• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Sheryl Kraft

freelance health writer

  • About Me
    • My Resume
  • Portfolio
    • Beauty & Fashion
    • Cancer
    • Essays
    • Eye Health
    • Fitness
    • Health
    • Menopause
    • Misc
    • Nutrition
    • Pain
    • Sleep
    • Work/Life
  • Work with Me
  • Newsletter
  • Blog
    • Beauty
    • Best Of
    • Current Obsessions
    • Diet & Exercise
    • Fashion
    • Food & Nutrition
    • Menopause
    • Midlife
    • Relationships
    • Spa & Travel
  • Contact

September 11, 2018

Is This Body Part Aging You?

Published in: Aging, Arbonne, Beauty, Botox, how to treat aging skin, i feel bad about my neck, Kybella, Rodan & Fields, StriVectin, turkey neck, ultherapy, what to do about a wrinkled neck

Creaky knees…an aching back…diminished eyesight…a weaker bladder. These are hardly unexpected consequences of aging and come with the territory. (Oh, don’t worry, you can fight them!)

But one body part you might not think much about as it relates to getting older? Your neck.

Like rings on a tree, the neck is usually where you begin to see the first signs of aging, which can happen well before they begin to show on your face.

That’s because the skin on your neck is thin and more prone to dryness and crepiness than, say, the skin on your face. (The late great Nora Ephron felt plenty bad about her neck. She wrote, “according to my dermatologist, the neck starts to go at forty-three…Our faces are lies but our necks are the truth.”)

Why is this? Well, many of us neglect our necks, only thinking about protecting and treating our faces with lotions and potions to protect and moisturize. When you think about the fact, too, that your neck is constantly exposed to the elements and is not covered up too often (with the exception being in the colder weather), it’s no wonder that it’s mighty vulnerable to the many negative effects of the sun, wind and pollution.

But the outside elements are not the only things wreaking damage on your neck. With the advent of electronic devices, we’re spending a lot of time inside, too, with our heads hanging down. Not only will holding your head in that position give you what’s known as “text neck” and lead to things like upper and shoulder pain, muscle tightness, spasms, and headaches, it can contribute to “turkey neck” and other aesthetic issues caused by the continuous crinkling of the skin and breakdown of your tissue’s integrity to protect against wrinkles. (Holding your phone at eye level can help prevent that problem, or keep it from getting worse.) Nowadays, upper back pain is being associated with adolescents instead of the elderly simply due to ‘text neck’, and the hunched-over position so many of our teens are seen in as they stare at their screens. Such positions can lead to more serious conditions than just back pain, like kyphosis, an unnatural curvature of the spine. You can learn more here about the condition… do we really want our children to be seen as hunchbacks at such a young age? Our posture, as well as our kids and adolescents, must be corrected. Make sure that you take something for your pain if it is bothering you on a daily basis. And if you find that your pain medication isn’t strong enough, then you may want to consider an alternative option. Different types of cannabis strands and extracts have been known to help with pain relief; so you can visit somewhere like to go weed to have a look at the products that are on offer to you. It is important that you choose the best option for you though.

When you think about the fact that the average head weighs 10 pounds – and for each inch, your head is tilted forward the pressure on your spine doubles – it’s easy to understand how our poor necks bear the burden.

What you need to do is to pay attention to how you are treating your neck from two perspectives; the cosmetic and the practical.

The next time you stand at your mirror prepping your face for the day, prep your neck, too. Start when you cleanse your face – sloughing away the dead skin can make way for the active ingredients in the products you use to penetrate better. Then extend your lotion, cream or sunblock downwards – including the décolletage area, which is equally thin and delicate skin. (I love that word, but always stumble over its pronunciation. For the uninitiated, it’s the skin on your neck, shoulders, back and upper chest.)

Or, you can buy a product specially designated for use on the neck area (since those designated just for the neck usually contain stronger formulations with helpful ingredients that can stimulate elastin and collagen), like Arbonne’s RE9 Advanced Age-Defying Neck Cream, which glides on effortlessly (no need to pull further on that already-delicate skin!) and is packed with helpful age-friendly ingredients like Vitamin C, alpha hydroxy acids and powerful peptides. This one from Roc contains a retinol, which has been shown to work on the neck and chest, too. Other valuable ingredients to look for include tetrapeptides and niacin (a B vitamin).

Of course, there are lots of other options out there like this skin pad that you wear while you sleep, or this serum from StriVectin. Right now, I’m using this regimen by Rodan & Fields, a new-to-me company that has definitely convinced me to be a regular-to-them customer. I’m finding the products from this company, founded by two Stanford-trained female dermatologists, to be amazingly gentle yet effective on my face, and I extend them down to my neck area, too.

You may wish to pull out the big guns and meet with a plastic surgeon, dermatologist or aesthetic specialist like Dr Nyla, to learn about treatments like ultherapy, Kybella (injections that dissolve superficial chin fat), Botox or liposuction; or for a more permanent fix, surgery. If you’re interested in liposuction, amongst other things that we wish we had as we get older, you can get in contact with cosmetic surgery denver, Colorado. They specialise in surgery on the body, face, skin, and breasts.

