Top 21 Everyday Habits Make You Age Faster: Science-Based Recommendations

Nowadays, the existence of dirty food, polluted environment, stress, depression… can cause your aging faster. Looking older than the real age sometimes make people lose their self-confidence. Therefore, people, especially the women pay a lot of money for beauty products in order to try to protect the appearance from early aging. However, using beauty products to take care of the skin and body is essential, but not enough. Beauty comes from inside. It is important to think about the daily habits to have good health, then slow the aging. However, what daily habits you should avoid? Today’s article describes top 21 everyday habits make you age faster. Here are science-based recommendations. Continue reading to know and start changing your habits immediately.

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Science-Based Warnings: Top 21 Everyday Habits Make You Age Faster

1. Smoking

Smoking has bad effects on your health. It causes many diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Nicotine and other dangerous substances presenting in tobacco smoke influence not only smokers but also the “passive smokers”, especially the children. Besides shortening life, tobacco and cigarette also make your age faster. According to a study in 2012 about the influence of smoking on skin, the skin of people at the age of 40 who are addicted to smoking is the same with the skin non-smoking adults who are 70 years old.^[1] To support this argument, another study in 2007 states that there is a relationship between smoking and premature skin aging.^[2] It is said that tobacco smoke reduces the production of collagen. Moreover, this study also shows that smoking leads to many dermatological conditions such as poor wound healing, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, acne, psoriasis, and hair loss. Furthermore, according to a study by researchers at the Department of Plastic Surgery at Case Western Reserve University, tobacco decreases the skin thickness because of containing nicotine. Therefore, skin elasticity will be affected badly that causes the early aging.^[3] Additionally, a study published on EurekAlert which is The Global Source for Science News argues that both male and female smokers have a higher aging ratio.^[4] Unluckily, they are predicted to be twice as old as their chronological age, in comparison with nonsmokers.

2. Having Poor Sleep Quality

Sleep plays an important role in improving both physical and mental health. Sleep disruption or lack of sleep can cause hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer.^[5] This problem also leads to stress responsivity, emotional distress and mood disorders, reduced memory, and performance deficits.^[5′] Not only affecting your health, poor sleep quality also does harm on the appearance. A study conducted in 2015 shows that having poor sleep quality will increase signs of intrinsic ageing, diminish skin barrier function.^[6] People who do not have good sleep usually have little satisfaction with appearance. Another study of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine indicates that older adults can have a higher risk of biological aging after one night of partial sleep deprivation.^[7]

3. Consuming Soft Drink

We cannot deny the fact that soft drink is very popular, especially for the young because of its convenience, low price and tasty flavour. According to an article published on Havard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s website, soft drink has a relation with increased type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions.^[8] To be specific, people consuming 1 to 2 cans of sugary drinks a day or more will have a 26% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Soft drink is also one of the most common factors of early aging. A study conducted by UC San Francisco researchers shows that people consuming more sugary soda have shorter telomeres which are the protective ends of DNA that are found in every cell.^[9] Therefore, drinking an 8-ounce serving of soda everyday leads to 1.9 years of additional aging and drinking 20-ounce serving causes 4.6 more years of aging. Soda is not good for your skin. That is the reason why when consuming too much soft drink, you may look older. Soft drink contains a large amount of sugar which causes acne easily.^[10] Moreover, soda belongs to the group of food high in advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which affect badly on health, including aging faster. According to a study in 2012, these products are related to skin aging.^[11]

4. Not Eating Vegetables And Fruits Regularly

Vegetables and fruits are good not only for your health but also for your skin which can improve your appearance. According to Havard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, consuming vegetables and fruits daily helps reduce the blood pressure, decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, etc. ^[12] The natural but very effective way to prevent the early aging is consuming vegetables and fruits regularly. As we know, vitamin C plays an important role in skin health, including synthesising collagen, protecting cells, decreasing photo damage, preventing UV-induced damage and healing wound.^[13] We can easily find the source of vitamin C in citrus fruits, blackcurrant, rose hip, guava, chili pepper or parsley, etc.^[14] Besides, vegetables and fruits also contains natural vitamin E that helps against collagen cross linking and lipid peroxidation, which both cause the aging of the skin.^[14’] In addition, vitamin E is beneficial for preventing UV-induced free radical damage to skin and working as an anti-inflammatory agent.^[15] Moreover, carotenoids (vitamin A, β-carotene, astaxanthin, retinol) in vegetables and fruits can work as antioxidant agent. A study conducted in 2011 shows that there is an association between people having a high level of antioxidants and less premature skin ageing.^[16] Having the same argument with the benefits of carotenoids on anti-aging, a study in 2007 indicates that topical retinol helps improve fine wrinkles which can cause natural aging.^[17]

