Top 10 Habits That Age You
Aging is inevitable, but you can still feel and look younger than your years if you know few facts. If you’re fatigued in the middle of the day or notice new lines on your face in the morning, your everyday habits may be adding more years to you than you know. Experts give advice on ways to turn back the clock.
1) Staying up late
Staying up late is fun in your teens, but burning the midnight oil can make you look older as you age. Beauty sleep is not just an old wives tales. Sleep deprivation causes bags under the eyes and droopy, tired eyelids and pallor. This makes us look less healthy, and, hence, we appear less attractive to others. To determine how much sleep you need to look your best, add up the number of hours of sleep you get over a period of two weeks (including naps) and divide by 14.
2) Let it go
If you’re unable to let bygones be bygones, you may add years to your body. Several studies show a link between forgiveness and physical health. A lack of forgiveness increased nervous symptom activity, contributing to a greater number of medications taken and decreased sleep quality. Holding a grudge increases stress, which boosts levels of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol contributes to weight gain, raises blood pressure, elevates blood sugar and increases the risk of diabetes. Learn how to let go, and you may live longer.
3) Exercise regularly
If your exercise plan starts every Jan. 1 and lasts only until you’re able to fit back into your jeans, you may be cheating yourself out of longevity. Many studies show that regular exercise helps prevent age-related diseases and prolongs life span. Daily exercise helps lower cortisol levels and increases beneficial hormones like testosterone . It also helps control high blood pressure, improve mood and keeps us strong and flexible as we age.
4) Say no to sugar
If you never say no to dessert, you may be saying yes to more wrinkles. Sugar increases aging of every part of our body . Eating a diet high in sugar will not only damage your waistline but it will increase your risk of diabetes and can even cause skin problems, especially acne and wrinkles. When you eat sugar a process called glycation occurs, where the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins, forming new molecules called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs for short. These AGEs damage nearby protein fibers that keep skin elastic. A better choice would be dark chocolate with low sugar, or if you need to use sweeteners, consider monk fruit, a natural sweetener that doesn’t raise blood sugar.
5) Smoking is bad
It’s time to kick those butts to the curb if you want to live a long, healthy life. A clear link between smoking and longevity exists, and the earlier you quit the more years you add to your life. Smokers who quit at age 65 add between two to four years of longevity. Smoking causes the release of free radicals . . . which is like rust for your body . Smokers have higher risks of almost any disease under the sun, including cancer, heart disease, dementia and generally premature death.
6) Don’t touch your eyes
Tired eyes? Avoid rubbing them if you want to stay younger-looking. Rubbing your eyes breaks down the collagen and elasticity around the area, which produces wrinkles and broken capillaries. The skin in this area is incredibly thin and extremely sensitive and vulnerable to sun damage and wrinkling . This is why rubbing your eyes may result in broken capillaries. For relief from tired or irritated eyes, instead of rubbing them, try brewing two green tea bags, allow them to cool and place them over your eyes for 10 minutes. If you are concerned about broken capillaries, look for ingredients that build collagen. Applying creams that contain vitamins K and D, as well as including them as part of a balanced diet, can also help.
7) Limit alcohol
A moderate amount of alcohol has heart healthy-benefits, but an excess shortens your life, according to a study published in the January 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Alcohol-dependent women showed a 4.6-fold higher death rate compared with the general population; alcoholic-dependent men have a nearly twofold higher risk of dying earlier than the average male. Excess alcohol can lead to heart failure and high blood pressure as well as cirrhosis of the liver and weight gain.
8) Maintain your weight
Stay young by attaining a healthy body weight and sticking to it. Losing and regaining weight ages you by increasing your risk of heart disease and diabetes .
9) Sleeping with your face smashed into the pillow can make you look years older in a couple of ways.
Persistently pressing your face into a pillow causes trauma to the skin. Over time, this trauma, aggravated by the friction of a cotton pillowcase, can create permanent creases as collagen breaks down. The skin’s ability to regenerate itself is also compromised by the impaired circulation to the part of the face pressed into the pillow, says Gross. Sleep on your back to stay younger-looking, or use a satin pillowcase to minimize the friction.
10) Say no to junk food
Living on junk food and fast food dumps unhealthy levels of sodium, fat and cholesterol into your system, which boosts the aging process and increases the likelihood of obesity. With weight gain comes a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes . Avoiding processed foods and eating more whole foods reduces the amount of added sugar and fat in your diet and decreases these risks. Whole, unprocessed foods are also high in fiber, which promotes low cholesterol . Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish (salmon, trout, tuna), walnuts and flaxseed also help decrease inflammation in the body and promote healthy skin and reduce the development of wrinkles.
