I used to look older than my age until I quit these 6 habits—now people think I'm 10 years younger

For years, my reflection told a story I didn’t want to read. The dull skin, heavy eyes, and constant fatigue made me look older than I actually was. I blamed bad lighting and genetics, but deep down, I knew the truth: it was how I was living.

These days, I’m 37, and people often mistake me for 27. I don’t have a miracle cream or secret serum sponsorship to thank. The shift came from quitting a few everyday habits that quietly aged me from the inside out.

Below are the six things I stopped doing—and how each one transformed not just how I look, but how I feel.

1. I stopped sleeping like a teenager

For most of my 20s and early 30s, I treated sleep like an optional side quest. I’d scroll through music blogs or edit a late-night vegan snack review until 2 a.m., then wonder why my face looked like it had been through a spin cycle.

Chronic sleep debt doesn’t just make you tired—it messes with your hormones, collagen production, and skin barrier. The body sees poor sleep as stress, flooding your system with cortisol. That cortisol breaks down the very proteins that keep your skin plump and resilient.

So, I started protecting my nights the way I protect my playlists: carefully curated and non-negotiable. No screens after 10 p.m. My phone lives in another room. I keep my bedroom cold and dark, with a splash of lavender oil diffusing near the window.

Within weeks, my under-eye circles faded, my skin tone evened out, and—most surprisingly—my mood lifted. When people say “beauty sleep,” it’s not a metaphor. It’s physiology.

2. I quit the “permanent stress Olympics”

I used to wear busyness like a badge of honor. Back-to-back deadlines, caffeine-fueled writing sprints, and a phone that pinged every 45 seconds—it all made me feel productive and important. But it also made me look, frankly, exhausted.

When you’re constantly in fight-or-flight mode, your body prioritizes survival over regeneration. Blood flow diverts from your skin to your vital organs. Collagen production slows. Your face literally becomes a map of your stress.

I didn’t fully grasp this until a friend sent me a candid photo from a brunch in 2019. My jaw was tight, my eyes hollow, my expression locked in mid-anxiety. That image hit harder than any mirror ever could.

Now I build “quiet zones” into my day. Ten minutes of deep breathing before coffee. A slow bike ride instead of doom-scrolling. I’ve even embraced meditation—something I once rolled my eyes at. The irony? Doing less made me look better than any overachieving streak ever did.

3. I gave up processed “health” foods

This one stung. As a vegan-snack reviewer, I used to justify living off granola bars, protein cookies, and colorful kombucha cans with ingredient lists longer than a K-pop choreography lineup.

The truth: ultra-processed vegan snacks can age you just as fast as any junk food. They spike your blood sugar, which triggers glycation—when excess sugar molecules latch onto collagen and elastin, making skin stiff and wrinkly.

So I pivoted to real food. Overnight oats with chia and berries. Roasted sweet potatoes. Freshly fermented kimchi from my own kitchen (a fermentation experiment that went surprisingly well). I still review snacks—it’s part of the job—but I now treat them as treats, not staples.

After six months, my skin had a new kind of glow—not the greasy shine of sugar spikes, but the steady radiance of balance. My jawline came back. My energy stopped crashing mid-afternoon.

4. I stopped living under fluorescent lights

As a former music blogger, I used to spend entire nights under the glare of desk lamps and laptop screens. I didn’t think much of it—until I learned that light exposure can directly affect circadian rhythms, sleep quality, and even how your skin repairs itself.

Blue light, especially from screens, penetrates deeper into the skin than UV A or B. It triggers oxidative stress that breaks down collagen and increases pigmentation. Combine that with indoor living and minimal sunlight, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a sallow, tired-looking face.

So I started chasing the sun—literally. I take my morning coffee on the balcony, let natural light hit my eyes (without sunglasses for the first few minutes), and use warm, low-temperature bulbs in the evening. I even bought a red-light therapy lamp, which sounds a little Silicon Valley, but the science checks out: it boosts mitochondrial activity and helps skin heal faster.

After a few weeks, friends told me my complexion looked “alive” again. Turns out, natural light is still the best filter.

