Many people assume that they are doomed to be wrinkly and immobile when they get older. However, this is not exactly true. Sure, you cannot retain your youthful looks perfectly, but a lot of what people associate with being elderly – heavy wrinkles, reduced mobility, loss of brain function, a harder time breathing – are actually the results of a lifetime of not looking after yourself in the way that you should. The things you do every day have a direct impact on how fast you “age”.
Smoking, getting stressed out, and not exercising are three mistakes the majority of us already know will ruin our youthful looks before we know it. Nevertheless, it may surprise you that a bunch of other things does the same damage.
The way you sleep
In movies and television shows, many characters seem to sleep on their back, facing up towards the ceiling. In real life, most of us have difficulty sleeping that way. However, this method of sleeping may actually help retain your skin’s youth. Sleeping with your face pressed against pillow material can actually exacerbate wrinkling and other skin problems. The best way to tackle this is, of course, to sleep on your back – though some people may have to learn to do this comfortably because it does not come naturally to them. Failing this, you should consider getting a softer, higher-quality pillow and case.
Too much heat
You like hot showers, right? It might not be the weather for long hot showers, but most people love them throughout most of the year. Hot showers are not something a lot of us feel could be damaging to us. Sure, we may feel a little guilty about the energy and water use, but we do need to kill all that bacteria, right? The problem with heat is that it also kills a bunch of good bacteria that help keep your skin healthy. It also means your skin is dried out quickly. This does not mean you should not have hot showers – but you certainly should not be having long hot showers. Make them as quick as possible to ensure you are doing your skin more good than harm. You may also want to consider the amount of heat to which you are exposing your hair, because similar effects can be had there!
Missing teeth
When people think of missing teeth, they tend to think of the elderly. This is thinking about the effects of the aging process on teeth – not many would consider the effects of missing teeth on the aging process itself! If you have a missing or broken tooth and neglect to look into dental implants, the aging process might be accelerated. Why? Because a missing tooth is a missing bone. The surrounding muscle and skeletal structure is weakened when a bone is missing – so a missing tooth can accelerate the weakening of your facial muscles, as well as your jaw! So do not be tempted to ignore dental problems, because they can have a bigger effect on your youthful looks than you may imagine.
