ROSIE GREEN SPA STRUCK

The latest must-have youth-preserving experience is a wellness clinic – get yourself to La Réserve to learn optimal ageing, pronto

Winning at life? The trad trappings are a flash car, Rose Uniacke interiors, an outdoor kitchen… So far, so predictable.

The newest status symbol is optimised health. Not only living longer but looking great and feeling good as the years pass. Staying fit and toned of limb, with all your own teeth and your mojo intact is the ultimate two fingers to the Joneses and their book-matched marble.

For those that are serious about preserving youth, there are a slew of wellness destinations where optimal ageing is the goal. They run blood tests and scrutinise your diet and your posture. The idea is that they can stop niggles before they become chronic conditions, and tweak your exercise regime so your time in the gym is most productive.

Enter La Réserve in Geneva. Its spa has partnered with Nescens, which specialises in anti-ageing medicine and optimising wellness. The super-rich fly into their clinics from all over the world for tests and advice. It offers a four-day better-ageing programme, which I signed up for with glee. It’s Nescens-lite, with spa benefits. It appealed mainly because of the diagnostic tests and analysis of my diet and lifestyle. I’ll take them over a facial any day.

Joyously, La Réserve is only about 10 minutes from Geneva airport. As you draw up to the entrance, the hotel itself feels underwhelming. It is smart and luxe but architecturally lacking in grandeur, with a dark African-inspired interior that seems at odds with a spa stay. Our room was grand and well appointed – but in a similar decorating style.

The spa itself was perfect – all white and super-chic, and saved from being clinical by the friendly and helpful staff. (The staff were exceptional in every area of the hotel from the chef to the nutritionist to the therapists to the waiters.) It has all the amenities you would want (hammam, sauna, relaxation area, café, pool) and some you don’t (a special machine for breathing in alpine air). A meeting with the nutritionist was enlightening and never once veered into the quackery I’ve experienced in other spas. (She said goodquality bread was fine and is sceptical about supplements. Tick. Tick.) The osteopath was similarly inspiring; I left with my pelvis realigned and many workable tips on how to avoid lower back pain. A diagnostic session with a doctor looks at (among other things) cholesterol, iron, and vitamin D levels. Afterwards, they use their findings to create a bespoke programme.

Lots of people, most people, go to lose weight. And if that’s your goal, the food on the restricted calorie diet is exquisite. Filling and appetising – a palette-cleansing, portionre-educating smorgasbord of fresh fruit, veg and fish. My daily personal training sessions were fun too, with new and interesting ways to work out. And the treatments (at least one daily, included in the package) were of the highest quality.

I slept soundly and left feeling lighter and brighter – de-stressed and detoxed.

If you don’t have the time or money for the full programme, you could dip in for a weekend and still reap the rewards. If you have more time and more money you could stay for seven nights and lose some

(biological) years and pounds.

The nutritionist told me “people tend to book in as a present to themselves”.

Well, it beats a book voucher.

A meeting with the nutritionist was enlightening and avoided quackery

or just hang out, and offers the usual hair services, plus manicures and pedicures by DryBy, facials by Sunday Riley. There’s also Suman Brows and Ministry of Waxing. Only tanning is absent. (29 Berners St, London W1T 3LR.)

The four-day Nescens BetterAgeing Programme at La Réserve Geneva costs

4,800 CHF (£3,590) per person, including accommodation in a superior room, three personalised meals daily and all treatments, activities and assessments. To book, visit lareserve.ch

‘I slept soundly and left feeling lighter’