Ever wonder why people think you look older than your age? You not only look older, but you also feel old. You find yourself in a social gathering, and everyone you meet thinks you are older than your younger siblings. How does it make you feel? Do you ever think you just might be responsible for how you look and feel?
Ageing as we all know is inescapable. What you do can, however, control the ageing pace. Consider some of your daily habits that may not seem like much but what you don’t know is how much damage you may be causing your body.
These habits unknowingly speed up your ageing process and give you wrinkles before you hit 30 and have considering a facelift that you could have avoided in the first place.
If the compliments you have been getting lately centres on how old you look, or how big your eye bags are getting, then you need to evaluate your lifestyle altogether thoroughly.
Possible Reasons Why You Might Be Aging Fast
Direct Exposure to Sunlight
They say too much of everything is not good and I believe excess exposure to direct sunlight is way too much. Apart from the risk of sunburn, skin cancer and wrinkling, it could also lead to premature ageing.
Research by Australian scientists monitored more than 900 people for about four years and discovered that the individuals who consistently applied sunscreen on their skin showed fewer signs of ageing on their skin compared to those who were indifferent about the use of sunscreen.
Direct exposure to sunlight without the use of sunscreen is exceedingly dangerous, and you must do well to avoid it at all cost.
Skipping your Vitamins
In case you aren’t aware, fruits play the most vital roles in keeping the skin looking fresh and healthy since it contains antioxidants and vitamins. Not having enough amounts of fruits is as good as starving your skin of what it needs to glow.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that adults consume at least two cups of fruit juice per day.
This helps fight off diseases in the body, prevent damages that could cause your skin to age too early, even out pigmentation problems, reduces possible inflammation and protects the skin from ultraviolet damages.
It wouldn’t hurt to add fruits like guava, oranges, strawberries and some vegetables to your next shopping list.
Cigarette smoking
Think of inside your body as an engine house that gives out products of what you put in. Consider how many times you must have lit a cigarette and inhaled its smoke inside your body.
Research makes us understand that asides from the obvious health risks of smoking, smokers stand the chance of developing eye bags, wrinkles, jowls and slows down healing.
Smoking hinders the delivery of oxygen to the skin by clogging the blood vessels and cutting off blood flow. Your regular stick of cigarette has harmful chemicals that cause a long-lasting effect on the body and increases the risk of ageing. It is highly advisable to avoid smoking altogether.
Gulping the Booze
You wake up with a hangover, and you wonder why you look as horrible as you feel? Simple. That is because alcohol isn’t good for you. Read that again till it sinks in enough to understand the risk you’ve been exposing yourself to.
Alcohol intake can reduce the level of antioxidants to your skin and cause free radical damage to your skin and cause inflammation. This causes skin wrinkles and eye bags as drinking alcohol can result in dehydration.
If you must drink, limit your alcohol intake to at most one or two bottles per day for men. Too much drinking increases the risk of extreme health problems.
Watch it.
Not getting enough snooze time
Getting enough rest the body requires can increase the chance of helping you look and even feel younger. Not getting enough amount of sleep can affect the way the cells that repair skin functions. This inevitably stresses the skin and disturbs repair process that could diminish healthy cells and speed up ageing.
Choosing stress over rest
Long-term stress reduces a part of our chromosomes known as telomeres. Although this structure shortens as we grow older, but not getting enough rest increases the risk of ageing even quicker than usual.
Spending too much time at work, not sleeping long enough, worrying too much, not meditating enough play a major factor in putting you at risk. Find the time to get enough rest. You really don’t want to look 70 when you are only 40.
Investing the time to take good care of your body and keeping a healthy habit helps you looking 16 at 60. Who wouldn’t want that? Avoid these unhealthy habits and watch the magical changes it does to skin. Cheers!
Informative. Especially on the matter of stress, sleep and booze!