Old English – Lufu – means Love

Question: Is Aging Mental? Tips For Mental Health & Ageing

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Do you think our emotions can age us and our expressions can cause signs of aging? Yes our body slowly breaks down and we can visually see that.  But are we the cause of our own aging?  Meaning, lifestyle choices and knowledge of what we are putting into our bodies?  What about career choices?  Does our work age us?  Can work and stress age us?  What about our emotions?    I would have to say that life can age you but it is all on your own approach and perspective.  Wrinkles come from expression.  Expression comes from thoughts……….

How do we age?  Gray hair, wrinkles, maybe a hunched back, brittle bones, tight muscles?  These are all visible signs of aging.  We know that a lot of these symptoms of aging can be controlled by our life choices. What about the mental?  Yes as you grow and age you will have more life experience so hopefully your mind has grown and matured.  To say that the mental part of aging is unavoidable would be a fact.

The question is, are you aging and your actual physical body slowly deteriorating because of your mental choices? 

Example 1: the cause, eating chemicals and non nutritious foods.  The why, because you choose not to research what you are consuming. The effect, overweight, bloated digestion issues, grey hair, vitamin deficient, wrinkly skin, fatigue.

Example 2: Is your flexibility at an acceptable level?  Can you touch your toes?   The why, because you chose not to be active and now your body is physically failing you.   The effect, maybe you have chosen not to practice physical movement and your body can be slightly overweight, muscles tight, bones fragile and again, fatigue?  These are all choices one makes on the daily and it can age you.

With this post I want to break down the various ways you can mentally age yourself which you may not realize. Life can be hard but the choices you make can make it harder to live in your actual physical body. This is not a vanity post but more of an awareness post for two reasons.  One, to help you realize that your emotions really do run the show. You may not be aware of what emotions have taken over your expressions.  Two, those same expressions can be causing you wrinkles, that is how you will show age and in some cases unnecessary aging.

Ageing is Mental

In the US there is a thing called ageism.  Ageism is when someone knows how old you are and they expect you to be a certain way. Ageism is the prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination against individuals based on their age,  Age is just a number.

There is a stigma, 40 over the hill, 50 halfway point.  What is that all about?  Are you really old?  If you keep a young playful spirit and take care of yourself then who will know your real age?  Again, aging is mental.

If you keep smiling you will get smile lines.  If you are exposed to the sun and squint a lot you will get eye wrinkles.  What is that triggered from?  Emotions.  I wanted to create this post to help you see how your expressions can cause wrinkles.  Note, wrinkles are not a bad thing but just be aware of how your own expressive actions are affecting your appearance.

What about when your curious?  Forehead lines yes?  What about when you are confused?  Frown lines, or 11’s as I call them are exercised.  Over time with the repetitive movement of the same muscles.  The lines will appear.

One thing I want to point out, if I see someone with deep elevens, the wrinkles in between the eyebrows I always say someone is confused or lived a confused life.  But sometimes elevens can be caused by anger if one is always frowning or frustrated.

Using these expressions on the daily over time or years can definitely cause wrinkles and signs of aging.  There is also a mental health issue with some signs of aging.

Factors That Can Mentally Age You

  • Ageism i.e. Thoughts like, I should be _____ at this age, I should have more, be more
  • Work Title i.e. manager, boss, supervisor, more demanding positions
  • Life Choices i.e. drugs, partying
  • Mental Habits i.e. your thoughts directly show your emotions
  • Stress i.e. the tension can show on your face and tighten the jaw muscles, teeth grinding
  • Lack of Sleep i.e. puffy eyes and definitely causes wrinkles in eye area over time
  • Attitude i.e. always angry and negative will give frown lines
  • Lack of Movement i.e. no endorphins pumping through your system
  • Poor Diet i.e. the gut is the direct connection to your brain
  • Dehydration i.e. causes headaches and irritation giving negative expression
  • Perfectionism i.e. striving to be perfect can put a lot of stress on oneself
  • Title in Life i.e. daughter, wife, mother, employee, father, son, business owner

Responsibility Overload

Sometimes we put more responsibility on ourselves based on our titles.  Title mom, daughter, wife, father, boss, son,  manager, employee, business owner. With all these titles can come a lot of expression which again, can show signs of aging.

