Our lifestyle and diet affect our life largely. There are certain lifestyle choices which prove to hit the health hard and may make you age faster or bring about a problem in the old age. If you expect good old years, try and cut down the following habits from the younger years. Being able to recognize these habits will assure you that at least you are not responsible for your early aging.
Habits That Make You Age Faster
Smoking. This is not at all a new thing to tell anyone that smoking harms health. But sure, less might know that it harms your looks as well.
Smoking can activate the enzymes that break down the elasticity of the skin (1). Even after quitting smoking it’s hard to turn back the effect. So it is always good not to start it and if you have a habit of it, quit it, and delay its side effects.
Along with aging, it affects the fertility, strength of heart, lungs, and the bones.
Crash Dieting. Quick fixing of any problem allure many but crash dieting to bring about a drastic fall in the weight before a vacation or a special event is a bad idea. It is not a long term solution and brings along a long term health threat.
It reduces the energy levels, affects concentration, and makes you irritable, lead to wrinkles, and skin sagging by decreasing elasticity as the body doesn’t get time to adjust to the weight loss.
Lack of Sleep. As recommended by experts, 8 hours of sleep is very necessary for the elderly. Lack of sleep affects the functioning of the person, the following day. It can lead to weight gain which leads to various health issues.
But if you think you are sleeping for enough hours in the day and still feeling sluggish the next day, do not delay speaking with your doctor.
Skipping Fruits And Veggies. As a person ages, he needs to cut down on the calorie intake. Make sure by this time you cut down the junk and include fresh fruits and vegetables to complete the calorie count of the day.
Skipping fruits and vegetables makes you skip a lot of nutrients which might be necessary for good health.
Also if you are into a healthy habit of consuming fresh fruits and veggies daily, then you are at a lesser risk of aging early and developing age-related disorders. Also, make sure that your diet contains whole grains for fiber and fishes for omega-3 fatty acids.
A healthy diet gives you energy and keeps you going. It delays aging and related health issues.
Stress. Chronic stress is believed to accelerate aging and it is supported by the study confirming its adverse effects on the immune system and on inflammation (2, 3). The immune system is important to keep the organism healthy and defend diseases.
We all have heard that stress gives you wrinkles, but if it really accelerates aging needs to be researched.
When the body is under stress the capillaries under the eye break showing up dark circles. A stressed person is unable to sleep, which leaves behind puffy and tired looking eyes and the wrinkled look comes up with if there is a constant frown and tension on your face.
Emotional stress can change brain functions and impair cognitive functions (4).
All these signs make you look older and bring in early aging.
Understanding the stressors and finding ways to avoid them help bring down the stress level and also prevent those signs from showing up.
Sedentary Lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor for various health conditions. Any kind of physical activity is a must at every age to keep the heart disease and stress away. It also prevents the occurrence of injury, as injury limits mobility and the independence which becomes a hurdle in the old life.
To have a healthy and active old age it is important to quit the sedentary lifestyle and become active.
Nobody wants to age faster, adopt healthy habits and live and age in a healthy way.
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