Myths and legends abound concerning elixirs for eternal youth but, unfortunately, none of them are true. For the time being, there is no quick fix to slaying young. However, there is lots you can do to keep yourself fit and healthy, young at heart and looking more youthful.

There are many ways you can change your diet and lifestyle to improve your well being into old age. There’s also a lot that conventional medicine and complementary therapies can do to help you ‘beat the years’.

While many people stay fit and healthy well into old age, some develop chronic diseases associated with ageing, such as heart problems, diabetes, arthritis, acid reflux disease or osteoporosis. A chronic health condition can age people much faster than ‘normal’. However, if you do have a long-term health problem, don’t give up hope. There are many complementary therapies you can try (like tantric yoga exercises) that, while they might not cure you, can help to relieve your symptoms, increase your life expectancy, and improve your mobility and well being.

All the conventional medicines available today can have side effects and you should find out what these are, and report any you experience to your doctor or pharmacist. Do not stop taking a prescribed medicine without consulting with your doctor.

In the West, it is this conventional medicine that has undergone the most extensive testing and research. Some alternative therapies like the many meditation techniques may not be susceptible to this type of analysis, and where research has been carried out it has often been of insufficient quality to be scientifically conclusive about the therapy’s efficacy.

Having said that, many complementary therapies have been practiced for literally thousands of years, and have the weight of tradition and anecdotal evidence to support them, even though they may not have been subjected to clinical trials.

It is not uncommon these days to receive a free mobile phone from your network provider or high street retailer at the start of a 12 or 18 month contract. They can do this as you have offered them your business and custom for a fixed period of time, so they know a minimum figure of income they will receive, from you over the length of the contract.

Just because you were given the phone free of charge, do not assume it is of no or little value. It is not uncommon for mobiles to have a very high replacement value if you lost or damaged your phone, some of the latest phones are worth well over 400 pounds!

This is the time when it would be worth considering if it is worth taking out some protection in case the worst happens to your phone!

iphone insurance for example, with a replacement value of almost 500 pounds and a monthly insurance premium of just 5 or 6 pounds per month, it could well be worth taking out a stand alone policy to protect it for the first two thirds of the contract life.

A handy tip with phone insurance is to choose a policy that will not tie you into a lengthy contract as you may well know, many network providers may be willing to give you another free replacement phone, if you are in the last couple of months of your contract, as they can then be sure of your custom for another year or so!

Basically choose an insurance policy that you can cancel when you are at about two thirds of the way through your contract. If you do not lose your phone, then you have saved, if you do lose or damage it you can get another free one from the network, but remember to insure the new phone again!