Alert! 9 Bad Habits That Make You Older Faster!
We cannot stop aging. In fact, we humans have already doubled our intended biological lifespan since the Stone Age. Research suggests that, from a purely genetic point of view, an age of 40 marks the natural end of our bodies. This would also be a possible explanation for why so many serious illnesses begin at this point, and our bodies begin to break down, both perceived and actual. But we can now do a lot ourselves to avoid aging faster than absolutely necessary. Besides medicine and the beauty industry, we also have a few tricks from the do-it-yourself corner at our disposal. Basically, it would be enough to say goodbye to a few bad habits. We’ll introduce you to 9 you can get rid of to stay younger in this article.
1. Stress
It's actually the silent killer number 1 that is partly responsible for many diseases and also early and progressive aging. We live in a very demanding time. We are expected to keep all the balls in the air and fulfill every social obligation. As a result, we not only have to balance between work and family, but also rush from appointment to appointment in our free time. For our bodies, this constant stress means increased inflammatory foci in the body, which, among other things, damage the skin fibers. The result is tired skin that looks dull and much older than it actually is. But that's not all, stress penetrates deep into our body and even damages its cell structure. So not only does it make us look old, it actually ages us prematurely on a cellular level.
2. Lack of sleep
Even at an advanced age, we still need an average of about 7 hours of restful sleep to function at our best during the day. Our bodies use the nighttime rest period to perform repair work. And as we know, these don't exactly decrease with age. Lack of sleep makes us unfocused and restless. We are in a bad mood, suffer from food cravings and gain weight. The blood sugar peaks then lead to poor sleep and increased consumption of unhealthy foods in large quantities. In addition, our hormone balance is brought up to speed during sleep. In the case of sleep deprivation, this gets out of whack, which results in the release of the stress hormone cortisol. This not only makes us even more overweight, but also causes skin irritations, unsightly spots on the face and dry patches, all of which promote the formation of wrinkles.
3. Smoking
It's been no secret for a long time, nicotine not only damages our lungs and blood vessels, it also makes us look old and sickly very quickly. Our skin gets poorer blood circulation. Nicotine also releases an enzyme that weakens the elasticity of our skin. As a result, collagen production is disrupted. Proteins that normally ensure a healthy skin structure and give it support are destroyed by nicotine. The skin becomes wrinkled, saggy, dries out and looks pale and unhealthy. Incidentally, it is a persistent myth that we automatically gain weight when we stop smoking. However, those who exchange every cigarette for a bar of chocolate, as a kind of oral substitute satisfaction, should not be surprised to put on a few pounds. An aging metabolism is also at play here. However, lifestyle also factors in. As we get older, we lead a more leisurely and comfortable life, which is in the nature of things. We burn fewer calories than we did at 20 or 30. So blaming the body or metabolism for this is not only unfair, but simply wrong.
4. Alcohol
Similar to nicotine and sugar, alcohol is actually just pure poison for us. Except for those studies that still hype a glass of red wine a day, it's now proven: Alcohol not only makes us sick if we're not careful, but above all it makes us age rapidly. Every glass of it dries out our body and deprives it of the all-important vitamin A, which is essential for the elasticity of our skin, among other things. If our body becomes dehydrated, the largest sensory organ of all, our skin, also shows up dry, thin as paper, wrinkled and dull.
5. Dehydration
Our skin is made up of between 10 and 20% water. If we drink too little throughout the day, it also dies of thirst. It becomes dry, haggard and develops more and more wrinkles.
6. Too much time on the smartphone
The typical posture with a drooping head, staring as if spellbound at the smartphone in our hands, now has its own name: Cell phone neck. While this first manifests itself with tension and pain in the back and neck area, it leads to long-term consequences that manifest themselves as wrinkles in the neck but also the forehead, which we constantly have to wrinkle when we are scrolling. We thus age prematurely without being aware of it.
7. Excessive sunbathing
We definitely shouldn't celebrate barbecue season with full body exposure. As good as sunlight is for our psyche, too much of it is bad for our skin. UV rays damage the skin barriers and lead to unsightly hyperpigmentation, the so-called age spots. In addition, UV rays also attack skin elasticity and make the top layer of skin look saggy and wrinkled. Every sunburn leaves its mark behind, irreparable damage to our skin appearance, often only really visible in old age.
8. Lack of exercise
You snooze, you lose. There is always some truth in such sayings. Our bodies were designed for a life in motion, not for one in sitting or lying down. Numerous studies have now proven that just half an hour of exercise a day can help us feel younger and fitter for longer. The increased pulse rate increases blood circulation. Our skin gets better blood circulation and looks fresher and healthier. Our muscles stay strengthened, which saves us from a hunched back and slouching shoulders, two attributes that can visually age us years in the blink of an eye.
9. Crash diets
Any shock is bad for our body and makes us feel years older. So it's no wonder that our metabolism doesn't exactly react in a relaxed and cheerful manner to spontaneous food deprivation. We are still a product of our genes. These have not changed since the Neolithic Revolution, i.e. for about 12000 years. We need food to survive. If we suddenly get no more, panic breaks out in our cells and the body initiates a hunger period. Of course, it does not know that this is self-imposed and desired. It reacts with energy rationing, which makes us feel and look tired.
Today’s Conclusion: Don’t make yourself older than you are
Everyone wants to grow old, no one wants to be old. And much less do we want to look old. We should not be infected by the youth craze that has dominated our media for years and decades. Getting older definitely has its benefits. One of them is that we care less about the opinions of others than we used to. With each year of life, we should celebrate our health, and our good looks can follow right after. Healthy and fit, reaching a high age is still not a matter of course. If we can make our contribution to well being, we should by all means grab the opportunity. That's it for today.