Fifteen per cent of the half million Canadians who had done botox procedures in the same year were teenagers. And India seems to be no exception with a number of teenagers reportedly queuing up for it. Confirms a popular surgeon in Kolkata (doesn’t want to be named): “Yes, I get many requests from young girls. Everyone nowadays seems to opt for a quick fix. However, I only give quick-fix solutions to persons who have lines that can affect their professional life. For example, I’d give a botox shot to a young upcoming model if she has a really bad frown that can jeopardise her professional career.” Says Dr Aparna Santhanam of a skin clinic: “I would define anti-aging facials as age-control facials and yes often young people too do need it. The modern day stress, exposure to sun tend to age our skin very rapidly. Once we have assessed the age of the skin and the causes behind it, we try to arrest it by customised treatment.” Bollywood celebrity Pooja Bedi says: “In my profession, the skin goes through a lot of stress. The age-control services help to keep my skin healthy and youthful. It's not about hiding one's age, it's about delaying and defying an ageing process and for my skin to look and be the best it can be.” The fact that the botox experience can last not more than a few months is a fact that seems not to bother most youngsters. Says psychologist Deepankar Mitra: “Surplus of cash and obsession with beauty seem to be the two factors that make these youngsters opt for botox shots.” The technique of botox shot is minimally evasive and an injection costs about Rs 19,000 plus services, which is affordable to youth and adolescents from the upwardly mobile class. And it is precisely this factor that makes many to try out botox, often before some special event in their life. Like Ramya Srinivasan, who wanted a botox injection before her marriage. “It was my D-Day and I wanted to look perfect. Botox seemed to be the perfect answer to do away with those frown and laughter lines and come up with a smooth skin. My doctor had asked me to freeze my facial muscles while laughing or talking to prevent their formation in future.” Experts believe that the sad part is that in this age of instant gratification people are no longer willing to rely on nature to be beautiful. Avoiding smoking, direct exposure to sun, and most importantly, having a well-balanced lifestyle can help you retain youth. “However, today’s youth is too scared of getting old and in a process has forgotten to enjoy youth and lead a life that can make them naturally beautiful and stay youthful. They need to learn the concept of aging gracefully,” says Mitra.
— TWF
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Smart kids end up as safer adults Smarter children may end up being safer adults, according to a long-term study comparing childhood intelligence with adult injury rates.
"Children from the study who scored lower on intelligence tests at ages seven, nine and 11 were more likely than their peers to be hospitalised for an accidental injury as adults," says Debbie Lawlor, Ph.D., of the University of Bristol in England. "To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between childhood intelligence and risk of nonfatal injury in adulthood," the researchers said. Lawlor and colleagues found that early intelligence scores and the risk of later injury were linked even after accounting for other factors such as the child's socioeconomic background and his or her physical growth. The more educated a person, the weaker the link between childhood intelligence and adult injury, the researchers found. Patricia Schnitzer, Ph.D., a child injury researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said a child's intelligence might affect his or her risk of injury when young, "But, I think protection, or childproofing, and supervision by responsible adults are probably more important in terms of injury prevention than the intelligence of the child," she added. Children with low intelligence may be less able to process information from their surroundings that would help them avoid injury or accidents later in life, the researchers say. They add that children with lower intelligence tend to leave school earlier, which can affect their ability to process information and may place them in riskier jobs and living conditions.— ANI
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