The lifestyle choices you make in your day to day life can either age you or keep you looking young.
There are many things that can make us look and feel older. Some of them are out of our control, like genetics or even just time, whereas others are completely dependent on the lifestyle choices we make each and every day. The environmental and lifestyle choices we make are a big part of how old we look and feel. No one wants to look or feel older than they actually are, but the good news is that the lifestyle choices you make are completely up to you. Here are a few lifestyle choices that can age you:
#1. Drinking Alcohol
In moderation, drinking alcohol can be fine for most people, and some studies even suggest that there could be health benefits associated with drinking alcohol. However, if you overdo it, alcohol can cause a whole host of issues that age you, including a loss of collagen, reduced elasticity, premature wrinkles, puffiness, redness and dehydration. An excessive consumption of alcohol can also make you feel older than you are because it can cause cognitive decline.
#2. Crash Dieting
Why would anyone want to spend months sweating it out at the gym and skipping dessert when a quick-fix is so much easier and faster? Crash diets are tempting — who wouldn’t want to drop 10 pounds in a week — but they are unhealthy for a number of reasons. Crash dieting typically involves cutting out one of the macronutrients your body needs for optimal health, and these diets normally leave you feeling irritable, depressed, discombobulated and fatigued. Dropping that much weight in a short period of time can also cause wrinkles because it causes the skin to lose elasticity. If you want to prevent looking and feeling older than you are, avoid crash dieting!
#3. Smoking
Most people are fully aware of the adverse health effects of smoking cigarettes. If lung cancer and heart disease aren’t big enough deterrents, smoking can also make you look years older than you actually are. The following is a list of a few of the many ways that smoking ages you:
- Age Spots – Age spots are blotches or dark spots on the skin, typically found on the hands and face. Anyone can develop age spots, but people who smoke cigarettes are more susceptible to developing them.
- Lines Around the Lips – Smokers often develop lines around the lips, often called “the smoker’s pucker.” This is caused by the way the muscles around the mouth are used when sucking on the cigarette.
- Sagging Skin – Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, some of which destroy the elastin and collagen in skin, which are responsible for giving your skin elasticity and strength, and this leads to sagging skin.
- Uneven or Poor Skin Tone – Because smoking deprives the skin of the nutrients and oxygen it needs, people who smoke are often pale or they experience uneven skin tone.
- Hair Loss – While hair thinning is a natural part of the aging process for both men and women, smoking can accelerate the process even more. Some studies have even found a link between smoking and going bald.
- Crow’s Feet – Crow’s feet are the wrinkles around the eyes, and although it’s true that everyone develops wrinkles around the eyes eventually, cigarettes can exacerbate them.
#4. Skipping the Gym
Exercise is an essential part of your anti-aging routine, just as it’s an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. While we’ve talked about a lot of lifestyle choices that can make you look and feel younger, exercising is one of the best things you can do to actually live longer! Sure, exercising won’t really turn back the clock, but regular exercise can help to extend your life because it reduces your risk for everything from heart disease to diabetes. Exercise will also help you to feel younger because it gives you more energy and naturally boosts your mood. Additionally, people who exercise tend to look younger than people who don’t. One study conducted by McMaster University in Ontario found that people who exercised had skin that was more elastic and supple than those who didn’t.
#5. Eating an Unhealthy Diet
The phrase, “You are what you eat,” extends well beyond your waistline. The food you eat has a huge impact on how old you look and feel. Fruits and vegetables are stuffed with nutrients and vitamins that help to fight wrinkles and keep your skin looking young, but the sad fact is that most of us simply don’t eat enough of them. Unfortunately, many of the unhealthy foods we replace fruits and vegetables with in our diets can actually make the signs of aging more pronounced.
The lifestyle choices you make can make a huge difference in how well and fast you age. At Rejuvime Medical, we can help you diminish or even reverse many of the signs of aging through our bioidentical hormone therapy in Hammon, as well as many other effective anti-aging treatments. Schedule your appointment today to find the right treatment for you.
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