People fear that their conduct or interests can make them seem older than they really are, and this causes them anxiety. However, experts caution that if you seem to be older than your actual age, it may be an indication that you are at a greater risk of acquiring age-related disorders such as osteoporosis, loss of eyesight, or glaucoma.
Researchers in the Netherlands studied the faces of 2,700 persons aged 50-90 based only on their facial photos. They discovered that participants who seemed to be around five years younger than their true age had stronger cognitive abilities. They also had a lower risk of developing the normal physical symptoms of aging, such as cataracts and senile dementia.
To put it another way, if you have a youthful appearance relative to your age, the state of your physical and mental health is probably a reflection of that.
After analyzing the patients’ facial features, the researchers looked at lifestyle data such as the subjects’ weight, whether or not they smoked, and their overall health state. The findings, which were reported in the British Journal of Dermatology, indicated that the groups that had a physical appearance that was five years younger than their actual age did better on cognitive tests. Additionally, the group had a 15% lower risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is a kind of lung illness, and a 24% lower risk of developing osteoporosis.
The group of experts thinks that the biological process that causes the face to seem older, which leads to a loss of fat in the face and the subsequent formation of wrinkles, is also the cause of alterations in tissue and bone density, and health disorders that are associated with aging. This theory was developed based on the observation that wrinkles emerge when there is less fat in the face.
