You know you're old when

Appear Younger and Healthier by Breaking These 5 Daily Habits

Think back to your last class reunion. What’s the first thing you noticed about your former classmates? Time may not have been so friendly to many of the attractive people from twenty or thirty years ago. Were you thinking to yourself, “Do I look that old?”

Sure almost everyone in the room is thicker around the middle and thinner on top, but what’s the most obvious sign of aging? It’s the condition of their skin.

As we age, our skin becomes less elastic and wrinkly. When this happens, gravity has a way of intensifying the effects of poor habits.

As men, we tend to ignore skincare because, for some reason, we stigmatize moisturizing as a less manly pursuit. But do you know that according to Statista, the market for men’s skincare products expects to exceed $10 billion by 2025? That’s an almost 35% increase over 2019.

Unless you’re a celebrity and wish to look like Mickey Rourke, plastic surgery is not an option, nor is jabbing needles full Botox into your face at hundreds of dollars per dose. But, before you run to Walgreens and buy some chemical goop to slather all over man’s largest organ (insert your own joke), might there be a simpler, less toxic solution?

The truth is that breaking five daily habits can help keep your skin looking smooth and healthy without expensive creams or treatments.

Eating too much sugar

We may sound like a broken record on this subject, but sugar is toxic to your health and appearance. While avoiding sugar altogether is nearly impossible, it is controllable. Remember, sugar isn’t only the white crystals you add to your coffee. Carbohydrates in all forms are sugar. In fact, those cornflakes you have for breakfast likely contain more sugar than what you sprinkle on top.

study conducted by the Leiden Longevity Study Group found that people with high blood sugar levels appear older in photographs. Researchers looked at 602 photos and attempted to guess the ages of the participants. The study reported a consistent correlation between appearance and blood sugar.

Too much time in front of screens

Did you know that the average American spends more than six hours per day staring at some digital device?

Unlike the rays from the sun, the blue light from the screens of your tablets, TVs, phones, and computers doesn’t noticeably burn your skin. However, the wavelength of blue light penetrates deeper into the layers of your skin, causing damage to the elastin and collagen, accelerating the aging process.

The shower is too hot

A nice hot shower is great for relieving tension and soothing aching muscles but may cause inflammation and strip your skin of its natural, protective moisturizers. Hot water also damages the epidermal layer, preventing skin from locking in moisture.

To protect your skin and reduce inflammation, take as cold of a shower as you can comfortably withstand. At least use lukewarm water and then turn the knob to cold for the last 45 seconds of your bathing routine. The cold water instantly tightens the skin and smoothes all the wrinkles, so when it comes to the temperature of your shower, the chillier, the better.

Lacking quality sleep

The average male requires a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night. Ideally, science recommends getting eight to nine hours of quality rest. A single night of insufficient sleep speeds up the aging process.

According to a study conducted at UCLA, sleep deprivation in older adults is associated with elevated disease risk because it promotes molecular processes involved in biological aging.

Have you ever noticed how old a person looks if they don’t get enough sleep? It’s no coincidence that old and tired are synonymous.

Sleeping on your side

It might sound like we’re using lack of sleep on this list twice but bear with us for a moment. Think about the last time you had a professional massage. The masseuse buried your face into that donut thing wrapped in a towel for an hour. When you emerged loose and relaxed, your face appeared wrinkled and creased.

This same face distortion happens when you sleep in a position that compresses your face. Over time, nightly face-mashing begins to take a toll on the condition of your skin. Check your face in the mirror after you wake up. Do you recognize the same creases day after day? As grandma used to say, “Keep doing that to your face, and it’ll stay like that.”

The brakes or the gas

While aging is inevitable, you do have some control over the speed at which it happens. Our daily habits determine whether our feet are on the brakes or the gas pedal of aging.

Too often, we look for the easy fix in life. Most of the time, the easy fix is expensive and useless and can sometimes be harmful. Instead of big, bold changes, often the answer lies in the compounding of minor adjustments.

Start with the basics by tweaking your daily habits, and by the next reunion, you’ll look younger and healthier than you do today.

 

Take care, even down there.

Buy Now

Share this Post