What Science Says about Causes of Early Ageing

Causes of Premature Ageing

• Your stress level:

We know that stress causes many physical and mental ailments, but did you know that it could also be a culprit for your early ageing? When you are stressed, the stress hormone cortisol is produced in high amounts. This hormone breaks down collagen, which you need for healthy, youthful looking skin. It has a similar effect on elastin as well. In addition, stress also reduces your body’s ability to repair itself and thus skin regeneration is slowed down, resulting in older, tired looking skin.

• Your sun exposure

Excessive sun exposure is one of the leading causes of premature ageing. A process called photo-ageing occurs when your skin is exposed to the sun too much. The UV rays of the sun cause DNA changes in the skin at a cellular level. The impact may go unnoticed initially, but the damaged dermis can make your skin look old and dull before time. Getting enough sun protection in the form of hats, sunglasses and anti-UV creams can tackle this problem.

• Your drinking habits:

When your body is not hydrated enough, your skin shows the impact. As you age, you tend to feel thirsty less often and you get dehydrated without even noticing it often. This affects your skin and makes it dry and dull and old looking. Consuming alcohol further dries out your body and skin, ageing it faster. Reducing alcohol consumption and drinking more water can address this premature ageing cause.

• Your smoking habits:

Smoking is another one of the top causes of premature ageing. It introduces toxic chemicals into your body that damage your skin at a cellular level. It is seen that smokers develop wrinklesmore quickly, especially in the areas between the eyebrows, around the lips and eyes. Smoking deprives your skin of adequate oxygen and reduces essential vitamins in the skin too.

• Your fondness for simple sugars

A process called glycation that takes place in our body makes the sugar we consume attach itself to the body’s building blocks, the proteins. Free radicals called AGEs or Advanced Glycation end- products are produced that speedily age our body. The production of AGEs is proportionate to the amount of simple sugars we consume and so is the amount of damage they can cause to proteins. Unfortunately, the proteins that are worst affected are collagen and elastin, both critical for skin regeneration and health. That’s why, when we consume more simple sugars, our skin sags faster and wrinkles appear faster too.

• Your exposure to pollutants:

Even pollutants in the air around us can speed up the ageing process of our skin. These pollutants typically contain nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and many chemicals that damage the skin irretrievably. Air pollution seems to be a major cause of premature ageing in almost every urban population across the world.

Understanding the major causes of premature ageing can help you address them on time and effectively. Making simple changes to your lifestyle can help you maintain youthful, healthy looking skin that does not reveal your age for years. It is also important to take adequate care of your skin, keep it moisturised, clean and nourished well, so that you enjoy glowing, healthy skin and the confidence that comes with it.