Overworked? Snacking on sweets to get through your day?  Or are you skipping the gym for yet another week? While these unhealthy habits are easy to justify with your busy schedule, they could be the reason for premature wrinkles, extra weight gain and dull-looking skin.  

Age reversing facials, BOTOX treatments and liquid facelifts can improve your appearance and erase a few years, but maintaining a healthy lifestyle can ward off wrinkles for good.    

Here are just seven lifestyle habits that may be speeding up the clock:  

1. High stress levels. Stress caused by work overload, emotional problems or simply poor nutrition can reduce your body’s ability to restore and repair itself and this leads to a wealth of health problems. Stress can also trigger high blood pressure and make it difficult to enjoy the benefits of a good night’s rest. Reducing stress in a healthy way can be a simple strategy for looking and feeling young.  

2. Eating too many cooked foods.  Even when you’re eating well-balanced meals, your efforts to eat healthy could be sabotaged by eating cooked foods.  The National Academy of Sciences explains that eating foods cooked at high temperatures can cause inflammation and also trigger a state known as ‘glycation’ where toxins are released into the body at a high rate. Eating wholesome, natural and uncooked foods on a regular basis may counteract many problems associated with aging and poor health.  (Source: lef.org)

3. Excessive sun exposure. From tanning beds to hours in the sunshine, those UVA and UVB rays will take their toll on your skin’s health and appearance. UV rays break down collagen and make the skin cells especially vulnerable to breakouts, blemishes and even hyperpigmentation. The result? Age spots, broken capillaries, and rough patches of skin that do not respond to topical skincare treatments.  

4. Skipping sleep. Sleep deprivation leaves the body with few resources for restoring and repairing itself, the natural process that ensures the central nervous system and muscles in the body are functioning at an optimal level. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently found that a certain protein associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s may be impaired when the body doesn’t get enough sleep (Source: ScienceDaily.com).

5. Drinking alcohol. Alcohol is linked to liver problems, dehydration and poor skin health overall. Since alcohol leaves your body depleted of important vitamins and minerals, your body may be more vulnerable to disease, hormonal imbalance and immune system dysfunction.      

6. Your sweet tooth. Lots of sugar in your diet will give you a temporary high, but all those sweets will take their toll on your health – and maybe your waistline. The British Journal of Dermatology reports that eating sugary foods can lead to the development of wrinkles because it reduces the skin’s ability to produce collagen and elastin – the essential proteins needed to keep the skin smooth and elastic (Source: CNN.com).

7. A couch-friendly lifestyle. When you’re not physically active on a day-to-day basis, your muscles and joints can begin to deteriorate fairly rapidly. According to researchers at King’s College of London, “A sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity to aging-related diseases and premature death. Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases, but also because it may influence the aging process itself.” (Source: Washington Post).    

If any of these habits are part of your daily lifestyle, slow and gradual change can help you break the cycle. In the meantime, there are several treatments that can help you stop the clock and regain control of your looks. Anti-aging specialists offer age reversing facials that improve your complexion and freshen up your look, dermal fillers to plump up wrinkles and fine lines, and even facial liposuction to tighten up and tone the skin to a more attractive state.  

Learn more about skin rejuvenation in our information guide, or consult with an anti-aging specialist in your area to find out how you can reverse the signs of aging – even after a lifetime of bad habits.