Why Do Men Age Better? (or More Importantly, Do We?)
It may come as a surprise to many people out there that we men have not actually found the fountain of youth. If we had I can assure you we would have sent our best engineers out to make copies of it.
So why do we age better? Another more pertinent question is do we?
There are, in most cases many things that can contribute to a man aging well like a fine wine rather than a stale pizza. Let’s have a look at 5.
- Genetics
- Hormones
- Habits
- Stress
- Attitude
Genetics
It’s totally clear to everyone that the hand you have been dealt from the gene pool is mostly responsible for how you will look and fare in your later years. Some of us may look younger naturally without any added effort while others may need to bathe in ointments, creams, and lotions to keep the rigors of time from knocking at the door.
Melanin levels can play an important role in protecting you from the sun, keeping your skin looking great. Many Mediterraneans, Latinos and African / Carribeans have awesome skin and look great.
Take Latino actor Benjamin Bratt aged 57 or black actor Denzel Washington aged 66 for example. Both of these guys look incredible for their age and I’m sure genetics have played a big part in their overall appearance.
Hormones
As we get older the hormone testosterone beings to wain causing us to feel more tired, lose our muscle definition and look older.
Testosterone as well as keeping us sexually engaged it also helps collagen levels in our bodies, keeping our skin looking young looking.
It helps our bone density keeping them nice and strong and it also helps our brains. Improving our mood, memory, and confidence levels.
Muscle wise, it helps us with muscle growth, strength and endurance too.
Things that can slow down the rate of testosterone loss (and potentially gain it) include:
Adequate sleep: Skipping out on those extra minutes or hours of sleep are detrimental in so many ways. Once you lose sleep you can never compensate so try to get enough now. This will boost your levels.
Zinc: Like sleep, there is also strong evidence that zinc can help your testosterone levels too so make sure you get enough from your diet, if not get a supplement.
No excessive body fat: There is also reasonably good evidence to suggest that reducing the amount of excess body fat can assist with helping your body to replenish it’s testosterone stores. There are also many other benefits to not being overweight as well (See. Lose belly fat guide here )
Habits
Men are usually guilty of having many habits, most of them bad ones but you can develop good ones too.
Some bad habits to avoid are common ones that you would normally think of like smoking and overeating and having a diet that is mostly processed or junk foods. Other bad habits may include too much TV or internet. This can result in you watching your device into the small hours and missing out on valuable sleep.
Develop some good habits instead. Habits like healthy eating, regular exercise, going to sleep early without your tech or gadgets. Other good habits may be to develop a routine for your face. Rather than just shower and go take the time to apply toner and moisturizer as well.
This is more important for men with lighter of freckled skin as there is generally less melanin and the skin will be more prone to sun damage.
If you are worried about sun damage then a good sunblock ad after sun moisturizing regime should be considered as well.
Stress
Stress is a key issue for us guys and is one of the things that kills us and if it doesn’t sends us into some pretty dark places so it’s important to ensure we are as stress free as possible. (Check out my happiness guide here if you need a few pointers)
There are many ways we can reduce stress to keep ourselves looking great but men tend to have more interests and hobbies than women so this attention draw may be what is stopping us from fretting about life and keeping us occupied (check here to see why hobbies are good to have).
Your job and job satisfaction can also play a big part in your stress levels but not your workload. Busy people who enjoy their jobs tend to fare better stress-wise than those who find their job a drudge.
Attitude
Your overall attitude towards life will play a big part in your aging process too. A negative outlook can often go hand in hand with stress when it comes to your overall well being. Thinking positively can win the day here as well as keeping you looking and feeling great (check my optimism guide here)
Our brains are massively underrated when it comes to thinking about our overall health and fitness. If you stop and think its the main computer that literally drives everything, from our pain sensors to our heartbeat, it interprets what your eyes see and our ears hear. It controls our limbs so well we can make fine art or even fix one another (doctors).
It makes sense then that if we keep our brain in an optimal positive state then our bodies too will benefit from this. Even the creases we get on our faces sound more positive when we are in a good mood. Wrinkles sound bad but laughter lines sound fun.
Helping other people can also be beneficial to you in your quest for youth. Men who are less selfish tend to be calmer, more easy going and relaxed thus contributing to their positive attitude and youthful appearance
Lastly, not caring can also be a big factor in your overall attitude. Not caring does not mean you don’t care at all but rather you choose to not think about it as you know aging is inevitable. Having a “what will be will be” attitude.
Not spending an ounce of thought worrying about something you can’t really change that much is better for you in the long run.
In conclusion:
Men age better because we want to. We smile, we laugh, we do what we always do. We do it with grace and dignity and we do what we want when we want.
For most men growing older can mean letting go. Letting go of boyish issues that we though important when we were younger. Things like the car you drive, your haircut and looks, what you wear and the brands you choose to wear.
It all falls by the wayside when you start looking at your hourglass and you can see the sands of time slowly running out. It’s then you start to think about what is truly important and that is to have a good life and be happy with the time remaining.
How do we do that. Being happy, being relaxed and happy, talking with friends and family. This carefree attitude gives us confidence as we no longer feel the need to impress anyone. This is what makes us look like we age better. Confident, happy, interesting men look more attractive so maybe this is why we age better.
