Everyone wants to look youthful and to hang on to their looks (everyone over 18 that is) and there are few sights more distressing than a new wrinkle or line to show the passage of time. If like many people you’ve started to avoid the mirror for fear of what new blemish you’re going to find, then you’ll no doubt be on the lookout for ways to help rejuvenate it and give it back its old buoyancy. Probably you’ve tried some of the many different skincare products and various different regimes and practices to turn back the hands of time, but rarely are any of these that successful (if they were, there wouldn’t be any old people left).
But maybe we’re coming at this from the wrong angle? Maybe instead of looking for cures to magically make our skin look younger, instead of seeking out the answer, perhaps we should be finding out what to avoid and what’s causing the problem in the first place. After all, prevention is always better than cure…
Here then we will look at eight things that can age your skin and that are probably ageing your skin. Even. As. We. Speak. Hurry!
Free Radicals: Our skin is made up of lots of tiny microscopic cells which in turn are made up of an outer wall and an interior nucleus. While you can’t see individual cells, they add up to make the visible surface of our skin, so if they experience enough exterior damage this will eventually begin to show. Free radicals are the substances which bombard our cell walls over time and cause ‘oxidative damage’. In some cases this can even lead to cancer if the free radicals make it through to our DNA, but failing that they can still cause enough exterior damage to make our skin look old and worn. To combat this you should seek out foods that contain ‘antioxidants’ which float around the body and clear up the free radicals so that there’s less to cause the damage.
Sun: All sorts of things cause damage to our skin cells, but one of the most well-known culprits is sunlight and specifically UV rays. While you might want to soak up the sun in the short term, in the long run this can not only dry out our skin, but also cause damage to the cells that leave us looking wrinkly and give us an uneven skin tone.
Obesity: Overweight people may look younger often, but this has nothing to do with their skin which is often not at all healthy compared to their slimmer counterparts. The problem is that if you’re overweight, you will be more likely to suffer from poor circulation meaning that the blood won’t make it around your body as easily or give you that rosy and even complexion. This leaves your skin looking red and blotchy which will make it look a lot less smooth and youthful as a result.
High Cholesterol: Obesity is one thing that makes it harder for our blood to get around our body, while high cholesterol is another. As well as making our skin look less even in tone, this also prevents our body from delivering the minerals and nutrients we need to keep repairing our skin.
Lack of Sleep: If you’ve ever woken up after a long night out then you’ll have noticed you looked about 5 years older. If we don’t get enough sleep then this leaves us with heavy bags under our eyes that make us look gaunt and malnourished. At the same time, we need to sleep in order to give our body a chance to recover from the stresses of the day, and this includes repairing skin. Wake up with those baggy eyes often enough then, and eventually it can become a permanent look…
Stress: Stress has all kinds of negative effects on our body, and many of these give the appearance of accelerated ageing. Not only will being stressed caused you to shed your hair or maybe even go grey, but it can also lead to more wrinkles and a generally ‘tired’ look. If you want to stay looking young, then you need to take care of your mental health and make sure you give yourself a break from time to time.
Smoking: Smoking pretty much does a number on your body, but among everything else it can also make you look older by increasing cholesterol and preventing you from getting as much oxygen to your skin. It can also cause damage around the mouth, and if you do it enough you’ll get yellow teeth to match.
Time: Of course the main thing that ages our skin is time. It’s a simple fact that as you get older, you will start to look it. While living healthily and avoiding things that can damage your appearance is of course advisable, you also need to accept to an extent that your looks are going to fade – attempting to prevent this will often only make matters worse and cause more stress still.