Wrinkles are a natural part of aging, but our lifestyle choices and daily habits can accelerate their development and make their appearance even deeper. Here are 15 harsh-to-hear truths about how you’re contributing to premature aging and making yourself look older than your years.
1. Don’t Over-Exfoliate Your Skin
While exfoliation is crucial for removing dead skin cells, overdoing it can strip the skin of its natural oils, leading to dryness and irritation. This can accelerate the development of wrinkles, damage the skin’s barrier, and make aging signs look even worse. You should exfoliate your skin at most three times a week. Anything more can cause long-term skin issues like deep wrinkles, redness, rosacea, and micro tears in the skin if you use harsh physical scrubs.
2. Your Facial Expressions are Causing Wrinkles
Squinting, frowning, and even smiling can form deep, permanent wrinkles, particularly around the eyes and forehead. Facial expressions make the muscles contract, and while a few lines can add character, you can make wrinkles worse by not wearing sunglasses, staring at screens too long, rubbing your eyes, and frowning all the time. Be more mindful of your facial expressions and wear sunscreen every day to protect your precious complexion and slow things down.
3. Deep Tan Lines Make Wrinkles Deeper
Even if you don’t mean to tan, your skin is exposed to the elements and the sun’s harsh UV rays daily, even staring through a window. Not wearing sunscreen daily leaves your skin vulnerable to sun damage, which breaks down collagen and causes lines. Over time, this constant exposure manifests as dull, weathered skin, deep wrinkles, redness, and hyperpigmentation. Slather on the SPF.
4. Stop Sleeping the Wrong Way
Sleeping on your stomach is comfortable, but when your face is pressed against the pillow, it can create creases on your skin that eventually turn into permanent wrinkles. Try sleeping on your back and use a silk pillowcase to minimize friction and pressure on your face and the development of deep wrinkles.
5. Don’t Drink Through a Straw
Drinking through a straw may be better for your teeth, but that pouting look you make with your lips could be causing premature lines and wrinkles around your mouth, like the same ones caused by smoking. Instead, drink directly from the glass to avoid creating deepening wrinkles—you’ll also help save the planet.
6. Your Sugar Fix is Aging You
If you have a sweet tooth, you might be dismayed to learn that your nightly chocolate fix is causing you to wrinkle faster and harder. Sugar causes inflammation in the body, which destroys healthy collagen, the protein responsible for its structure and elasticity, so it will sag and become more wrinkled. Incorporate more antioxidant-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats (avocado, nuts, and salmon) to support skin health and reduce your appearance of wrinkles.
7. Smoking is Deepening Your Wrinkles
Smoking is bad for every aspect of your health, from thinning hair to increased risk of cancer and more lines and wrinkles on your face and around your mouth. This is because smoking reduces blood flow to the skin, depriving it of oxygen and essential nutrients. It also damages collagen and elastin, so your skin is saggier and takes on a dull leather-like appearance. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your skin, health, and longevity.
8. You’re Not Drinking Enough Water
Not getting your daily water intake has disastrous effects on your health and your body. When your body and skin are dry and dehydrated, your skin becomes less plump and elastic, making wrinkles more pronounced. Hydrate from the inside out by drinking plenty of water throughout and eating hydrating foods like celery and watermelon. Match your water intake with a great moisturizer in order to give your skin as much hydration as possible.
9. You Have to Invest in Anti-Aging Skincare
You need to give your skin a fighting chance against aging, so invest in clean, science-based anti-aging products filled with skin-boosting ingredients and antioxidants like vitamin C, retinol, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and peptides. Never use harsh chemical-filled skincare products or ones that don’t suit your skin type, as they can cause irritation, dryness, and damage the skin’s barrier, accelerating the appearance of wrinkles. Your skin changes with the seasons and age, so always adapt your routine accordingly.
10. No Amount of Alcohol is Good for Your Skin
A glass of wine at the end of a long day is a little luxury that most of us indulge in. However, alcohol dehydrates your skin and causes inflammation, speeding up wrinkles and deepening them. Alcohol also disrupts your sleep, which is when your skin repairs itself. When it comes to alcohol, there is no safe amount you can drink if you want to keep your skin and body healthy. Moderation is the key—and if you must have a drink, make better choices. Dry red and wine, champagne, light beer, or hard kombucha are generally better.
11. You Need a Consistent Sleep Routine
Our skin thrives when we’re asleep. The second we hit the pillow, our skin gets to work repairing the damage from the day and strengthening its barrier. Not getting enough rest can lead to dull, tired skin and accelerate the formation of wrinkles. Go to bed at the same time every night and aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep to save your skin.
12. Stop Ignoring Stress Management
Stress can be inescapable, whether it’s work pressure, family drama, relationship issues, or financial worry. However, chronic stress increases our cortisol levels, which breaks down collagen and leads to premature aging. If you want to live a healthier life and enjoy youthful-looking skin for longer, practice stress management techniques like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing to protect your skin and overall well-being.
13. Stop Neglecting Your Neck and Hands
When it comes to skincare and sunscreen, we often stop at our jawline, but this is a cardinal mistake. Your neck and hands are often exposed to the same environmental stressors as your face but are frequently neglected in skincare routines. Not only this, but aging signs and dark spots are more prominent on the hands and décolletage area. The skin in these areas is delicate and prone to wrinkles, so be sure to extend your skincare routine to cover your neck and hands as well. And slather them in SPF every day.
14. Taking Hot Showers is Destroying Your Skin
There’s nothing like a shower after a long day, but what you may not realize is hot water can strip your skin of its natural oils, leading to dryness and making wrinkles more noticeable. Opt for lukewarm water when showering and washing your face to preserve your skin’s moisture barrier.
15. Your Exercise Routine Could be Aging You
Working out is good for our health, but intense and prolonged exercise can increase the production of free radicals in the body. These unstable molecules lead to oxidative stress, which overthrows antioxidants (naturally occurring substances that protect our cells from damage), killing healthy skin cells and damaging collagen and elastin, the proteins that keep skin firm and youthful.