So ma storay goes a somthin like dis
(21yo, male, north-east coast Australia)
About a year ago my facial skin made a sudden change for the worse, I woke up one day and my face had change its shape and there was significant sag occouring, I could probably pin point the week it happend if I thought back.
I've always been very lucky with my facial shape/skin having quite defined contures and absolutally no creases or overlapping skin. This was until I woke up a year ago to discover my facial shape had change dramatically, not wrinkle wise but rather seeing significant overlapping/sagging skin at the corners of my mouth, naso labial creases formed, face lost some of its deffinition becoming sort of more rounded.
This change has sparked an OCD like tendancy to learn as much as possible about everything relating to aging skin. Learning about the lifestyle choices that effect skin aging, made me analyse my own lifestyle.
About 2-3 months prior to the 'change', my life style was very busy and out of wack due mainly to University and work, here is a list of negative effects that I believe may have been a factor:
1. Getting on average 4 hours of sleep each night
2. Up-ing my coffee and energy drink intake
3. Eating some sort of fast food every day
4. Drinking a muscle gain supplement (I believe this is the main culprite)
I also spend time out in the sun as I tennis coach and also drink alcohol most weekends with the occasional recreational drug, but nothing changed in regards to these factors so I thought i'd mention them but not include them.
I believe judging from what Ive learnt, sugar has caused this sudden change (glycation).
Lack of sleep impairs your ability to regulate blood sugar levels and also raises stress hormones.
Coffee and energy drinks contain sugar
Fast Food contains loads of sugar
And get ready for this, I was drinking a muscle gain supplement that contains this much sugar: (Cant link because its my first post but I will cut and paste)
Ultimate Nutrition Muscle Juice 2544 Ingredients (Chocolate) 6kg:
Ingredients: Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Premium Whey Protein Isolate, Calcium Caseinate, Egg White Albumen), Maltodextrin, Crystalline Fructose, Cocoa, Medium Chain Triglycerides and Natural and Artificial Flavours.
Per 4 scoops (250g
Energy 4412kj (990Cal)
Protein 55g
Fat 18g
Carbohydrate 152g
It says to take 4 scoops but I only took 2 a day, which still means I was taking on 76g of Maltodextrin and crystalline fructose (glycates 10x faster than glucose apparently) into my diet all in one hit.
If you had 3 seperate people one of whom smoked heavily, one who ate loads of sugar and one who sun bathed frequently im pretty sure you could pick which person fits into each catagory judging by their skin.
The high sugar person takes on a doughy, flabby, puffy, undiffined look which is consistant with the changes that I have seen.
The past 3 months I have tried lowering my sugar intake and also supplementing with things like tumeric, ginger, fish oil, green tea, resvertarol etc
Questions for everyone out there:
1. Do you think the change I have seen was due to lifestyle or the natural aging process
2. What are your thoughts on the contributing factors, could these cause a sudden change (isn't glycation meant to be a slow accumulating process)
3. Do you think these changes are essentially permenant or can a consistant change in lifestyle (what im trying to do) possible reverse the damage
4. I repetedly hear that 80% of skin aging is due to the sun and glycation damage sits in the left over 20%, is this true
4. Has anyone eles seen changes like this around age 21
5. Any general advice/knowledge from people out their.
The post might sound dramatic or obsessive but I thought I'd throw it up here to get people's oppinions and knowledge as there are alot of smart people on here.
The only good thing I can take out of all this is I am now aware of the impacts lifestyle can have on your body and am making changes in order to persure a healthyer one
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this and answer the questions
I appreciate any feedback.
Cheers
