Everyday things that are ageing you and how to avoid them

Whether you realise it or not, time is not the only thing that is ageing you and we are talking both about your appearance and your health! Lifestyle is the biggest factor impacting your whole body from in and out. If you have a healthy lifestyle, you are more likely to have glowy skin and strong white teeth, as well as more energy and healthy organs!

Intrinsic ageing is the process which makes our skin become thinner and drier as we age. This is a completely natural process and you cannot have control over it. However, what you can control is extrinsic ageing. Extrinsic ageing depends exclusively on you and your lifestyle. You have definitely seen people who look a lot older than what they actually are. 

Let’s see how to prevent that from happening to ourselves!

Major factors that make you age faster

Meat

Nobody is saying that you will look old at the age of 30 if you are not vegetarian or vegan. What we are saying is that you should control the amount of meat you eat and the type of meat. Red meat is lately considered as one of the reasons for faster ageing. Although some meat experts claim that this is false, scientists found that higher intake of red meat causes high levels of serum phosphate in the body, which causes ageing. It is no secret that you should avoid eating processed meat and all types of processed meats have some kind of red meat in them. The healthiest type of meat to consume is definitely white meat. Chicken breasts are considered a white meat, whereas chicken legs and wings are not. 

Anyway, whatever meat you choose to eat, try to prepare it the best way possible. The taste is usually not the most favourite one, but try to cook or bake meat without oil and avoid frying.

Alcohol

It is a well known fact that alcohol does not have good effects on your body, especially if you consume it frequently in large amounts. There are several reasons standing behind that fact.
When you drink alcohol, although you are consuming liquid at the time, alcohol pulls water out of your body and makes you dehydrated. As you grow older, your body keeps less water, which also leaves a lot less water for the skin so it ages faster than normally. The less water you have in your system, the less shiny your skin is going to be and you will have dark circles. Also, alcohol affects a lot of things in your body such as your heart, brain, liver, kidneys, your whole immune system… 

 

Sedentary lifestyle

Sedentary lifestyle involves very little or no physical activity at all. It includes a lot of sitting, lying down, using a computer, a mobile phone, watching television, reading…
If you do not use your car for a while, it will not work as well as when driving it every day. Your body uses the same logic. Sedentary lifestyle can over time affect your skin and even your hair loss! In order to prevent that from happening, even though you might need to spend a lot of time sitting at work or in school, you need to exercise at least 4 hours a week to keep your body healthy!

Grains

There are two types of grains: refined grains and whole grains. Refined grains are basically whole grains which have been modified and all the healthy nutritions have been taken out of it. There is literally not a single good reason to eat refined grains. They are very low in nutritions, fattening, accelerate ageing and many people just eat them every day! Avoid food such as white bread, white flour, white rice… On the other hand, there are alternative types of food made of whole grains which are full of calcium, magnesium and healthy fibers. If you want to live a longer and healthier life, try to replace grains with whole grains!

Not enough greens in your diet

Greens and fruits are our main source of vitamins and all people need their daily supply of vitamins! Green vegetables are very low in calories and fat, while having very high values of fibers, vitamins C, B9 and K. Try including some of these in your everyday diet: cabbage, spinach, swiss chard, lettuce, arugula, beet greens, kale… All of these vegetables can be éeaten fresh or cooked, you can even make a green juice or a smoothie with all of them. Greens will help you have better digestion, which itself leads to having clearer skin and it slows down extrinsic ageing. Greens also cause detoxification in your body and the anti-ageing process begins as soon as you start including them in your everyday diet!

Stress

Scientists have proven that emotional distress can speed up cellular ageing. Stressors could be too much work, unhealthy environment, depression, anxiety, financial problems, social isolation, personal problems and so on. The ageing process is being accelerated by shortening the length of your DNA strands. As the cell becomes shorter, it ages faster, becomes weaker and dies younger. The older the cell is, the less ability it has to divide and make more cells. When the same thing happens to all cells in your body, it causes your premature ageing both internally and externally.

