7 Toxic Habits we all should avoid

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Wrinkles look cute on a pug, not on most of us! Most of us don’t want to look old and wrinkled, especially when still in our 30s or 40s.Yet we make faulty lifestyle choices and adopt toxic habits that make us look 20 years older than we are. That is why, instead of just reaching out for an anti-aging cream, try to ditch these 7 toxic habits that make you look 20 years older.

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1. Holding a grudge

Actually “forgiveness” is something that many people overlook.

Forgiveness is not about being right or wrong. But it has more to do with you and less to do with the person you’re angry with. It’s all about giving yourself permission to be at peace (I know it is easier said than done). You may expect the other person to realize at some point in time that they were wrong and apologize?

But, guess what? It just doesn’t always work out like that. Life is far too short to put your happiness in the hands of someone else’s hands. It effectively gives them authority over your life, which is yours, not theirs. If you’re still nursing a hurt, know that it’s causing you more harm than it is causing them. “Who am I truly punishing?” you should wonder.

This negative cycle only serves to keep your mood low and your stress hormones elevated as you get older. So break the cycle and ditch this toxic habit that makes you look 20 years older. Go on, take control of your happiness!

2. Being a Perfectionist

Perfectionism is not always healthy. So many of us are our own harshest critics. Actually, this toxic habit usually starts in childhood when a child feels that he or she will never be able to live up to their parents’ expectations. In adults, this often takes the form of establishing a very high standard for yourself and then punishing yourself severely if you fall short. When you consider the amount of stress it adds to an already stressful existence, this becomes downright poisonous. This is why it’s paramount to practice giving yourself grace and ditch this toxic habit that makes you look 20 years older

“Perfectionism plagues the brain with negative ideas, which generate a surge of stress hormones, and that can really hasten the ageing process,” says best-selling author, psychotherapist, and relationship expert Dr. Mike Dow, whose book “Heal your Drained brain ” talks about training your brain to be its own therapist. When we just focus on the bad aspects of our mistakes, we miss out on the opportunity to learn from them, and the lessons are what will teach us to not make the same mistakes again.

3. Consuming too much Sugar

Confession time -I too have a sweet tooth, but consuming sugar can be a toxic habit and that’s the bitter truth! According to research, sugar-loaded foods and beverages accelerate your aging process.

In an interesting experiment, the Gladden Longevity Group conducted a study where participants were asked to guess the age of a person after looking at photos of 602 people’s faces with varying blood glucose levels. Results? Because of a process known as “glycation,” those with higher blood sugar were regarded by others to be older than their true age. The explanation is simple: most of the glucose in your body binds to collagen and elastin fibers in the dermis, essentially destroying the support cushion for your skin, making it sag and look dull.

If you consume too much sugar in your diet, especially in your 30s, you will most likely end up looking 20 years older than you are! That is reason enough to ditch this toxic habit that makes you look 20 years older than you are.

Roughly put, women should not have more than 6 spoons of sugar in day and men should not consume more than 9 spoons to stay looking young.

Furthermore, there is data that suggests that eating a large meal more than once a day can also make you age faster as this puts the body into oxidative stress. That’s why eating smaller, more often meals is preferable to eating one or two large meals per day.

4. Crash dieting

Dieting itself is not a healthy habit, and crash dieting is even more of a toxic habit on so many levels. Sure, it’s tempting to lose 10 pounds quickly before that vacation you’ve just booked. But consider this: you didn’t gain those ten pounds in two weeks. How could losing 10 pounds in two weeks be healthy?

These crash diets not only cause you to shed fat, but also water weight and muscle mass, as well as throwing your hormones off balance due to a sudden shift in diet. Eventually, you’ll be placing your body under more stress and your skin will suffer as a result of this toxic habit.

At the end of the day, nothing we do to our bodies should be severe, with the exception of athletics, which is debatable even for them.

Maintaining a harmonious balance is your best bet when it comes to food and diet.

5. Not moving enough

In these times, urban living and technology have made it easy to be a couch potato. The majority of people do not even have to travel that far to use the restroom. Earlier all those office Pee and tea breaks meant 5-10 minutes of walking and possibly a flight of stairs.

Often enough failing to exercise is one of the quickest ways to age your body! It’s essentially the same concept as the “use it or lose it” philosophy but applied to your muscles. Many of us don’t exercise on a regular basis because we do not think it is important enough. Not exercising regularly is another toxic habit that makes you look 20 years older than you are. Not only does a lack of exercise affect your external appearance but it also affects your cardiac and mental health.

The good news is that exercise does not have to be strenuous or excessive to be effective. Simple things like going for a 30-minute walk a few times a week are a great place to start and is enough to provide you with several health benefits.

However, as you age,it is recommended that you should also focus on muscle strength or weight lifting. Muscle strength has a direct relationship with how well your body ages. Muscle strength helps to maintain the heart and brain health, as well as protect the bones and joints from harm. Never exercising is one toxic habit that can make you feel like 70 when you’re just 30.

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6. Ignoring Your Mental Health

Especially during the lock down, we have all had our moments of feeling low and anxious. However, if you’ve experienced a string of days when you feel blue or not yourself, especially for more than two weeks, you facing a mental health issue and it’s critical that you don’t ignore it. Not feeling OK but thinking it will go away on its own is not only a risky game to play, but it can also age you faster.

Researchers at Yale University have discovered that chronic stress and major depression can cause the brain to shrink. The brain loses volume as a result of chronic stress hormones, which leads to emotional and cognitive (thought process) damage. On the other hand, consulting a mental health professional can help in early diagnosis and remedy of the issue before it causes long-term damage to your health.

7. Not drinking enough ( water )

While a glass of red wine with your dinner can prolong your life, anything more than that can hasten aging by causing hormonal imbalance, weight gain, sleep issues, and early mental deterioration. Water intake is equally important. As an adult, you need to drink water to keep your body hydrated and optimize your bodily functioning. In fact, some people do not like drinking water because it is tasteless and flavorless, but water is indeed the elixir of life.

So grow up and drink up!

I said 7 toxic habits but there is one more toxic habit that can affect your happiness and make you look and feel 20 years older.

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8. Staying away from your friends

Friends we grow up with are the people we feel most comfortable around. They have seen us in our unpolished state and we connect with them for purely emotional reasons. Given our busy schedules, keeping friendships going isn’t always easy. But if you do, there are also some major anti-aging advantages to be won! Numerous studies have proven that connecting with friends (even virtually) helps to de-stress us and that is the key to looking and feeling younger, my friend!

I would love to hear what you think about ” 7 toxic habits that can make you look 20 years older”, so just pen down your thoughts in the comments below and let me know.

Guest Contribution by Dr. Preeti