Ageing - The process of growing old.
Ageing is a natural process that every human being goes through. However, the desire to slow down this process has been a timeless pursuit. People have searched for the mythical "Fountain of Youth" for centuries, and while we may not have discovered such a magical source of eternal youth, there are practical and science-backed ways to slow down the ageing process and its effects on the skin.
Did you know ageing is a disease that needs daily treatment?
If you didn't, you do now but before delving into ways to slow down ageing, it's important to understand what causes it.
Ageing is a complex cocktail of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Intrinsic and extrinsic ageing affect the way this disease takes hold. Intrinsic means what occurs naturally from within for example your genes which only make up for 10% of the process.
Extrinsic ageing makes up for 90% of why we age prematurely and includes smoking, pollution, stress, free radical damage, UV exposure, diet, and medication.
So what are the visual signs of ageing?
The obvious one is wrinkling and loss of volume, but we will also see irregular pigmentation, solar keratosis (sun spots) elastosis (turkey neck) sallow and rough or even deep blackheads and finally skin cancer. Repeated exposure to UV causes 80% of premature ageing, this may be from the sun or other sources of artificial UV.
To stay young the skin needs to produce collagen, a protein that holds our body and skin together. This gives the skin its structure and makes it feel firm. 30% of the protein in our body is collagen and collagen makes up 70% of the protein in our skin so it is vital for a youthful appearance. Unfortunately, after the age of 30, we lose 1% of collagen each year so we must be active and look at ways we can improve this process and slow down ageing.
But it is not all about what products we can apply to our skin, even though this is very important. We must also look at our inner health and how we are looking after ourselves.
We start to lose muscle in our 20s and this accelerates ageing and starts a downward spiral, but we can do something about this.
Being active about how we age means taking responsibility for our health, this will help you to stay young.
When we get sick we instantly go to the doctor, this is simply a quick fix and whatever they prescribe won't heal the actual issue. Look at prevention and take responsibility for your health by not waiting for the problems to occur.
Exercise, eat a balanced healthy diet, stay hydrated, limit alcohol, avoid smoking, work on your sleep and emotional health, avoid toxins, take supplements, meditate and invest in yourself by staying socially and mentally active.
Our inner health reflects on our skin and what happens in turn is an unhealthy skin will accelerate body ageing. If our skin is unhealthy most of the time it is inflamed and these inflammatory chemicals will move from the skin into the bloodstream and accelerate ageing and disease by causing tissue degeneration.
By decreasing inflammation on the skin you are also improving your barrier to help you stay healthy.
Slowing down the ageing process is not about achieving immortality but about improving the quality of life as you age. These natural approaches can help you age gracefully, maintaining vitality and health well into your later years. Remember that ageing is a part of life, and embracing it with a positive attitude can be as important as the physical aspects of slowing down the ageing process. So, while the Fountain of Youth may remain a myth, the path to ageing gracefully is well within your reach.
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