Age brings with it wisdom, experience and great memories of family and friends. However, the passage of time also brings with it some less-than-desired elements: our youthful faces start to lose their vibrancy and will show the tell-tale signs of aging. Wrinkles, lines and a thinner, hollowed-out look are just some of the visible hallmarks of aging.
But it isn’t just the passage of time that is working to degrade your facial appearance. There’s actually things you may be doing everyday, that are contributing to an acceleration of losing your youthful facial look. Here’s the top 10 habits that are aging your skin faster – and you may not even realize it.
- Not Wearing Sunscreen Everyday: Even on cloudy days, there is a significant amount of harmful UV radiation which can penetrate clouds and strike your skin. Over time, it will cause skin damage and premature aging. Nobody wants to use heavy, white sunblock on a daily basis – but there are so many excellent light moisturizer formulations with SPF that there really is no excuse to not protect your skin daily.
- Sleeping on a Rough Pillowcase: Who knew about this one? You can prevent premature aging and reduce the appearance of fine lines and facial creases by investing in smooth, silk pillowcases. Also, think twice about using a rough cloth when washing or drying your face. Repeated abrasion on your skin with a rough or stiff cloth will cause damage over time.
- Not Wearing a Hat: While wearing a daily SPF is essential, when you’re out and about, especially in the summer, you should wear a hat as often as possible. A hat will completely block the sun’s rays from damaging your delicate facial skin. And remember that topical SPF, either in a moisturizer or sunblock, while effective when used properly, needs to reapplied consistently throughout the day.
- Drinking Alcohol: Alcohol unfortunately accelerates skin aging, more than you might expect. It dehydrates your entire body, which includes your skin. Alcohol also triggers an inflammatory response in your body, leading to puffiness, wrinkles, redness, and over time, broken purple capillaries. If you want healthy and hydrated skin, giving up alcohol is a good place to start.
- Using Straws: This one might not seem like a big deal, but it’s been found that repeatedly using a straw will cause the development of fine lines around the lips (similar to smoker’s lines) because it requires you to repeatedly purse your lips. Drinking straight from a bottle will cause the same issue.
- Not Managing Constant Stress: When we are stressed out, we release high amounts of cortisol, which can break down our skin’s elastin and collagen. While a moment of stress here and there will not have much impact on our skin, unmanaged chronic stress has been shown to impact our cells.
- Lack of Exercise: Numerous studies have demonstrated that regular exercise can help diminish oxidative stress in our bodies. Exercise helps keep skin youthful, and has even been shown to reverse the effects of aging.
- Eating an Unbalanced Diet: The quality of your skin has been shown to be a reflection of your overall health status. A diet deficient in key nutrients such as calcium, vitamin B12, magnesium, iron, and Vitamin D, to name a just few, will take a toll on your skin.
- Inadequate Sleep: If you experience consistent nights of poor sleep, you may be unknowingly accelerating the aging process. Research has found that even a single night of inadequate sleep can make cells age at a faster rate. The lack of sleep can also have a negative effect on collagen formation and skin hydration, and also increase inflammation.
- Smoking: Nicotine intake causes blood vessels to constrict, which in turn reduce the flow of blood and nutrients to skin cells. Over time, your skin cells won’t get the vital nutrients they need to stand up to the environmental challenges thrown their way.
Because most of us are guilty of following some (or all!) of the above bad habits for skin, we will likely develop wrinkles, lines and creases earlier in life than we may wish. In these cases, dermal fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane may be the answer. These popular formulations offer simple treatments that can help rejuvenate your appearance, with a short session with your dermatologist or other trained medical practitioner. They can help add lost volume to the face, and effectively reduce the appearance of facial lines and wrinkles. Licensed medical practitioners can buy dermal fillers online at Health Supplies Plus.