You have probably come across individuals who appear younger or older than they are. The instinct is to wonder about the causes; the simple explanation lies in an individual's lifestyle. A person may be experiencing early indications of ageing due to chosen lifestyle choices. While leading a healthy lifestyle can help you live longer and appear younger, leading an unhealthy lifestyle can age you and possibly prevent you from living as long as you had hoped.

Even though some parts of ageing are unavoidable, some unintentionally held behaviours can quicken the process. You might think ageing is a genetic trait, but discipline and healthy behaviours can also delay ageing. Here are some poor behaviours that can hasten the ageing process:

Smoking

Smoking may cause deadly diseases like cancer and heart illness, speeding up your ageing process and causing premature wrinkles. According to studies, smoking causes the body's inflammation to rise, which harms the skin's collagen and elastin proteins and causes the skin to sag and wrinkle at a young age. Additionally, it may increase one's risk of developing other diseases, including macular degeneration and cataracts.

Insufficient sleep

Researchers have connected impaired skin barrier function, increased ageing symptoms, and worse self-esteem with sleep deprivation. Prolonged sleep deprivation has been linked to increased cortisol production, which can speed up ageing. The most prevalent stress hormone, cortisol, breaks down collagen, causing drooping skin, wrinkles, and inflammation. Moreover, skin problems linked to sleep deprivation can occur. Eczema and psoriasis, two inflammatory skin disorders, result from insufficient sleep, which may also worsen allergic and irritating contact dermatitis.

Lack of exercise

Regular exercise assists people to age more slowly and leads to a healthier, more active lifestyle, according to studies. Sweating causes your skin to release toxins, which makes it look young and healthy. Studies further show that people may lose strength and muscle mass as they age. The hormone responsible for building and maintaining muscle mass, testosterone, is produced less by the body, which causes this drop. There are ways to slow down or lessen the consequences of this natural process, even though you cannot stop it. Regular exercise is one way to do this. As a result, it is advised to exercise at least five times every week.

Unhealthy diet

Your dietary decisions throughout your life could influence how rapidly you age. According to research, you can accelerate the ageing process in your body by diets heavy in sugar and advanced glycation end products. Additionally, consuming mainly processed foods and engaging in many crash diets may hasten the ageing process of your cells. Avoid fatty foods, coffee, and sugary beverages if you want radiant and youthful skin. Additionally, junk food can flood your body with free radicals. Contrarily, eating healthy can refill your body by giving it the nutrients it needs for proper tissue growth, maintenance, and repair.

Too much screen time

Dermatologists warn against high energy visible (HEV) light from your phone, tablet, or computer screen since it can harm your skin and eventually speed up ageing. According to research, "blue light" from your electronic gadget penetrates the skin's layers more deeply than UV radiation from the sun. It can also lead to more noticeable skin pigmentation and delay the regeneration of your skin's protective barrier after environmental exposure. Additionally, spending too much time in front of a screen can strain your neck and eyes since it alters your posture. Further, it results in headaches and blurred vision and may interfere with your sleep cycle.

Excessive alcohol

Alcohol abuse harms your health and speeds up the ageing process for every individual. Increased upper facial wrinkles, under-eye puffiness, mouth commissures, midface volume loss, and shrinking blood vessels have all been linked to heavy alcohol use. Alcohol dehydrates the body and depletes its vitamin A, necessary for maintaining the skin's youthful firmness. It also dries the skin, making it look lifeless and dreary. If you want to stay young-looking, alcohol consumption must be minimal.

Stress

One must pay attention to the stress factor when discussing early ageing. Inflammation brought on by stress harms the body in many ways, including the fibres of the skin. When you're anxious, your body releases the hormone cortisol, which is terrible for your skin. The skin seems lifeless and dreary as a result. Stress also harms the body's cellular architecture, speeding up cellular ageing. You should develop stress management skills and engage in daily exercise.

Sleeping with your makeup

It can be tempting to wear makeup while you sleep, believing it is harmless; no, it is terrible for your skin. Without washing your face at night, there is frequently an accumulation of oil, germs, and dead skin cells that, in the short term, might result in breakouts but, in the long run, can cause dullness of the skin, claims board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD, of New York. Please remove your makeup before you go to bed.

Dehydration

Water is life, and the skin needs water badly. Many people don't drink enough water because they don't realize how important it is for healthy skin function. Drinking enough water can maintain the strength of the skin's protective barrier, which needs proper hydration to function. Dehydration happens when you drink less water than your body uses. Lack of water causes the skin barrier to deteriorate, which increases the likelihood of skin irritation, dryness, and the development of fine lines and wrinkles. Doctors advise drinking at least eight glasses of water daily to keep healthy.

You are more likely to experience early indications of ageing if you smoke, get too little sleep, don't exercise frequently, eat poorly, spend too much time on screens, consume too much alcohol, are stressed, and wear makeup. Furthermore, sleep enough and drink water to keep your skin healthy and young.

Photo: https://dermnetnz.org/topics/ageing-skin