Best lifestyle choices to look youthful?

[sleepysusie]

Inspired by another thread where a woman said her friend never drank and was child free and looked 25 at 40 I am wondering what the best lifestyle is to stay looking young.

I do drink (too much) and I have 2 kids and at 40 I defiantly feel booze and being a mum with all the stress and lack of sleep have aged me the most although I wouldn't change it.

What do you think are the most aging or youth boosting lifestyle choices smoking or not, having kids or not, stress, water intake, diet, exercise etc what makes the most difference besides skin care?

I reckon sunscreen and not smoking are the biggest things that affect how old you look.

Followed by booze/healthy diet and pot luck. I think there's limits to what you can do. I'm 38 and have religiously used sunscreen of some sort since I was 14. I've never smoked in my life, and have fewer wrinkles that my smoker friends.

If it wasn't for booze, I'd look about 12.

My skin took a turn for the worse when I moved to Korea. I think it's the pollution. My skin always looks so dingy and sad these days.

My dad is 72 and looks a LOT younger, plus goes the gym daily and has done for many years. His secret - a daily Cod Liver Oil supplement, I swear it's that!

what does the menopause do that is so ageing?
It fucks with hormone and collagen levels (among other things) leading to:

Weight gain and / or redistribution. So far I'm only a few pounds heavier but I'm a completely different body shape. So you may hit your 40s thinking you've worked out what clothes suit you but then you have to start all over again.
Everything goes saggy. Your skin - everything.
Thinning hair.
Disturbed sleep so you look tired (because you are).

Wrinkles are the least of it. Honestly, stop worrying about them. The beauty industry only bangs on about them because they're low hanging fruit so they're easy money.

Another symptom I find annoying (although I always smile and say 'thank you') is that no-one ever tells you that you look good. They will only ever say you look younger, even when it's patently untrue.

Re menopause, if you're prone to redness/flushing, it gets worse! So you need make up that conceals this but isn't too heavy...

honey my hair is highlighted in 'ashy' tones, and it looks fabby, very natural. Infinitely better than women with incongruously 'golden' yellow highlights.

Dammit menopause

I was planning to be dead-sexy by the time I get to 50, all yoga honed and swishy haired.

Never managed that look in my 40s or 30s , as I keep postponing it!

Life gets in the way and people keep offering me cake and wine!

If ashy hair suits you and your happy with it than great that's fine. It's neither better nor worse than any other colour a woman chooses though, and Cyndi Lauper and I will keep rocking the yellow thanks I was simply making some lifestyle suggestions based on the daft things so called fashionistas suggest for anyone over forty.

And I'm still going to suggest running and screaming when the hairdresser suggests Ashy and Choppy on the basis of what age is on your drivers licence rather than what's going on with your head. It's a good lifestyle suggestion. The shoplifting one probably isn't, but you could always just by Ester Lauder and pretend you nicked it when you're with your friends in the toilets at Debenhams.

You see, I think most people look their age, I'm struggling to think of anyone who I could think was 5 or 10 years younger.

Debra Winger.

This is her latest movie.

It's all in the genes, both of my grandmothers had lovely skin and looked much younger than their years. My mum too has beautiful skin for a lady in her 60s and hasn't aged in 25 years.

See I would say she's an example of someone who looks great but still looks her age. Ok I'd probably say mid fifties and she's 61 but that kind of ball park. To me, she looks really good but not massively younger than she is. And that's not an insult!

Sorry cross post, I was talking about Debra Winger.

I'd put her mid fifties too. It just tickled me as it was only last week I saw her in an interview and did have a "bloody hell" moment

Didn't someone make a film called 'Looking for Debra Winger' which was specifically about what happens to women in the movies when they get older? Off to google

Ta da! I bloody love the internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Debra_Winger

And now I must go and do some work.

it's no wonder women dread the menopause when it's spoken of with such doom on MN

Yep, the menopause and early/mid 50's see massive changes in skin, hair, body shape and effects of (accumulated) lifestyle choices. So, for all this who think they're getting away with the drinking, smoking and fags....beware!

I've never smoked nor done sunbathing (I do not tan....just go pink) but, have a sweet tooth, enjoy a 🍷and have huge amounts of stress due to my beautiful but quite disabled son. This, is Life. Some days, I look fine but mostly at almost 55 I find if I have a late night/stressful++ time it takes me days to look or feel right.

What I try to do is smile, even when I feel like crap (it can lift your looks and your spirits). I have to walk the dog twice a day, yomping through fields and rivers (whether I feel like it or not) and it's SO, so good for me. I try to do the veg/fruit and do use sunscreen and Serum. That'll have to do. I've no time for anything else 😊

GreatAunt, like it or not, it IS life changing. Sorry about that.

It's the opposite of doom. It's life and we don't talk about it enough.

Floisme - agreed we don't talk about it enough but when it is discussed it's always in negative terms so we're made to feel ashamed of something natural.

I think most people look their age but a lot of people are in denial. To me its not wrinkles that make people seem old, it's their attitude and lack of joie de vivre.

Maybe but the question was about how it makes you look older and I don't think anyone can deny it does that. If we weren't all so obsessed with looking younger then maybe it wouldn't be seen as such a negative thing.

The irony is, even when we're young and beautiful, most of us don't even think we are as we're held up to such impossible standards of beauty! As I'm older now, I think I've reached a comfortable level of acceptance with myself and just try and make the most of it.