Aging is a privilege that not everyone gets to experience. So if you live to be 90 years old, the wrinkles on your face should be worn proudly as a badge of honor and a sign that you've got plenty of stories to tell about your younger years. But while we don’t need to be scared of aging, it is a fact that some behaviors and experiences can make us look older faster than others.

Reddit users have recently been discussing things that can instantly age a person, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts down below. Enjoy reading through, as you stay hydrated and remember to apply that handy dandy SPF, and be sure to upvote the responses you agree with.

#1

Grief, nothing ages you like Grief

Image credits: TheGreatGrappaApe

#2

Stress.

Image credits: gablamegla

#3

Lack of sleep

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#4

Stress. Grief. Trauma. Mental Illness. Losing a loved one way before their time at a young age (parent/sibling/close friend).

Image credits: RoronoaZorro

#5

Smoking

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#6

I think something not talked about a lot is mindset. Like if someone views themselves as old and shouldn't do this or that, they're making aging faster for themselves.
Affirmations can help.

Image credits: Amazing_Top_6530

#7

Hatred, harboring bad/sour feelings.

#8

Bad genes - like it or not. Some people smoke and drink their faces off and still look vibrant and healthy. Others eat well and exercise and look tired and lifeless

Image credits: Maleficent_Heat_6195

#9

Back pain.

You can't move like a young person if your back hurts.

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#10

The way you dress 

Image credits: mint_lemxn

#11

Working with the general public. Bartender of 21 years and nothing has aged me more than all y’all idiots.

Image credits: TimToMakeTheDonuts

#12

War. I went from 21 to 31 in 6 months.

Image credits: FirstTarget8418

#13

Too dark of a tan (fake or real).

Image credits: LucyVialli

#14

Starving yourself to lose weight. I look so much older in photos from my 20s than I do now at 45.

Image credits: Mollysaurus

#15

Having a spouse that contributes nothing to your relationship and allows your family to slip further and further into debt without caring that you're all only a couple of bills away from bankruptcy.

Image credits: Xmenenslaver

#16

Dehydration. Sun.

#17

Bad plastic surgery.

Image credits: lovehopemadness

#18

Fking cancer. Have watched my brother in law age 30 years in a month.

#19

I just did 4 years in prison and that was f*****g stressful. I feel like I’ve aged a lot

#20

Being the victim of a crime, and then having to spend the next two years of your life attending monthly hearings until a court date is decided. Watching the legal system not protect you when he violates restraining orders, gets a DUI and visibly deteriorates, coming to court dirtier and more unkempt each time. Losing friends because they like the offender better and just can't see...

#21

Death of a child War 

#22

Being president. Look at Obama's hair in 2008 vs 2016!

#23

Chronic pain

#24

The loss of a loved one.

#25

Children

#26

Being homeless. It’ll make you mature right fast it will.

#27

Booze alters your sleep so it’s a double whammy. Sometimes I don’t even recognize my friends when they’re super hungover and didn’t sleep much. Puffy doesn’t even describe it

#28

Weight loss sometimes adds way more wrinkles.

#29

Depression or general unhappiness in life

#30

Finding out a band you listened to when they first came out is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Image credits: mtg-Moonkeeper

#31

Stress, grief, childhood trauma. It can also ruin your life and life of the people around you.

#32

CHILDREN. My boobs have aged 20 years.

#33

Failure to be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. In that sense, I've known people who were instantly old the minute they graduated from college.

#34

Reminiscing about the show "Dinosaurs"

Image credits: ShapeSuspicious7198

#35

Platinum blonde hair. I swear it enhances every single line you have in your face even if you're younger.

#36

Poorly applied makeup, particularly foundation.

I know, because I suck at applying foundation!

#37

Overuse of filler as well as some plastic surgeries, buccal fat removal for example. So many people that are only in their 20s get this stuff in an attempt to look younger, more snatched, etc. It ends up making them look 15-20 years older a lot of the time.

#38

Kids. Kids instantly age people. I have proof of it. I had kids before my twin sister did. I looked 10 years older than her. Then she had kids and we evened out.

And yet the compelling narrative in the US is that SAHMs do nothing all day ??? yeah if that s**t ages you by 10 years, there’s definitely a lot of work and stress there.

#39

Making eye contact with their cursed portrait that has been aging in their stead for centuries.

#40

M**h and alcohol!

#41

Night shifts in the emergency department.

A lot of folks said how they enjoy working in ER and how it’s almost rejuvenating for them. Don’t get me wrong, ER can be thrilling, it can give you energy. That can really be true when you have a good team behind you, good working conditions and a “functional” hospital and healthcare system. Having said that, things that were stressful for me were mostly when you feel powerless in tough situations. When we would keep getting more and more patients and simply didn’t have enough beds in the hospital, so the specialist had to call all of the departments and asking for personal favors to admit a seriously ill patient. Stuff like that happened all the time and those were the things that drain you. Personally, I was working regular ER during my internship, now i am a specialist of child and adolescent psychiatry. During my 5 year residency, I regularly worked in the psych emergency, which was less crowded than regular ER, i could often get a few hours of sleep in. But in such departments, things are interesting as far as work load: you don’t get the next or previous day off. Which means that you start your regular shift on Monday morning 8am till 4 pm, start night shift from 4pm Monday till 8am Tuesday and then have your regular Tuesday shift from 8 am till 4 pm. If you’re on during the weekend? You come in Sunday at 8 am and you’re the on MD till Monday 8 am and then “enjoy” your regular Monday 8 - 4. Fun times. Sure, the extra money comes in really handy, but… I’m not sure it’s worth it. The last 6 months I didn’t have to do these shifts and honestly, I don’t really miss them. So yeah, they can fun and active and you do a lot interesting things, but there are many “ifs” to make that a sustainable way of life.

Image credits: TemRazbou

#42

For people over 30, their hair style. I dont know why some people, especially women, develop a hair style and stick with it the rest of their lives.

Image credits: PatrickMorris

#43

I have been through war and i also lost my sister to a car accident, fair to say im 39 but i look 60.

#44

Staying in a relationship or marriage you’re not happy in. It’s soul draining and the instant it’s over, there’s more relief than grieving for the end of it.

#45

Buccal fat removal

#46

hair loss. Not me personally but I used to work with a guy who I swore was like 35, and he was 19.



Poor kid.

#47

Troubleshooting printer problems. I swear these devilish machines only exist to trigger me to smithereens.

Image credits: Philitt

#48

Putting two spaces after a period

#49

For men, a moustache. If you look back at the 1980s, you have 25-30 year old men look like they're in their 40s, and the same is happening again, now.

Women - too much makeup

#50

(Multiple) tooth loss

#51

Worrying about aging

#52

When they start saying things like, 'Back in my day...'

#53

Working in stressful environments

#54

Trauma

#55

Reading an Elon Musk tweet

#56

Radiation poisoning

#57

Smoking. Being overweight. Drinking too much alcohol. Chronic insomnia.

#58

Not choosing the cup of a carpenter

#59

Time

#60

Birthdays.

#61

Seeing a post like "throwback to 2014," and a response like "I was 5 years old then."

#62

"What's a VCR?"

#63

Being a Manchester United supporter.

#64

when you receive a letter saying that taxes are due

#65

Balding

#66

Night shifts

#67

Monocle and a Top Hat.

#68

Asking them to make a phone with their hand

#69

Frumpy clothing