I want to give some examples here of titles and what type of expression you can expect:

Student 

Are you a student studying and maybe confused?  Or are you a high school student and your constantly angry with your parents?  Maybe walking around with a permanent frown?

Manager

Do you keep your expression serious?  You need to look stern and in control?  Are you frowning to show unhappiness with your employees?

Actor

Are you an actor and have to use expression lines for all the characters?

Teacher

Very expressive position if you are teaching young littles because the children thrive on expression.  You are full of expression to teach those children and hopefully smiles.

Sales Person

Smile smile smile who wants to purchase something from a sour face?  You will be using those smile lines and eye wrinkles if you smile with your eyes.

What Can We Do About It?

So how do we stop all these expression caused wrinkles?  First I want to say awareness is key.  Maybe spend time self observing and see if you really are over exerting your expression muscles.  What could be another option, botox? Botox is designed to freeze those muscles and take away those expressions.    Fyi don’t shoot the messenger but b o t o x is full of harmful chemicals to the body and being this is a natural site I do not encourage any injections into the body. What is the happy balance?

So as an alternative to botox how about having a conscious awareness to your general everyday expressions.  If you have an awareness of how your facial expressions are showing up for you this can bring emotional awareness.  Check your workplace.  Do you notice yourself frowning all day, do you have a position where you need to be stern as in management?  Do you work in the sun and catch a lot of eye squinting?  Maybe you can ad a hat to your uniform or sunglasses. Are you a mom and you are always smiling at the baby and start to recognize those smile line wrinkles by the eyes.

All these expression lines will age you yes.  But to counter balance this you have what we call self care. 

Self Care

What happens when you give yourself self care? Taking care of one self is giving yourself permission to take a time out.  To rest and recharge. When you take the time to take care of yourself it will show in your expressions.  You will be more relaxed and hopefully put yourself in a peaceful state.  In a peaceful state you can give yourself an emotional balance.

Tips for self care to aid in a more relaxed expression (Note some of these links are affiliate links and  author may receive a commission there will be no added cost to you if you click them)

Emotional Balance

Are you taking prescription meds?  Do you realize that could maybe also age you? Did you know that there is a natural way to help balance your emotions? Are you on prescription meds for anxiety or do you have sleep disorders? The two ways prescription meds can age you are by the side affects and dehydration. A lot of medicine dehydrates you as it creates a chemical imbalance.  Best thing to do is try a natural alternative if you are on medicine for emotional issues. Let me introduce you to homeopathy and flower essences.

Flower essences and homeopathy have been around for over 100 years.  They are remedies in nature that will not hurt your body.  A lot of different remedies exist for emotional support.  Check out the link here and you can see if you can find a remedy for emotional issues that you might be dealing with i.e. anxiety, depression, anger, impatience.  (Note floral remedies and homeopathic medicine is gentle enough to use on pets too.)

Link: https://www.directlyfromnature.com/?Click=95171

You can also read about flower remedies here:

https://elementlufu.com/flower-essences/

My personal experience

I started life late.  I got into a modeling career after 25.  That is old to start.  What happened?  I have amazing genetics and I always looked younger.  My mom had 4 children and always looked ten years younger than her age. I also studied skincare and nails so I had an “education” advantage in the beauty industry.  I can say though that through the years of my skincare career I started to see how peoples emotions and expressions can age them.  I wanted to share this post because I think it is important to bring awareness to your mental health.

Maybe you do have a stressful life or a stressful job.  Maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet but you could be unhappy in your current circumstances. Maybe you are not making the most wise food choices that are affecting your gut health. Remember gut health directly affects mental health.

The most important take away is in life everything is mental.  How you feel shows in your expressions.  You will age yourself if you continue using repetitive expressions. If you want to change how you look it starts with your mind set. Hopefully you can do some of the steps to recharge and relax if you do find yourself “mentally wound up”  just know everything is mental and everything is temporary.

If you have any feedback on this experience or if you have used floral essences or homeopathic medicine, please feel free to comment or message with contact page.