5. I let go of comparison culture

If you want to age your soul faster than your skin, spend your nights scrolling through other people’s highlight reels. I used to compare myself relentlessly—career milestones, apartment aesthetics, abs I didn’t have.

It’s not just psychological. Comparison raises stress hormones and encourages lifestyle habits that accelerate aging: poor sleep, late-night snacking, and emotional burnout. I realized my face looked older not just because of what I was doing, but because of what I was feeling—envy, inadequacy, and restlessness.

So I detoxed from it. I unfollowed accounts that made me feel behind. I started following slow-living photographers and small-batch tofu makers instead. I replaced endless feeds with playlists and podcasts.

The surprising side effect? My face softened. Not in a “filler” way, but in expression. I smiled more. My posture relaxed. When your internal dialogue shifts from comparison to curiosity, it shows on the outside.

6. I stopped chasing “anti-aging” and started chasing joy

This sounds like a cliché on a soy candle, but it’s true: the moment I stopped trying to fight aging, I began to look younger.

I used to stress about every tiny line. I’d test serums like I was auditioning for a role in Glow Up: The Existential Edition. But hyper-focusing on “anti-aging” kept me in a cycle of anxiety and dissatisfaction—the very emotions that accelerate aging.

So I reframed it. Instead of “anti-aging,” I started practicing “pro-living.” I smiled without worrying about laugh lines. I spent afternoons photographing random textures in my neighborhood instead of inspecting my pores. I learned new fermentation recipes, danced to indie remixes in my kitchen, and reconnected with the younger version of me who loved creating just for the joy of it.

Joy, it turns out, is the best facelift there is.

The ripple effect

The most fascinating part of quitting these habits wasn’t the physical transformation—it was how people started responding to me differently.

At a family reunion last summer, my cousin squinted and said, “You’re aging backward. What are you doing?” When I told her it was mostly about sleep and stress, she looked disappointed, like she’d expected a celebrity-grade product list.

A barista once carded me when I ordered a hard kombucha. Another time, a younger friend asked me to join her skincare influencer project because I “had that natural glow thing.”

But beyond the compliments, the real payoff is how I feel. My energy is steady. My mornings are clear. I wake up curious again. The mirror no longer feels like a critic—it feels like a collaborator.

The science of looking younger (without obsessing)

Dermatologists will tell you that around 25, collagen production declines by roughly 1 % per year. But lifestyle choices—sleep, diet, sunlight, and stress—can accelerate or slow that process dramatically.

When you:

• Sleep well, your growth hormone peaks, repairing tissue overnight.

• Eat whole foods, you reduce inflammation that dulls skin tone.

• Get natural light, you balance circadian rhythms and mood.

• Relax more, your parasympathetic system kicks in, supporting regeneration.

None of this is glamorous. It’s not the kind of thing that trends on TikTok. But the results are long-lasting and genuinely rejuvenating.

In my case, quitting six aging habits created a domino effect. I didn’t just look younger—I started living younger.

The “younger you” might not be who you expect

When people say I look 10 years younger, I know they’re responding to more than my skin. They’re picking up on ease, enthusiasm, and presence—qualities that often fade when life gets too fast or filtered.

We equate youth with surface, but it’s mostly energy. Think about the last time you met someone who seemed effortlessly vibrant. It probably wasn’t their cheekbones—it was their spark. Their curiosity. The way they listened with interest instead of rehearsing their next line.

Reclaiming that spark has nothing to do with reversing time. It’s about alignment. Living in a way that supports the rhythm your body was designed for. Once I did, everything—from my complexion to my creativity—felt lighter.

Final thoughts

Looking younger wasn’t my original goal. I just wanted to stop feeling like life was a constant sprint. But somewhere between giving up processed “health” foods and embracing sunlight, my reflection caught up with how I felt inside.

If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: youth isn’t lost—it’s leaked, slowly, through everyday habits that drain us. Plug those leaks, and your natural vitality returns on its own.

No miracle creams. No ten-step routines. Just rest, nourishment, sunlight, and joy.

Now when I catch my reflection in a café window, I don’t see someone trying to look young. I see someone finally living that way.