Coffee

Drinking coffee has become such a habit to a majority of people everywhere in the world. But did you know that this habit can cause premature ageing? It is okay if you drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day in normal portions. There are coffee lovers who drink 5 or even more cups of coffee a day and that is definitely not considered healthy. Too much caffeine stimulates stress hormones and leads to being stressed. As explained in the previous paragraph, stress causes cellular ageing. Not only does it produce stress hormones more, it also works as alcohol and dehydrates your body and dries your skin.

Smoking

This is the one most certain thing everybody knows: cigarettes are bad! Nobody is ever going to tell you that something good can happen if you smoke. The changes on your body will be noticeable after a few years of smoking. Smoking lowers the body’s ability to generate new skin. This way, no matter how young you are, you have a lot more chances to get premature wrinkles! All the chemicals in tobacco can do you no good. Many of them have a negative influence on producing collagen and elastin, which are necessary for having fresh and beautiful skin. Since eyes do not tolerate smoke, when you light up a cigarette, you automatically crinkle your eyes and eventually you get a crow’s feet. Typically, older people have these, but if you are a smoker, your chances of getting it at a young age increase. 

How to slow down skin ageing?

In order to slow down skin ageing, you need to have a healthy lifestyle. When it comes to your meal plan, you should feed your body with a lot of proteins and vitamins and not as much fats and carbs. In other words, eat fruits and vegetables instead of sweets, white meat instead of red and processed meat, whole grains instead of refined grains, olive oil or avocado instead of margarine… You should get rid of bad habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol and drinking coffee. Exercise at least 3-5 days a week and avoid exposing your skin to the sun to avoid UV radiation. Drink a lot of water, wash your face twice a day and apply some moisturiser every night before bed. Also, try to avoid repetitive facial expressions that make your skin tense.

Anti-ageing treatments

Besides all natural methods mentioned above, there are also some medical ways to slow down your ageing. 

Microneedling

Microneedling, also known as skin needling, is a very effective way of treating your skin for various different skin issues such as: ageing, skin texture, loose skin, acne scarring, stretch marks, pigmentation, pores, wrinkles… Microneedling works by inserting very tiny needles into the skin of any part of your body, head to toes. It improves your circulation and allows its substances, usually collagen, to infiltrate deeper into the skin and regenerate it. Right after the treatment, you will have redness over your skill because it does not work immediately, but long term after the redness is gone, microneedling treatment is a great solution for any skin problems!

Ellansé dermal rejuvenation fillers treatment

Another medical way of rejuvenation are Ellansé dermal fillers. Dermal fillers are injected under your skin and they improve collagen production in the specific part of your body. They correct all types of wrinkles and folds in your skin. The fillers are not irreversible! They could last up to five years, but yes, over time they slowly start to break down. These types of fillers are based on hyaluronic acid, which gives your specific body part better shape, form, volume and freshness. 

What are the major causes of ageing?

The major cause of premature ageing would have to be the whole unhealthy lifestyle. There is not just one thing that is making you age. Some of the major causes are not getting enough sleep, being exposed to UV radiation, not being physically active, eating too much junk food and not enough fruit and vegetables, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes… 

What foods cause ageing?

Basically, all types of unhealthy food can cause ageing, such as: white bread, white sugar, white rice, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, processed meat, fried food… Unfortunately, most of them are part of our everyday meal plan, but try to avoid them as much as possible.

The best anti-ageing treatments

Apart from healthy lifestyle, the best medical anti-ageing treatments are: 

• Microneedling
• Dermal fillers
• Botox
• Dysport
• Skincare products
• Dermapen

What causes wrinkles?

The main reason for wrinkles at a young age is ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which has a negative influence on producing collagen and elastin fibers. However, there are some other things that might be connected to getting wrinkles prematurely such as lack of sleep, stress, chronically dry skin, sugar, smoking, as well as frequent making strong facial expressions.