Aging is a part of life. As much as we try to stop it by using the newest cream or using cosmetic surgery, it will happen to all of us.

What you may not know is there are two types of aging and one of them can be avoided.

Intrinsic Aging
Intrinsic aging is also known as chronological aging. This we can do nothing about. It’s why we hit puberty and menopause. With every passing birthday if you are blowing out the candles wishing to turn back the hands of time-it won’t happen. How we show these signs of ageing depends on genetics.

Signs of Intrinsic aging

Dry Skin
As we get older, we produce less oil. This is why mature skin tends to be drier. There are not enough natural moisturizers keeping our skin hydrated.

Wrinkles
Father time (funny how time should be a man) causes a natural loss of collagen and elastin. Our body is slowing down and the production of both of these elements is affected.

Large Pores & Sagging Skin
Over time our skins support system starts diminishing. This results in large pores and sagging skin.

Extrinsic Aging
Extrinsic aging is also known as environmental aging. This type of aging is due to a large part of the environment we live in and the actions we take

Signs of Extrinsic aging

Increased roughness
This is due to sun exposure which has damaged the skin. Sun damage promotes free radicals which also destroy collagen and elastin. This causes our cell turnover to do so irregularly. The end result is rough skin.

Spots
Remember Milli Vinilli’s song Blame it on The Rain. When it comes to extrinsic aging we might as well be singing Blame it on the Sun. Simply put, the constant sun exposure of our youth has made our skin behave irregularly due to the damage that the sun causes. This makes the pigment act abnormal which results in sun spots (also known as liver spots or hyper pigmentation).

Excessive Wrinkling

We‘re not talking about the smile lines and expression line that happen with chronological aging, excessive wrinkling is the deep pronounced lines around our lips eyes, cheeks, neck and forehead. Can you guess the culprit here? There is two - sun exposure and smoking. We already know the sun damages our skin and causes premature aging. Smoking causes extrinsic aging because it is robbing your body of essential nutrients and oxygen. If your body is not getting enough oxygen, the production and healing capabilities of your body starts to diminish.

Sagging Skin

Once again we see the sun. The sun has harmful UVA rays which do a lot of dirty work beneath the surface. These nasty little rays have the ability to penetrate deep within the skins surface and destroy elastin. We know elastin is needed to keep our skin firm and supple and with age we will have lower levels of both elastin and collagen. What the sun does is compound the natural aging process.

Advice & Tips

I think the important think to remember is to always wear sunblock. We can see that the majority of the damage cause by extrinsic aging is caused by the sun. If you smoke, stop. Look into cessation programs.

Get some sleep. Sleep is when our body repairs itself, it’s when our body builds, skin, muscle and bones. If you’re not getting enough sleep your body will not be functioning at an optimum level.

There is nothing we can do to halt the aging process but by taking care of ourselves we can age gracefully.