Wrinkles are also known as a rhytide. They are creases, folds, or ridges that naturally appear on the skin as one gets older. A wrinkle is part of the ageing process of human beings and as people gets older; their skin becomes thinner, drier, and less elastic. What does this mean? It means that the skin gets damaged and this leads to wrinkles, creases, and lines on the skin.
When you’re young, your skin appears smooth, fresh and glows, but as you age in life with the wears and tears that surround living, your skin tends to witness changes. Apart from ageing which is natural as humans, most times skin wrinkles appear as a result of other things like habitual sleeping positions, loss of body mass, and sun damage. Also, prolonged immersion in water, habitual facial expressions, smoking, poor hydration can cause wrinkles.
What causes wrinkles?
As you age, so does your entire body ages and that includes your skin. During the ageing process, the elastic fiber of your skin loses its potency and the collagen slows down its production. This loss of elastic fibers without adequate collagen causes the skin to begin to sag, wrinkle or look leathery.
The physical sign of ageing that manifests as wrinkles sometimes do not have anything to do with ageing at all. Unknowingly to you, the lifestyle you live and other environmental factors plays a part in the way you look and behave. For example, people who lived on a poor diet, lack adequate sleep, and chronic stress manifest the symptoms of wrinkles easily.
Depending on the individual, there are various reasons why skin wrinkles. The likely causes of wrinkles are:
1. Aging
Most wrinkles result as a by-product of the ageing process. As people get older, dead skin cells are not easily replaced and they divide more slowly. This eventually causes the middle layer of the skin called the dermis to begin to thin. The elasticity and the firm support the skin enjoys are controlled by the dermis through its network of elastin and collagen fibers. When this network loses its functionality, depressions are created on the skin surface. Most skin that is ageing tends to have the inability of retaining moisture, less efficient in secreting oil and is slower to heal. The combination of all these factors leads to the development of wrinkles.
2. Facial muscle contractions
Over contractions of the muscles on the forehead particularly between the eyebrows and the corner of the eyes result when the contraction makes the muscle cells firm, non-elastic, and non-rejuvenated. When you smile, frown, squint continuously over time can cause your wrinkles to become more prominent.
3. Sun damage
People who are exposed to excessive radiation from the sun can result in the ageing of the skin. This radiation from the sun also called ultraviolet rays’ breaks down collagen fibers and leads to the production of abnormal elastin, which eventually results in wrinkles. The effect of the sun damage to the skin is cumulative and the same thing happens to any ultraviolet exposure, including tanning beds etc.
4. Smoking
The human body system is made so that dead cells of the tissue are shed off and new ones replace them. But when this does not happen, then there is a problem. Any good and healthy skin constantly regenerates itself. Old collagen can be broken down and removed while new ones spring up. Dermatologists have conducted researchers and have found out that smoking causes a marked reduction in the production of new collagen. And decreased collagen which affect the elasticity of the skin result in the development of wrinkles.
Cigarettes contain nicotine and this can cause the narrowing of the blood vessels in the skin epidermis. This narrowing of the blood capillaries will not allow vital nutrients to reach the epidermis of the skin, thereby resulting in wrinkles.
5. Sleep positions
People that sleep on a particular side of the body every night might cause their skin to get creased up. This same position every night might lead to having facial wrinkles or creases due to external pressure on the skin instead of an internal toning and rejuvenated changes in the epidermis of the skin.
6. Lack of Sleep
When discussing wrinkles, some people don’t believe that lack of sleep contributes to them. Lack of adequate sleep causes the pH of the skin to be altered and this affects the ability of the skin to remain hydrated. It is during sleep that the cells of the body renew themselves and make it to be ready for action the next day. So prolonged sleep denial will affect the overall function of the skin.
7. Diet and exercise
What you eat determines how you look to a very great extent. People that feed on an unbalanced diet probably because of too much carbohydrate intake always look unhealthy. And apart from affecting their skin, it also affects their body system.
Underneath the skin, you have capillaries that supply blood full of vital nutrients to it. But the diet which is rich in cholesterol tends to block the wall of these capillaries, thereby denying the skin nutrients. This eventually affects your skin texture, skin tone and can cause breakouts. Exercise helps the skin to remain glow and healthy by delivering oxygen to it, boosting collagen production and promoting new skin cells.
8. Pollution
The environment where you work or live can also contribute to how wrinkles develop on you. Pollution are toxins in the air and they come in various forms unknown to us. When inhaled, it causes a problem and if some of this pollution touches the skin, it also becomes a problem. Either you like it or not, they play an impact on those deep wrinkles and fine lines.
The by-products of industries and nuclear researches lead to environmental changes which indirectly affects your skin. New developments in scientific findings have their benefits but most researchers talk less of the disadvantages it has on human health.
9. Stress
Stress is a condition that happens to people who have decided to work and work without taking time out to relax or even having a break. Anytime you’re stressed your cortisol levels increase and this will reduce the ability of the skin to hold moisture. And what is the result? It affects your skin texture and wrinkles sets in.
10. Sugar
Consumption of too much sugar according to dermatologists confirmed that sugar can lead to premature ageing. Blood sugar can combine with different proteins in our bodies. This process is called glycation. Collagen and Elastin are the proteins that the sugar has the capacity of binding with. These reactions tend to build blocks of the skin thereby weakening the collagen and elastin which eventually leads to the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The toxic products produced during Glycation can also cause premature ageing.
11. Squinting
The more the muscles contract repeatedly over time, the more they lose their elasticity and the stronger they become. These muscle contractions cause skin cells to be squeezed thus forming small tiny folds that leads to wrinkles. So the more squinting, the more it leads to deeper wrinkles and loss of skin elasticity.
12.Drinking Out of a Straw
Drinking with a straw is good and stylish, but it can also cause wrinkles to develop around your mouth. This condition is similar to squinting which tends to develop wrinkles around the eyes. Drinking with a straw involves muscle contraction around the lips and if this action is done repeatedly, the muscles around the mouth become stronger and wrinkles finally appear.
13. Dry Skin
The skin, like any organ of the body, has its functions. One of them is to maintain the body temperature. And for it to perform its function to capacity, the skin has to maintain its moisture, and the sweat gland has to function properly. So dry skins that have lost their moisture are susceptible to wrinkles. A dry environment can also cause the skin to lose some of its 'scaffolding' and thereby succumbing to wrinkles."
We always advise people to make sure they moisturize their bodies day and night, especially the face.
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