For the ultimate in entertainment, you can always stand in front of your mirror, gently pull your skin on either side of your face back, and stare wistfully at that once-familiar, younger version of yourself. (But your hands will eventually get tired, after all. Make sure that once you let go, you immediately turn away from the mirror and head for a glass of wine. Just kidding, of course. Well, kind of…)

Embrace your inner supergirl!

Meanwhile, the weather is getting colder, and since I’m not the turtleneck type, I’m pulling out my huge collection of scarves that have gone unworn for many years. Suddenly, in this so-called midlife, they’ve taken on new meaning, and not only are fun and fashionable, but functional as well.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares
Previous Post: « 5 Fall Food Swaps to Prevent Digestive Pain for People with UC
Next Post: Exercising When Not Feeling Well: Does Activity Help or Hurt? »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Irene S. Levine says

    September 12, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    Makes me think about Nora Ephron who “felt bad about her neck.” Thanks for the reminders.

  2. sheryl kraft says

    September 12, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    Yes, me too. I always think of her when I think about necks!

  3. Emily Susan says

    September 28, 2018 at 2:27 am

    It was helpfull and usefull article. Thank you for writing. keep it up please

    Menopause

Primary Sidebar

Learn more or
read the archives.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

About Me

What’s this so-called midlife, anyway?

It’s a time of tremendous change, growth and opportunity. A time to re-evaluate our choices, our experiences and ourselves. A time to take what we’ve accumulated up until now and put it to work.

When I turned 50, many things changed... read more about me.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Reader Feedback

speaks realistically about what happens when we approach our 50’s and beyond

I think your website is GREAT!  It's hard to find an online space that speaks realistically about what happens when we approach our 50's and beyond.  Keep writing, and thanks for your support."
Sheryl Kraft
2016-11-29T02:25:43+00:00
I think your website is GREAT!  It's hard to find an online space that speaks realistically about what happens when we approach our 50's and beyond.  Keep writing, and thanks for your support."
https://sherylkraft.com/testimonials/readers-love-us/

A High School Student and Aspiring Writer from Australia Reaches Out…

I would love to hear a few things on the prospect from a first hand-perspective, and would be thrilled to learn more about it from you. Your advice is well valued and I’m very grateful to have such wise words from someone with such first hand experience.

I will be looking forward to reading more of your wonderful articles in the future!

Best wishes,

Mikayla

 
Sheryl Kraft
2017-01-17T13:37:55+00:00
I would love to hear a few things on the prospect from a first hand-perspective, and would be thrilled to learn more about it from you. Your advice is well valued and I’m very grateful to have such wise words from someone with such first hand experience. I will be looking forward to reading more of your wonderful articles in the future! Best wishes, Mikayla  
https://sherylkraft.com/testimonials/high-school-student-aspiring-writer-australia-reaches/

Due to your article, traffic and sales have been great this past week!

On behalf of our entire organization, we'd like to thank you so much for featuring our product in last week’s Parade Magazine. Due to your article, traffic and sales have been great this past week.! We are a small business that prides ourselves on excellent product quality and customer service. We work hard to make quality products and market them effectively but then sometimes you get a gift like your article which really takes us to the next level. We will be eternally grateful to you for choosing us as one of your eye product recommendations.

 
Sheryl Kraft
2018-12-07T02:46:56+00:00
On behalf of our entire organization, we'd like to thank you so much for featuring our product in last week’s Parade Magazine. Due to your article, traffic and sales have been great this past week.! We are a small business that prides ourselves on excellent product quality and customer service. We work hard to make quality products and market them effectively but then sometimes you get a gift like your article which really takes us to the next level. We will be eternally grateful to you for choosing us as one of your eye product recommendations.  
https://sherylkraft.com/testimonials/due-to-your-article-traffic-and-sales-have-been-great-this-past-week/

I’m writing to express my admiration for the work you are doing!

I'm a young medical writer trying to get a foothold in the industry, so the portfolio you have on your website showcasing your accomplishments is something that I'm aiming to achieve.

I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I am hoping you can share some advice, tips, or guidance as I work on this, my lateral career change!

Thanks for taking the time to read this - I know you probably have much more exciting things to be doing, but just know that your work is inspiring me to continue down this writing path.

 
Sheryl Kraft
2020-02-14T14:57:09+00:00
I'm a young medical writer trying to get a foothold in the industry, so the portfolio you have on your website showcasing your accomplishments is something that I'm aiming to achieve. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I am hoping you can share some advice, tips, or guidance as I work on this, my lateral career change! Thanks for taking the time to read this - I know you probably have much more exciting things to be doing, but just know that your work is inspiring me to continue down this writing path.  
https://sherylkraft.com/testimonials/im-writing-to-express-my-admiration-for-the-work-you-are-doing/
0
Sheryl Kraft
Sheryl Craft is a Live Healthy Connecticut Expert

Specialties Include:

  • Midlife Women
  • Spa/Travel
  • Health & Wellness
  • Nutrition
  • Beauty
  • Fitness
  • Branded Content
  • Sponsored Posts
  • Blogging
  • About Me
  • Portfolio
  • Work with Me
  • Newsletter
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 SherylKraft.com


Disclaimer: The medical information on this website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. SherylKraft.com makes no representations or warranties in relation to the medical information on this website.