Everything from your environment, the foods you consume, and even your stress levels can influence how you age. You can't halt the aging process, but you can slow it down. If you have started noticing the signs or aging or just want to take preventative measures before they start, we have gathered our top expert tips to assist in making these changes.
Here are six anti-aging habits you can make part of your daily life:
Get Adequate Sleep
Without enough sleep your skin will become stressed. This means you'll experience more breakouts. While you're sleeping, cortisol levels drop. Cortisol is a stress hormone and without enough sleep, the levels will remain high. High cortisol is also responsible for the breakdown of collagen. When this happens, your skin begins to look aged. Get enough sleep and allow your skin to do its job in keeping you look young. Aim for eight hours every night. Instead of staying up watching TV or playing on your phone until you eventually get sleepy, create new habits and shut down early so you can relax and fall asleep.
Move Your Body
Your body isn't meant to be sedentary. It wants and needs to be active. It's tempting to sit in front of the computer or television for hours on end, but doing so is going to age your body. If you choose to not be active, you risk obesity, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and cancer. These are things that will lower your life expectancy. In addition to looking young, you want to feel young, be energetic, and live as long as possible. Fitting activity into your life doesn't have to be difficult. Make walking a daily part of your life. Just thirty minutes every day will benefit you. Make sure you get up and stretch and move your body at least once every hour whether you're at home or at work.
Use Sunscreen
Another way to protect your skin against aging is to use sunscreen every day. If you only use sunscreen during summer and when it's sunny, you are still exposing your skin to damaging ultraviolet rays during the winter months and on cloudy days. One of the best ways to ensure you're protecting your exposed skin on a daily basis is to wear a moisturizer that contains sunscreen. This daily habit will protect against spotting, wrinkles, and loss of elasticity.
Make Water Your Drink of Choice
You body needs constant hydration. Not only does your skin need it to look young, the rest of your body needs it to function properly and stay healthy. Your brain needs adequate hydration in order to be its best. A dehydrated brain shrinks, which leads to poor mood, headaches, learning and memory issues, and motor skill problems. Drinking enough water can also cut your risk of heart disease. When you don't drink water, your blood becomes thick it moves more slowly throughout the body, which can lead to clots, plaque, and eventually stroke and heart disease.
Eat a Diet Full of Fruits and Vegetables
Most people don't eat as many fruits and vegetable as they should. If you want to slow the aging process, don't be one of those people. Add these foods to every meal and include them as snack choices as well. The nutrients in these food will act as anti-agers. Vitamin C is one of the best anti-aging nutrients. It is an antioxidant, which will help to prevent damage to the skin. Sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, cantaloupe, mango, strawberries, green bell peppers, and broccoli. Vitamin E is another antioxidant that will benefit your skin. Sources include spinach, sweet potato, and avocado. Adding fruits and vegetables to your diet will also increase the amount of dietary fibre you're getting, which helps to control blood sugar levels.
Learn to Manage Your Stress
Stress causes a number of mental and physical symptoms that negatively influence the aging process. You may experience headaches, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, and anger. If you want to slow the aging process, learning to manage stress is an important step. If you are overwhelmed with your day-to-day life, start managing your time, ask for help, and decide if there is anything you don't need to be doing. Also make sure to take time for yourself so you can unwind. Meditation is a great way reduce stress. You may prefer a warm bath with a good book or going for a run.
By implementing anti-aging habits into your daily life, you can help to slow the aging process both on the outside and the inside.