5. Not Wearing Sunscreen

We all know that the sun has benefits. However, it is necessary to protect the skin from sun damage when being outside. The sun can cause sunburn that makes the skin dry, wrinkled, discolored, and leathery. SPF in sunscreen prevents the applying of UV, which can lead to skin cancer, on the skin. The most serious threat of sun damage is causing skin cancer.^[18] Therefore, using the sunscreen is an easy way to keep the skin healthy and look younger. According to a study about the relationship between using sunscreen and lower skin aging, both middle-aged men and women who use sunscreen daily will have 24 percent less skin aging than those who use rarely.^[19] Using a sunscreen with an SPF 15 helps you block about 94 percent of ultraviolet B rays which is related to sunburn, and using one with an SPF of 40 helps you against to about 97.5 percent.^[20] Furthermore, University of Sydney  led a world-first study which showed that Australians aged 18-40 years who used sunscreen regularly in childhood would reduce 40% of their risk of developing melanoma, in comparison with those who rarely used sunscreen.^[21] According to a study conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of skin cancer and early skin aging can be reduced by using sunscreen regularly.^[22] Nevertheless, along with wearing sunscreen, do not skip other forms of sun protection such as sunglasses and make sure that you protect all exposed skin, not just the face.

6. Being Stressful

Being stressful is common in modern life when people having a lot of work to do and a lot of problems to face to. Stress can cause early aging. The researchers coming from Department of Human Development and Family Studies show that stress speed both biological aging and cognitive aging.^[23] According to number of studies, stress shorter telomere which is a chromosome component associated with cellular aging and risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer.^[24] Stress can lead to oxidative  stress (OS) which increases  the  rate  of aging and some diseases  such  as  cancers, stroke,  diabetes, and  Alzheimer’s  disease (AD) as well.^[25] The most visible sign of aging is the skin problems. Stress makes your skin become sagging and your face have wrinkles, dark spots and circles.^[26] Additionally, a mental difference can appear because of stress. According to Dr. Michelle Dossett who is an internal and integrative medicine specialist at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, stress can decrease the ability of concentration, attention and decision-making.^[27] Stress is a part of life. However, instead of suffering from it, you should have a healthy diet, do exercise and keep yourself relax to avoid stress or reduce the effects of stress on your health.

7. Not Drinking Enough Water

The simplest way to slow your aging is drinking enough water daily. Water has many benefits on health, skin and hair. According to UW Health which is the integrated health system of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, drinking enough water is helpful for digestion, circulation, absorption and excretion as well.^[28] Moreover, the insufficient amount of water will make the skin become skin dry, tight and flaky. Dry skin has less resilience and is easy to have wrinkles.^[28’] Therefore, enough water helps hydrate your skin and make it youthful. Do not forget to provide enough water to your body to make you age slower.

Warning: These 14 Habits Also Need To Be Controlled

1. Ignoring your depression: Dr. Dow said: “Depression makes you age faster by accelerating brain shrinkage.”
2. Hitting up the coffeehouse regularly: David Greuner, MD said: “Coffee lowers dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a hormone that keeps appearance youthful and reduces inflammation.”
3. Sleeping on a cheap pillowcase: Dr. Greuner also said: “Pillowcases made of cotton restrict your skin from smoothly moving and keeping its natural shape and form.”
4. Aging and alcohol: Bindaya Gandhi, MD said that more than one drink a day can decrease your lifespan. She also explained: “Excessive alcohol consumption ages people faster by causing a neurodegenerative decline, worsening hormone imbalances, causing sleep problems, and increasing body fat, which can lead to numerous (and aging) medical problems like diabetes.”
5. Hunching over your laptop: This habit will weaken your spinal structure, then, causing arthritis, a common health condition among older people.
6. Not wearing sunglasses: Wearing sunglasses can prevent you from getting fine lines around eyes. This habit may help you to protect eyes from cancer & cataracts. It also helps to keep your vision sharp.
7. Buying only fat-free foods: Usama Azam, MD said that eating a low-fat diet makes your weight reduced (or not) but it will speed up your aging process.
8. Skipping the weight machines
9. Skipping the taking care of our smile
10. Wearing too much makeup
11. Skipping out on sexy times
12. Not having good sex
13. Not having any hobbies
14. Eating big meals

In summary, according to many studies, it is necessary to avoid these habits mentioned above to have better health and slow down the aging process. Besides, it is recommended for you to do exercise and go to the doctor regularly to check your health condition.

We hope that this article gives you interesting and useful information about the bad habits which make you age faster. From now, you should start doing good habits to keep yourself healthy, so that you have the energy to study, to work and to spend happy time with family and friends.  All content provided is for informational & educational purposes. We recommend you consult a healthcare professional to check your health and have a reasonable diet.

We are very happy to hear your opinions. Therefore, do not skip the comment box below where you can put your questions or comments about our topic today. In addition, if you want to know more about the habits you should continue or you should avoid, please visit the News And Facts page.