Unhealthy lifestyle means the average woman looks four years older .

Dec 21, 2010

If you have ever taken comfort in the saying ‘you are only as old as you feel’, you are not alone. 

But new research has revealed that unhealthy lifestyles are fuelling a premature ageing epidemic with the average woman looking more than four years older than their actual age. 

Despite many of us wanting to look 10 years younger, an alarming survey shows we are not helping ourselves to stay youthful. 

According to a poll of 8,000 women over 25, unhealthy habits including smoking, drinking, eating junk food, using sun beds and not looking after our skin, is making women old before their time.

The results indicated that modern lifestyles are having a detrimental effect on looks, making women look 4.25 years older than they actually were. 

Recently clean living Jennifer Aniston, age 41, topped the list of celebrities who look best for their age, while party animal Amy Winehouse, 27, was voted the celebrity who looks the worst for her age.In this image-conscious age, the survey also uncovered that a quarter of women spend 10 minutes a day worrying about their ageing, adding up to two and half days every year. 

Women in the North East are ageing the fastest, feeling that they look an average of six years older than their years, which is no surprise considering they also smoke and drink the most, use sun beds and a third regularly go out in the sun without wearing any protection.

While scientists did not analyse participants’ skin, the group were asked what age they felt they looked.

The questions revealed that one in five don’t use moisturiser, 40 per cent regularly go out in the sun without any SPF protection, a quarter eat junk food two to three times a week and the average woman drinks 448 units of alcohol and smokes 894 cigarettes a year. 

Dr Ravi Jain, from the Riverbanks Clinic, in Bedfordshire, said his mantra was to stub out the cigarettes and wear sun protection every day. 

He also encouraged drinking lots of water and eating berries to stop going over the hill prematurely.

He said: ‘Collagen production in our skin naturally slows as we age, with a loss of about a third of collagen normal by the age of 45 causing a reduction of facial volume and the appearance of wrinkles and folds.

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‘However smoking, alcohol consumption, sun damage, poor diet and even a lack of exercise can accelerate collagen breakdown and cause us to age prematurely.’

For a third of the women who took part in the poll, by collagen replenishment treatment Sculptra, the biggest concern was looking less attractive, while one in 10 people aged 25 to 30 were anxious their partner will leave them. 

One in ten women aged 51 to 55 said they agonised about looking like their mother. 

Around one in ten women, who were aged between 25 and 66, said they would have an injection to look young, while nine per cent would opt for plastic surgery and 66 percent would fancy a makeover to help them shave off the years.

Previous studies have looked at how having a positive outlook benefits the bodies. For instance, pessimists are more likely to suffer a range of illnesses from aches and pains to high blood pressure and die younger than their optimistic counterparts.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/