8 HABITS THAT MAKE YOU AGE FASTER AND HOW STOPPING CAN HELP YOU REGAIN A FEW YEARS.

     Your Night Snacks

The habit: Bingeing on hors d'oeuvres like crackers, flatbreads and cookies.

Why it's making you look older: Consuming refined carbohydrates and sugar results in a rapid spike in blood sugar. The sugar molecules travel through the blood to all the cells in your body, linking up with fats and proteins. When that sugar links to collagen (the protein that gives skin its elasticity) without the presence of an enzyme, a process called glycation occurs. The resulting collagen-sugar combo is stiffer, and can lead to wrinkles and compromised circulation to the skin.

The fix: Snack on nuts, yogurt, and low-glycemic foods that are better for you skin (and the rest of you, too).

 

       Your Late-Afternoon Tic

The habit: Rubbing your eyes.

Why it's making you look older: Not only can aggressive rubbing break your eyelashes and cause them to fall out, but it can also cause trauma to the under-eye area, turning the skin red and making you look extra-fatigued. It will go away, but not until you're able to keep your hands off your eyes.

The fix: Develop a new habit that saves your vision and your youthful good looks: The 20-20-20 rule of looking at something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes.

      Your Sleek, Sexy Ponytail

The habit: Wearing your hair like a Robert Palmer backup singer.

Why it's making you look older: Repeated tugging on the root of the hair can lead to traction alopecia, or a receding hairline.

The fix: this type of hair loss is easily reversible—if caught early. Instead of pulling your hair into a tight ponytail, get it off your face with a messy off-duty-model bun.

      

     Your Workout

The habit: Wincing, squinting, groaning and straining your facial muscles while lifting weights.

Why it's making you look older: You know that squinting can cause wrinkles, and that's why you invested in those UV sunglasses. But bright sunlight isn't the only thing that makes you squint. Straining your facial muscles while doing exercise can have the same affect.

The fix: Do a few reps in front of a mirror to see if you're practicing incorrect "face form." If you are, try to focus on your breathing during reps: It's hard to scrunch up your face while inhaling and exhaling. 

    Your Healthy-Eating Resolution

The habit: Avoiding fat.

Why it's making you look older: Healthy fats, like omega-3 fatty acids, calm inflammation throughout the body, making your skin less likely to break out in acne, rosacea and other conditions that result in redness. Omega-3s also prevent the breakdown of plumping collagen and elastin fibers in the skin.

The fix: While no one's stopping you from limiting your saturated-fat intake, make sure you're still eating food with healthy, unsaturated fats—like avocados, salmon, olive oil and flaxseeds.

 

 

     Your Beauty Regimen

The habit: Overdoing it with supplements.

Why it's making you look older: While oral supplements like vitamin E and CoQ10 may have anti-aging benefits, it's possible to have too much of a good thing. Taking several anti-aging beauty products at the same time can make the skin more delicate and vulnerable to bruising.

The fix: Ask your dermatologist to help you come up with a regimen that works for your skin.

     Your Get-Up-and-Go Breakfast

The habit: Drinking mango-pineapple smoothies.

Why it's making you look older: We know what you're thinking: Fresh fruits and vegetables are supposed to be packed with antioxidants that fight the free radicals that damage skin cells. And they sure are, but juices that contain lots of fruit—and only fruit—tend to have sky-high levels of fructose. Even though fructose is a natural sugar, it can still lead to the glycation process (again!), which makes your skin look weary.

The fix: dark green, leafy greens have the highest amounts of those skin-saving antioxidants—including zinc, which helps to break down old collagen, build new collagen and prevent wrinkle formation.

     

    Your Anti-Aging Skin Regime

The habit: Applying sunscreen daily—to your face only.

Why it's making you look older: Although women have finally taken the sunscreen message to heart, far too many of us are still neglecting our hands. Hands are already susceptible to indignities of aging, like a loss of fat that makes veins more prominent, and UV rays add insult to injury in the form of sunspots and wrinkles.

The fix: Always remember to put sunscreen on the backs of your hands, especially when you're driving. UVA rays, which play a major part in skin aging, can penetrate glass.