Why Some People Age Faster than Others

The Not so New Concept of Cellular Aging

Your rate of aging is controlled by genetic pathways and biochemical processes at a cellular level. How fast the cells of your body age determines how fast your body ages.

There’s not much we can do about the genetic part. As for the biochemical processes, there’s a lot we can do about that. Some experts believe that the cellular aging process (also called cellular senescence) is a response to cellular stress. It’s how each cell of your body reacts to external stress. That’s the simplified concept of cellular aging. The collective response of your cells determines how your tissues and organs will function as time progresses.

For practical purposes, cellular aging can be managed successfully by keeping it to a minimum. We can’t stop or prevent all forms of cellular stress to our bodies, but we can certainly minimise it. Whenever we take care of our organs, this positive impact is also shared by our cells.

Ultimately, whatever speeds up cellular aging, also speeds up our physical aging. Physical aging is the part we observe mostly in our external appearance.

Seven Factors that Make You Look Older

1. Sugar. People who love sweets will hate us for this one. If you consume a lot of sugar, you will gain weight and your body will become more susceptible to chronic diseases. Also, the way your body reacts to sugar is another problem. Chronic diseases, as the term implies, interfere with your life over a long period of time. Each chronic illness you develop affects every cell in your body in some way. Collectively, this also makes you look older.
2. Smoking. Smoking is bad for your health. Why does that line keep on ringing in your ear? Because it’s true in so many ways. In New Zealand, five thousand people die annually because of the adverse effects of smoking (and secondhand smoke). That’s 13 people a day. This is the heavier side of smoking.

On the lighter side, it will make you look older by adding more wrinkles to your skin, particularly your face. Smoking combined with too much sun exposure leads to a lethal combination of assassins on your skin cells.
3. Divorce. Were you surprised to see this one on our list? A facial analysis study done on identical twins in 2009 demonstrated that the twin who underwent a divorce appeared older than the twin who didn’t go through a divorce. Separation from someone you once loved can certainly take its toll not only on your psychology, but also on your appearance and health.
4. Sun Exposure. Sun exposure is good for you and your skin…to a certain degree. However too much of it will wrinkle your skin and make you look older. Excess sun can lead to elastosis and numerous age spots. Elastosis is a condition where your skin loses its elasticity and becomes leathery in feel and appearance.
5. Phobic anxiety. This is something new. In a recent study, it has been suggested that personal phobias accelerate aging and add a few more years to your external appearance. The chronic fear of something contributes to psychological stress which in turn affects your external appearance.
6. Antidepressants. Do you use antidepressants? A study on twins found that the twin who used antidepressants looked noticeably older than the other twin.
7. Stress. Perhaps this factor was the first one in your mind when we started this article. Chronic stress leads to the constant release of stress hormones. These stress hormones create quite an impact on internal organs and tissues. They overrun your body’s current homeostasis and put it in hyper drive mode exhausting resources and producing free radicals in the process, therefore contributing to aging.

How to Slow Down Your Biological Clock

Manage your stress effectively. Click here to read our tips to do just that.
Dietary restrictions. Limiting your caloric intake may have positive effects on your aging process. Preliminary reports from a study on monkeys have indicated that dietary restrictions may slow down the aging process and age-related physiologic changes.
Exercise regularly. Regular physical activity promotes the release of growth hormone. Growth hormone has a hand in almost everything related to aging – muscle mass, energy levels, libido, skin, etc.
Sleep. It’s only during sleep that we completely repair, heal and recuperate all the tissues and organs of our body.
Relax. Choose from a multitude of relaxation techniques available. Try stretching or tai chi, dancing or guided relaxation. Or simply a long soak in the hot-tub.

The simple fact is - we are all aging whether we like it or not! The good news about the aging process is that it can be slowed down, even to the cellular level. Implement the healthy lifestyle factors mentioned above, become mindful of the factors which speed up your aging and learn how to minimise exposure to them.