From stress to sugar

Aug 22, 2007 17:36 GMT  ·  By

The knife cannot solve everything and it is not the elixir of youth. A healthy life style is much cheaper and more effective. Bad habits make you grow old too soon. These, however, are the worst:

1. Stress. People who are not able to get rid of it get older earlier. It decreases our immunity (thus infection resistance) and increases the risk of heart conditions. Too much stress means and older immune system.

2. Alcohol: too much or ... too little. One (for women) - two (for men) cups of wine daily can decrease the risk of heart disease. More than that means increased risk for heart diseases, and cancers of liver, throat and breast.

3. Sedentary lifestyle. Movement prolongs life, reduces the risk of obesity and stress, but also of conditions like Alzheimer (the most common form of old age dementia).

4. Eating too much saturated fats (from meat and dairy products). These fats increase the bad cholesterol, leaving us exposed to heart diseases. These fats must not overcome 10 % of the total fat volume ingested daily. The Mediterranean diet, even if it does not help losing weight, is better.

5. Smoking. That's more than cancer: smoking, even cannabis, is the enemy of the skin. If you look at smokers, their skin looks 20 years older: wrinkled, with a yellowish hue, and with exploded pores.

6. Polluted air. It can induce breathing diseases. When contamination level is high, you'd better stay home.

7. Too much sun exposure. It can induce skin cancer, unlike limited exposure, translated to lower risk of skin cancer and wrinkle development.

8. Lack of sleep. It is connected with obesity, diabetes, higher blood pressure, and memory impairment, regardless of age.

9. Obesity. It's a well known fact that fat people look older (behind the physiological issue, namely feeling that they're old): higher risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

10. Too much sugar. You should not consume over 12 little spoons of sugar daily (including that from the cookies), at a diet of 2.200 calories daily. Fruits and vegetables are a healthier choice when it comes to sugar sources.