Looking young is something that most people strive for on a daily basis. Watch television for a few minutes, take a walk through any department store, or flip through a magazine and you’ll see it everywhere: this is what you need to do to look young. Usually this message is pushed through some age-defying eye cream or trendy top, but those material objects aren’t the only way to appear younger.

Actually, all you need to appear more youthful is to kick a few bad habits! There are simple mistakes that so many of us make every day that, unbeknownst to us, are actually making us look older than we are.

Save yourself $50 on “wrinkle reducing cream” and instead try to nix these 10 bad habits. This is the easiest, cheapest, and healthiest way to embrace your true age and look as radiant as you are!

Forgetting Your Sunglasses

This might seem like a simple mistake and the only consequence seems to be the fact that you’ll have a hard time seeing during bright daylight hours. But forgetting your shades actually has a long-term effect on your eyes. You guessed it: the infamous crows feet.

Not being able to see through the sunlight will instinctively force you to squint, which encourages those stubborn crows feet to crop up down the road. Plus, UV exposure doesn’t do your eyes any favors either, especially since this area is one of the thinnest spots on our faece.

You Haven’t Given Up Smoking

Hello, friend who has not given up smoking. We’re sure you’re sick of hearing this day in and day out, but please feel free to join us in 2017 by kicking your smoking habit! In all seriousness, smoking causes baggy eyelids, wrinkles, and a dull tone to skin, as proven by a 2013 study which compared the faces of twins who do and do not smoke.

Just one more reason to put out that cigarette for good.

Sleeping in Makeup

Every once and awhile, all of us have stumbled home way past our bedtime and passed out with a full face of makeup on. Mistakes happen. But to chronically fall asleep with lingering makeup can have very negative effects on the condition of your skin.

Your skin rejuvenates at night, which it cannot do with the day’s makeup, grime, and oil still on your face. Not cleansing your skin before bed regularly can result in acne, wrinkles, and dull or uneven skin tone, research has shown,

Not Applying Sunscreen

Another thing we should all be doing in this day and age! Even on cloudy days or during the dead of winter, the sun’s powerful rays are still beating down and damaging our skin. Applying sunscreen can not only reduce your risk of skin cancer, but it also reduces your risk of getting wrinkles, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Not applying a protective layer of sunscreen (at LEAST on your very exposed face) will allow wrinkles to form from sun exposure in the near future.

You’re Addicted to Your Phone

Who isn’t a little addicted to their phone, right? Well, we’re all going to be feeling it down the road with something called “tech neck. “This is the phenomenon of our necks wrinkling because we’re all peering downwards at a phone or computer screen. Yikes.

The easiest way to fight back against this drooping skin is to keep your screens at face level or even just reducing your technology time.

Sleeping on Your Face

Now I know I’m guilty of this one. If you have a tendency to sleep on your face, you could be causing future wrinkles without even realizing it. The reason? So much repeated pressure on your face can reduce your collagen supply, wrecking the elasticity of your face.

The best way to combat this is easy! Try to get into the habit of sleeping on your back or side. If that’s too hard to trick your body into doing, invest in a silk pillowcase. At the very least, this material will be more gentle on your skin and cause less wrinkles.

 

What do you think of these habits? To learn the other bad habits you need to nix, make sure to watch the video below! Then share your thoughts in the comments section below.