From
what you eat to how you treat it; your body is a direct reflection of your actions. While everyone wants to age gracefully, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Your habits, wellness approach, workout regimes, and diet play a huge role in keeping you young and active. However, there are a few things you may be doing wrong that are accelerating premature ageing. According to experts, the way you begin your day is the key to healthy and graceful ageing, and there may be a few things you are not doing right in this context. And so, here is a list of a few morning habits that may affect your overall health and longevity. Read on.
Not eating breakfast
While, as a young and busy professional you may not have time to grab breakfast, experts believe that the timing of your first meal greatly influences your metabolism and cellular health as much as your meal choices. By eating within the first hour of waking, you may align with your body’s natural rhythms, promoting longevity through:
- Helping maintain healthy blood sugar levels
- Enhancing metabolic health
- Boosting cells’ energy production
If you skip breakfast every day, you are upsetting both metabolism and digestion, which affects your body’s focus on repair and regeneration during rest periods and thereby accelerates premature ageing.
Not hydrating enough
Drinking water is a crucial aspect of health and longevity. According to doctors, as your body relies on water to initiate vital processes, rehydrating should be the first thing to do in the morning, right after you wake up. Studies say drinking at least two glasses of water helps increase your metabolic rate by 25 per cent. It also protects and repairs your DNA and activates natural detoxification pathways, clearing out waste products accumulated overnight. However, by dehydrating your body, you are just making the recovery slow down, which adds to ageing.
Checking your phone right after waking up
If you are among those who start checking your phone just as you wake up, you may be indirectly contributing to unhealthy ageing. Experts say increased stress and disrupted sleep patterns – along with exposure to blue light accelerate skin ageing. The high-energy visible blue light emitted by phone screens penetrates the skin more deeply than ultraviolet rays, reaching the dermis where collagen and elastin reside. Prolonged exposure generates reactive oxygen species, which cause oxidative stress, damage skin cells, and break down these essential proteins, leading to wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.
Skipping morning sun exposure
Not being in the morning sun – even for 10 minutes can be detrimental to your age and well-being in the long run. According to experts, sun exposure not only helps you get adequate vitamin D, which is important for your health, but also helps control premature skin aging. However, you need to be sure that exposure is not too much.
Skimping on oral hygiene
Brushing teeth before bed is more important than most people realize. According to experts, those who brush their teeth in the morning have a significantly lower risk of dying than those who don't. Additionally, poor oral hygiene causes gum disease, tooth loss, and health problems like heart disease. Doctors say oral bacteria travel through your bloodstream, affecting heart health.