My OperaAvoid Bad Habits, Stay Young
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 5:43:59 PM
Bad habits and vices are often associated with youth. Many young people frequently take to such habits in order to fit in with their peers, or to distinguish themselves from their more staid elders. Thought they may mean to highlight and celebrate their youth, they are really speeding up the aging process.
Tobacco is another example. The majority of smokers pick up the habit while they are young, and the younger a smoker starts, the harder it is to give up cigarettes. Smoking is a habit that can have a huge effect on your appearance.
It may, to begin with, lead to dulling of the complexion. Smoking can stain and weaken teeth. It also constricts your blood vessels, which will in turn deprive your skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to stay healthy. On a more serious note, smoking can also lead to cardiovascular problems, as it forces your heart to work harder in order to get blood through narrower channels. Smoking may look cool, but it makes your skin, and more importantly, your heart, age before their time.
Unsurprisingly, alcohol also makes you age faster. Besides leading to bloating (beer bellies, anyone?) and red faces, habitual overindulgence in alcohol can seriously dry out skin.
Another bad habit, perhaps associated more with the current generation than with previous ones, is staying sedentary. Nowadays, young people have less incentive than ever to engage in physical activity. For example, they may play video games instead of sports, or may communicate via computer or cell phone instead of getting up and going to see each other. Research and shopping can be done online, necessitating fewer trips to places like malls and libraries. This can lead not only to obesity, but also to weaker bones, muscles, and hearts—signs of bodily deterioration associated with old age, not vibrant youth. Unfortunately, more gadgets and websites are being marketed to young people all the time, which means that it is becoming harder to resist the urge to just stay in one’s chair or bed. Media and current fashions encourage youth to have slim, chiseled bodies, but at the same time, push them to sit still. These mixed messages can make fitness difficult—but not impossible—for young people.
Yet another bad habit that accelerates aging is to subject one’s body to irregular and/or insufficient sleeping hours. What with the ever-increasing amount of potential distractions available to young people, and, for some, the encouragement to party late, sleep is too rarely a high priority. Not getting enough sleep can, for one thing, increase your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, since your body’s ability to properly metabolize carbohydrates drops. Many nights of this over several years can certainly push your blood sugar up to dangerous levels, especially if you already have a family history of diabetes. Insomnia can also cause imbalances in your hormone levels. For example, it is one of the reasons why some women have irregular menstruation. Sadly, the people who most need to get more sleep are those who feel accustomed to only a few hours of sleep a night, and are thus people who may have difficulty adjusting their sleeping habits and general lifestyles in order to get more shut-eye.
If you are a young person, this does not mean you should sacrifice the chance to enjoy your youth. Rather, celebrate your younger years in a way that does not cut them short, or make growing older an ordeal.
As we have seen from the factors outlined in this article, bad habits that accelerate aging are not necessarily purely a matter of individual choice. A person may be encouraged to develop them due to factors in his/her socio-cultural environment. By becoming more conscious of these environmental factors, young people—and not-so-young people who have these same habits—may be better equipped to swim against the tide and kick their bad habits.
Tobacco is another example. The majority of smokers pick up the habit while they are young, and the younger a smoker starts, the harder it is to give up cigarettes. Smoking is a habit that can have a huge effect on your appearance.
It may, to begin with, lead to dulling of the complexion. Smoking can stain and weaken teeth. It also constricts your blood vessels, which will in turn deprive your skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to stay healthy. On a more serious note, smoking can also lead to cardiovascular problems, as it forces your heart to work harder in order to get blood through narrower channels. Smoking may look cool, but it makes your skin, and more importantly, your heart, age before their time.Unsurprisingly, alcohol also makes you age faster. Besides leading to bloating (beer bellies, anyone?) and red faces, habitual overindulgence in alcohol can seriously dry out skin.
Another bad habit, perhaps associated more with the current generation than with previous ones, is staying sedentary. Nowadays, young people have less incentive than ever to engage in physical activity. For example, they may play video games instead of sports, or may communicate via computer or cell phone instead of getting up and going to see each other. Research and shopping can be done online, necessitating fewer trips to places like malls and libraries. This can lead not only to obesity, but also to weaker bones, muscles, and hearts—signs of bodily deterioration associated with old age, not vibrant youth. Unfortunately, more gadgets and websites are being marketed to young people all the time, which means that it is becoming harder to resist the urge to just stay in one’s chair or bed. Media and current fashions encourage youth to have slim, chiseled bodies, but at the same time, push them to sit still. These mixed messages can make fitness difficult—but not impossible—for young people.
Yet another bad habit that accelerates aging is to subject one’s body to irregular and/or insufficient sleeping hours. What with the ever-increasing amount of potential distractions available to young people, and, for some, the encouragement to party late, sleep is too rarely a high priority. Not getting enough sleep can, for one thing, increase your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, since your body’s ability to properly metabolize carbohydrates drops. Many nights of this over several years can certainly push your blood sugar up to dangerous levels, especially if you already have a family history of diabetes. Insomnia can also cause imbalances in your hormone levels. For example, it is one of the reasons why some women have irregular menstruation. Sadly, the people who most need to get more sleep are those who feel accustomed to only a few hours of sleep a night, and are thus people who may have difficulty adjusting their sleeping habits and general lifestyles in order to get more shut-eye.
If you are a young person, this does not mean you should sacrifice the chance to enjoy your youth. Rather, celebrate your younger years in a way that does not cut them short, or make growing older an ordeal.
As we have seen from the factors outlined in this article, bad habits that accelerate aging are not necessarily purely a matter of individual choice. A person may be encouraged to develop them due to factors in his/her socio-cultural environment. By becoming more conscious of these environmental factors, young people—and not-so-young people who have these same habits—may be better equipped to swim against the tide and kick their bad habits.
