Premature Skin Aging: What Can Cause It?

Skin aging is a natural occurrence, but premature skin aging is something that most people wouldn’t want. After all, you want your skin to look as youthful and healthy as possible, and you don’t want to be fighting with signs of skin aging many years before you expected to.

So what can cause premature skin aging? In some cases, premature skin aging can happen without your control due to natural reasons and areas related to your health and body. However, there are also many factors that can cause premature skin aging, which you can control, and your habits may be contributing without you even knowing it.

Neglecting Your Sleep

Many people are guilty of this, and especially younger people, whether it’s to stay out late for an event, wanting to make the most of your night off, or trying to fit in extra hours of work within a busy schedule. If you find that you manage easily on very little sleep, you may feel that neglecting sleep isn’t doing you any harm, but there can be health repercussions to not getting enough sleep — including the appearance of your skin.

Your skin, like the rest of your body, uses sleep as an opportunity to repair and renew. So if you’re neglecting your sleep, you’re not giving your skin enough time to stay looking its best.

Avoiding Sunglasses

Perhaps you’re always in the habit of forgetting your sunglasses, or maybe you don’t even own a pair. You’re constantly squinting whilst you’re driving or shielding your eyes from the sun on a bright day. If you avoid using sunglasses, the excess strain on your eye muscles and face as you constantly frown and squint can contribute to wrinkles over time.

Constantly Drinking Out of a Straw

This is a habit many people adopt in regard to staining beverages in order to protect the teeth. It’s also common for those getting iced coffees on the go to sip through a straw while driving and walking. However, drinking out of a straw constantly activates the muscles around your mouth in a certain way that could contribute to fine lines in that area. Lines and wrinkles around the mouth and jawline can be those which allow your face to look a lot older than it is, so you may want to ditch the straw whenever possible, and you can also look into a facial toning device to tighten up those muscles. This way, you won’t have to feel guilty about having the occasional ice coffee! Plus, it can ensure that natural causes of wrinkles and fine lines are kept at bay.

Excess Stress

It’s usually easy to see when someone looks stressed and haggard, and often that’s because of the state of their skin. The skin on the face may look tired, worn, or even inflamed and irritated. That’s because the release of hormones associated with stress can have a negative impact on the appearance of the skin. Furthermore, other habits associated with stress, such as not getting enough sleep, can negatively impact the skin, too.

Final Thought

When it comes to premature skin aging, a lot of it can be about the bad everyday habits that you might not even think about. While very easy to skip a few hours of sleep and forget your sunglasses due to hurrying out to work, these are things that can catch up with you (and your skin) over time.