How and Why You May Look Older

Being a parent may make you start thinking if you’ve grown older. Look at the mirror, and see if you’ve wrinkles.

Everyone likes to look forever younger. The reasons are obvious.

The youthful look of a person is primarily based on the skin of that individual. The first impression of a person is the face: the perception of youthfulness in that individual is determined by the following factors:

Skin color

Skin texture

Feel and touch of the skin

Your skin renews itself every 35 to 45 days. Your skin maintains its youthfulness through its continual rejuvenation. Aging begins to take its toll on the skin when the rejuvenation or renewal process is interrupted. Such interruption varies with different individuals, and that variation determines how the skin of that individual may age, as well as how it may look as it ages.

Intrinsic aging is caused by internal factors in your body, some of which are beyond your control.

Cessation or interruption of skin cell replication process

Your skin cells divide and replicate continually. However, after a while, they stop the replication process. Surprisingly, the skin cells do not perish; instead, they accumulate in your skin and secrete substances that further interrupt the natural renewal process of other healthy skin cells. Such interruption adversely affects the level of collagen, which is the most abundant protein in your body. Given that collagen makes up approximately six percent of your body weight, its breakdown takes away support of the skin, and thus causing fine wrinkles to appear on your face.

Decline of hormone production

In chronological aging, your body’s production of hormones declines as you age.

Being a woman, your estrogen (hormones) level may decline by as much as 30 percent during the first ten years of menopause. This significant loss of estrogen not only causes your skin to become thinner and less elastic, but also prolongs the renewal process of your normal skin cells.

Change in physical structure of the face

Over time, the physical structure of your face changes due to the loss of bone mass and the decline in the volume of fat under the skin.

Stress 

Stress may cause the flare up of acne, eczema (red swollen skin), and rosacea (a chronic skin disease in people with fair or light skin).

There are ways to reverse your aging if you take care of your skin, or even make your own anti-aging cream.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau