When I was growing up in my teens, I was always told I looked quite a bit older than I was. When you're that age, you take that as a huge compliment.
But when I got into my mid to late 20s, it started to get annoying when you were told you looked older....like ten years older....
Up until my late 20s, I ate well, started sunbathing less in my early 20s and stopped it completely by about 25.
Ate fairly healthy but didn't exercise much. Had a few foods that were my vices.
In my late 20s I decided that it was time to look forward to my 30s and start creating some more healthier habits. To eat healthier 90% of the time and to make exercise a staple of my life.
My thought was that if I started making these type of habits in my 30s, it would put my on a good path of setting a foundation for those good habits to a healthy lifestyle through my 40s and beyond.
I had come to this by watching friends, co-workers, and acquaintance that had bad habits through their 30s like smoking, eating unhealthy, etc., but that overall still looked pretty good and seemed to be aging well.
But right after they would hit 40, things started to change and to me it looked as though the aging process had caught up to them...and beyond.
Ever notice how you can tell whether someone smokes by looking at their face before you even smell the cigarette smell on their clothing? Here's an interesting facial comparison picture of the same person with one side being if they smoked and the other side if they did not.
There was a recent study that came out talking about habits that can age you by 12 years and I think it really shows some simple things you can get rid of to not only help you live longer but also to look younger.
It really shouldn't come as a surprise as to what these four habits are when combined, can age you by 12 years: smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet.
The researchers tracked 5,000 British adults for 20 years.
Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent. Among the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.
Now granted, I guess you could argue that even having all four of those habits still only resulted in 30% of them dying. That's fine if you want to look at it that way but, the article unfortunately, didn't go into whether the other 71% had additional health problems other than death that they people who didn't have those four habits didn't have.
The risky behaviors were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.
Staying away from these healthy habits seems quite doable for anyone and the long term benefits seem pretty clear:
"You don't need to be extreme" to be in the healthy category, Kvaavik said. "These behaviors add up, so together it's quite good. It should be possible for most people to manage to do it."
(The picture of Susan Sarandon is a comparison to how she looked in 1995 and in 2008. She's 63 now and looks pretty darn good and I verified, doesn't appear that she's had plastic surgery).
I never smoked, I have a drink or two throughout the week, have been getting the veggies and fruits in for years and most definitely get exercise. Has it paid off?
Absolutely. I'm probably healthier now then I've ever been and when it comes to how old I look, people who meet me for the first time tend to say I look like I'm more in my mid to late 20s rather than in my late 30s.
I don't want anyone reading this to get discouraged and think that they missed their opportunity in their 20s and 30s to start a foundation for good health and aging gracefully. It's never too late to make changes and you will most definitely get health and appearance benefits no matter what age you take that turn to a healthier lifestyle.
A quick note about one unhealthy habit that came to my mind when reading this article on how to age well that they didn't list was: sunbathing/tanning.
I know. People like to have a little color on their skin.
That might look okay short term but, I see people out there where it's evident that they tan quite frequently and to be honest, sure you've got some color, but to be blunt, the wrinkles you're getting from all that tanning is making you look 10 years older than you are. Maybe you don't see it but, it's there (and I won't even go into the increased risk of skin cancer issue).
If you're looking for solutions on how to age well, start with getting rid of these four unhealthy habits (get rid of that other one that I mentioned as a bonus). They aren't that hard to incorporate into your life and your body will thank you in the long run.
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