20 Unfavorable Habits Which Can Make You Age Faster

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Aging is a natural process

In spite of the fact that aging is a perfectly natural process, you may have some habits which could cause you to age faster, and result in issues like prematurely wrinkled skin, aches, pains, mental decline, and low immunity problems.

How you may look when you are older depends on how you live your life and take care of yourself when you are younger. You could have cultivated some poor habits that may already have put you on the road to looking, and feeling, old before your time.

If you want to look better, keep healthy, live longer, stay alert, and energetic, here are some mistakes you may need to correct in order to prevent premature aging.

20 of the worst habits which can add years to your age

Paying attention to these 20 bad habits can help you to hinder the aging process, and you may actually end up looking younger than you are. If you try to make some positive changes in your life, results will be visible within a very short time.

Here is a list of the most common mistakes that can make you age faster.

Never crash diet to lose weight. It can make you feel older by suddenly reducing your energy levels. Because the skin does not have enough time to adjust to a drastic, rapid weight loss, the elasticity will be compromised, and may result in sagging and wrinkles.
You have a job where you sit down most of the day, and instead of getting a bit of exercise, sit in front of the TV at night. Tummy muscles and leg muscles will lose firmness, and begin to sag and droop.
Your diet is loaded with sugar and junk food items. Experts believe that the acid content in these products make the skin dull and wrinkled, as well as reducing the elasticity.
You have no exercise plan in place, either at home or at the gym. However, even regular walking will help to keep you young.
You may be inclined to burn the midnight oil, and have poor sleep patterns. A regular lack of good sleep will leave you feeling tired, old, and burnt out the next day.
You diet is poor because you believe that eating natural, or organic foods is not important.
You are always rushed, and often eat ready-made frozen meals which are full of unhealthy fats and preservatives.
If you stress a lot, and are often anxious, the frown-lines on your forehead will deepen, and make you look older than you are.
Stress can also make you overeat, and the more overweight you are, the higher your risk of high blood pressure, and heart problems, at a young age.
Barbecues are great, but if you have a taste for meat which is slightly burnt, you are doing yourself harm. The toxic chemicals in burnt meat can raise your risk of some cancers, and also has a bad effect on the skin, causing unsightly break outs.
Do not eat too much red meat or an excess of fried foods. The liver has to work hard to detoxify the toxins in these foods, and can leave you feeling constantly sluggish if you over indulge. Also, cut out as much processed meat and cheese that you can.
Fruit and veggies are generally loaded with antioxidants which can help you stay young. Antioxidants are powerful compounds that help to combat rampaging free radicals which would otherwise do harm to the body and damage skin cells.
Making sure that you eat sufficient unsaturated fats like those found in fatty fish, nuts and olive oil, is very important. Those healthy fats help to keep the skin moist and supple, and the omega 3 content is known to be anti-aging.
Sunbathing without using sunscreen can be a death knell for your skin. Even on a cloudy day, you should use good quality sun-protection. The UV rays of the sun burns, dries out, and severely ages the skin. Dermatologists say that just one unprotected summer can leave you looking 7 to 10 years older!
Be sure that you do not just fall into bed after a busy day, and are too tired to take a couple of minutes to clean the day’s make-up off your face. A good cleanser, or even soap and water will do. Skin experts agree that make-up residue clogs up the pores, and may result in enlarged pores which will unfortunately be there to stay.
You often neglect to daily use a high-quality moisturizer on you face and neck.
You forget that the back of your hands also need attention. Whatever you use on your face will do for the hands as well. The skin on your hands can go crinkly like tissue paper quite quickly, and be a dead give-away of your age.
You do not always watch your weight and eat portions which are far bigger than you need. Obesity can lead to many health problems which can add years onto your age. Studies at the University of Cambridge UK indicated that being overweight can cause your brain to appear 10 years older when compared to others of the same age who are slimmer.
The old favourite no-no, smoking. It is a killer – not only for your general health, but also for causing premature skin aging.
Too much alcohol intake dehydrates the body in general, including the skin. The skin is also deprived of vitamins and nutrients, and loses much of its elasticity, causing it to sag and fall into a wrinkled state.

These mistakes may not seem like anything major, but as time goes by, if you do not pay attention to following a healthy lifestyle when you are young, reaching a healthy, productive old age may be nothing more than a dream.

Make the changes now!

A healthy lifestyle is equal to a long and healthy life, which is not beset by unnecessary problems as you age. Make some positive changes to your daily lifestyle – and live well, because you can.

References:

www.agingblueprint.org

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