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With age comes wisdom, sophistication, and insight, but getting older doesn’t necessarily mean having to look and feel your age in all regards. You have more control over the aging process than you think. Advancements in research around aging have yielded a trove of tips on how to not only age gracefully, but how to wind back the clock so you look (and feel) your best no matter what year you were born. Here are our best tips to keep yourself feeling and looking a decade younger.
1. Tune Into Trends
Don’t do yourself a disservice by thinking you need to dress a certain way once you pass a milestone birthday. If you’ve conformed to the pressure to “dress your age” then your fashion choices could be aging you. Trends are for everyone—not just the youngest fashionistas and the Instagram influencers of the world.
Want to keep your wardrobe inspired? You don’t need to start from scratch. Fashion is in the details. Just find ways to accessorize the pieces you have so that your clothes feel fresh. Opt for an on-trend handbag, find a new way to wear a scarf, find a statement necklace you love, or shop for new shoes to stay in line with each season’s latest looks. Your closet will feel enlivened and so will your head-to-toe look.
2. Invest in Your Skin
While you might have been able to use any old products and look fresh and dewy a few years ago, now is the time to optimize your skincare routine to fend off common age-related issues. A daily SPF is crucial, and do yourself a favor and get a sunscreen that can do double duty and tackle other concerns, such as evenness and tone. An even-tone sunscreen fortified with antioxidants will help protect your skin and offer sheer coverage to help improve discoloration.
Once you’ve got a good sunscreen locked down, don’t neglect your nighttime routine. Serums go hand in hand with SPF. While sunscreen is your chance to fend off future damage, serums are your opportunity to repair and treat existing skin issues and signs of aging. Consider consulting with a dermatologist who can recommend products targeted to your specific concerns.
3. Care for Your Hair
While many of us are great at taking care of our skin, often we neglect to pay similar attention to our hair, which in turn, ends up revealing our age by becoming brittle and dull, even if you’re still in your 30s, not to mention grays. But caring for your hair doesn’t mean spending all of your spare time in a salon. Gray is glamorous: these days millennials and Gen Z are opting to color their hair in silvery hues for a sophisticated look. Whether you choose to cover up grays as you get older or embrace your silver mane, the texture and cut of your hair will influence how young you look. Consult a stylist on the best hair care products to maintain scalp and hair follicle health to promote moisture and retain shine. Don’t assume that because you’ve reached a certain age you need to give up on taking on trendy hairstyles or cuts.
4. Prioritize Strength and Flexibility
There’s lots of research out there on how staying sedentary as you age accelerates some of the most common issues for both men and women, including weight gain, joint pain, mobility, and mood disorders. Protect your body and your mind by keeping active. Weight training two or three times a week helps prevent bone density loss and maintains muscle tone and will help you improve your posture, which all contribute to how youthful you will look as the years pass. Yoga and pilates are also excellent for building muscle and promoting flexibility, which will help you carry yourself like a much younger person, unimpeded by aches and pains.
5. Find Joy
We now know that stress is one of the key factors in aging, so get proactive about finding ways to have fun and unwind. Sometimes, it really is an issue of mind over matter; studies show that older people who are socially active and maintain their hobbies are less likely to experience a host of mental and physical issues, including depression and anxiety. Seek out ways to feel joyful every day to get that glow going from within and look radiant from the inside out.
