dr. Raymond Noordam (31) is a senior researcher and epidemiologist at the Leiden University Medical Center and conducts research into aging. In Santé he answers the question:'Why do some women look younger than they are?'
Raymond Noordam:“Whether you're a man or a woman human DNA is 99.9 percent identical. The percentage that remains makes you unique. We call these differences genetic variation. It determines, among other things, whether you have blue or brown eyes. In some cases, this genetic variation leads to an increased risk of certain diseases or accelerated skin aging.”
“Skin aging is determined for about fifty percent by our genes , according to studies with twins. With skin aging, the cells in the skin are no longer as efficient at repairing damage caused by sunlight and smoking, among other things. Skin aging is characterized by wrinkle formation (for example around the mouth, nose and eyes), pigment spots and reduced elasticity. Genes that cause skin aging also appear to be responsible for the pigment of the skin. When it comes to skin aging, people are generally very similar. The growth phase ends on average around your twentieth century and after that the skin slowly deteriorates. Men are no different from women in this regard. The difference between people increases as we get older, because then you already have a whole life behind you. Disease can age the skin, but it can also make you younger by corpses. In older people who are overweight, for example, the wrinkles are filled with subcutaneous fat.”
“So how quickly your skin ages partly depends on your genes , but there is still a large part that you can influence. Your lifestyle plays an important role in this. The more often you are in the sun, the faster your skin will look old. With truck drivers we see that their left arm ages faster than their right arm, because they often hang out of the window with it. Smokers get wrinkles faster, because cigarettes cause vascular damage. Studies show that stress is also an important factor. High blood levels of the hormone cortisol accelerate processes in the skin that cause aging. Barack Obama is a good example of this. After his resignation in 2016, he looked a lot older and grayer than when his presidency started in 2008. If you live in constant stress, your body doesn't get time to recover.”
Image:Getty Images, source:Santé October 2019
