Could worrying about looking old make you look older?

The short answer to that is yes. Thankfully, premature facial aging is a process you can actually control.

How? By understanding the root causes first.

With that said, note while there are plenty of variables in play, one predominant cause of facial aging is facial tension. Surprised? Well, that’s because facial tension is a rarely discussed topic. That is precisely why we’ll break down all you need to know about facial tension in relation to stress and how you can slow the process down.

Tension, in general, is a phenomenon that manifests itself in different parts of the human body, the face included. It’s the body’s natural response to emotional and physical stress. It causes the muscles to stiffen and is incredibly uncomfortable.

In that light, facial tension is when your facial muscles become stiff due to emotional and/or physical stress. So if you ever wondered how people tell when you’re stressed, it’s because it’s usually written all over your face.

Every time you experience high volumes of stress and anxiety, your body naturally triggers hormones that, in turn, activate the sympathetic nervous system. This system consequently responds by causing your muscles to contract and become stiff in readiness for fight or flight. Some of the characteristic facial tension symptoms include;

Dry, chapped lips

Facial tingling

Itchy and dry skin

Facial reddening

Breakouts and acne

Headaches

Muscle and facial tension is the body’s natural response to stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, with short, stiffened muscles comes stressed skin ligaments and tissues, which in turn cause the appearance of bumpy skin and dynamic wrinkles.

In a young person, these dynamic wrinkles bounce back once your muscles relax, and the lines that had appeared disappear. However, if you undergo overwhelming stress for a prolonged period, the lines caused by the dynamic wrinkles will stick resulting in premature ageing. As long as your facial muscles are stiff, the skin around them will stretch to keep up with the changes.

Facial tension doesn’t cause ageing overnight. It takes time even before facial tension symptoms highlighted earlier start to show. This is because the jaw muscle, which is the third strongest muscle in the body, tends to accumulate most of the tension caused by stress.

However, if you undergo intense stress for a prolonged period, there’s not much it can do.

Eventually, you’ll start feeling the symptoms above, and consequently, your skin will go from looking young and dandy to old and creased despite you being young.

You can prevent this from happening by trying out the tips below:

Stress is the primary culprit for facial tension. So, to alleviate tension entirely, you need to find ways to de-stress.

Soak in after a long day at work, sleep enough, do some yoga, practice mindfulness, or do whatever it takes to destress.

As mentioned, the jaw is where most of the facial tension accumulates. Holding it in here causes headaches and, even worse, TMJ. With that said, learn to relax your jaw. While at it, also do the following;

Maintain a peaceful expression

Keep your neck long and relaxed

Regular face massages.

If we could, we’d all love to be stress-free. But life happens, and even the happiest person in the room occasionally gets overwhelmed.

However, as much as it’s unavoidable, always try to go to bed a stress-free person by trying out the tips above and the drug-free facial relaxation tips outlined.