How Money Worries Damage the Look of Your Face

https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/07/29/How-Money-Worries-Damage-Look-Your-Face

By Lawrence Goodman
July 29, 2016

In a recent study, people with the highest levels of financial stress looked like they had aged more over a decade than people with lower levels of money woes.

Financial stress actually takes a larger toll on appearance than other types of stress.

“It may be that people who are under a lot of financial stress do not pay much attention to their appearance,” says study author Margie Lachman, professor of psychology at Brandeis University. “Stress can also accelerate the aging process.”

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Lachman and colleagues also studied how stress in general affects how old people think you are. They found that financial stress actually takes a larger toll on appearance than other types of stress. This is consistent with other research showing that money worries rate as the most significant source of stress in people’s lives.

Finally, the research suggests that people are not the best judge of their appearance when it comes to aging. The individuals who had their headshots taken were asked how old they thought they looked to others. It turned out on average they thought they looked younger than the panel of reviewers.

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Lachman says that being perceived as older than you actually are can affect behavior and lifestyle with the potential to negatively affect your health.