We all age, but premature aging is when it happens faster than it should. The cause is usually environmental and lifestyle factors. The most common signs of premature aging appear in your skin, with wrinkles, age spots, dryness or loss of skin tone. Healthy lifestyle habits can help stop and prevent further premature aging.

 

OVERVIEW

What are the signs of premature aging?

Over time, our bodies naturally age. Premature aging is when the typical effects of growing older happen early. It’s when your body looks older than your actual age.

The most common signs of premature aging include:

  • Skin changes like wrinkles, age spots, dryness, loss of skin tone, hyperpigmentation around your chest and sagging.
  • Hair loss or graying hair.
  • Gaunt face (sunken cheeks).

 

POSSIBLE CAUSES

What causes premature aging?

In most cases, controllable and preventable factors cause premature aging. This is called extrinsic aging.

Most signs of premature aging show up in your skin. Skin changes happen as we age. When they appear earlier in life, the cause is usually from environmental or lifestyle factors.

Exposure to light is a top cause of premature aging:

  • Sun exposure causes many skin problems. Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it’s responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin. UV light damages skin cells, contributing to premature changes like age spots. This sun exposure also increases the risk of skin cancer.
  • High-energy visible (HEV) and infrared light are responsible for the other 10% of skin changes. HEV light (also called blue light) comes from the sun and electronic devices like smartphones. Infrared light is invisible, but we often feel it as heat. These forms of light don’t increase skin cancer risk, but they do affect collagen and skin elasticity.

Other environmental or lifestyle factors that cause premature aging include:

  • Smoking: When you smoke, the toxins in nicotine alter the cells in your body. These toxins break down collagen and elastic fibers in your skin, leading to sagging, wrinkles and a hollow, gaunt face.
  • Unhealthy diet: A few studies show that diets high in sugar or refined carbohydrates may cause premature aging. On the flip side, diets filled with plenty of fruits and vegetables help prevent premature skin changes.
  • Alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can dehydrate and damage your skin over time, leading to signs of premature aging.
  • Poor sleep: Studies show that low quality (or not enough) sleep makes your cells age faster.
  • Stress: When you’re stressed, your brain pumps out cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol blocks two substances that keep your skin looking plump and vibrant: hyaluronan synthase and collagen.

In rare cases, certain disorders can cause signs of premature aging:

  • Bloom syndrome.
  • Cockayne syndrome type I or type III.
  • Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.
  • Mandibuloacral dysplasia with type A lipodystrophy.
  • Rothmund-Thomson syndrome.
  • Seip syndrome.
  • Werner syndrome.