Why are Gen Zers aging faster than Millennials? Experts blame stress, fast food, sedentary lifestyles and not having a purpose

Do members of Gen Z age faster than millennials? It certainly seems that way.

Gen Z TikTokers are going viral for revealing their true age, leaving followers in disbelief as they admit it’s up to ten years younger than what people think.

So what’s behind their premature wrinkles, gray hair and aged faces? Longevity experts blame a combination of increased stress, more fast and processed foods, a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of purpose in life.

People considered part of Generation Z are those born between 1997 and 2012. They follow Millennials, people born between 1981 and 1996, and precede Generation Alpha, those born between 2013 and 2024.

But while Gen Zers range in age from 27 to 12, they appear more in their mid-to-late 30s, with some even mistaken as older than their own parents.

A popular TikTok influencer shocked his 12 million followers when he revealed he was only 26 years old.

Jordan Howlett’s followers could hardly believe his age. “Aren’t you like 35!???” someone asked.

“I’m 34 and I thought you were my age,” said another.

Howlett said he believes Gen Zers are aging much faster than previous generations.

In the TikTok video, which has been viewed more than 19 million times, Howlett responded to a clip from the “Staying Up Podcast” about how Gen Zers often look older than millennials, despite being much younger.

The podcast hosts attributed the difference to Gen Z being “chronically online,” depressed and stressed.

Howlett told it Business insider he believes that people belonging to Gen Z are aging faster due to increased stress related to the economy, inflation and trying to maintain their income and savings while maintaining a 9-to-5 job.

He added: ‘In addition, they are trying to figure out what they want to do for their long-term career, and feel enormous pressure to try to succeed before the age of 30.’

He said that he and many of his Gen Z friends look much older than their actual age, adding that strangers sometimes think he is his mother’s older brother.

Dr. Suzanne Ferree, a senior physician at Vine Medical Associates in Atlanta, admitted that Gen Z aging faster than Millennials wasn’t something she had paid attention to, but told DailyMail.com, “It makes sense to me.”

“Gen Z has grown up with social media as part of their entire lives, probably from a very young age.

“There’s the big comparison, I don’t see the stress of comparing yourself to anyone anywhere.

“I’m a Generation Xer. When we were younger we never had those problems. Until I was 25, I didn’t even have a cell phone. So I didn’t even know what that was like.’

Dr. Ferree pointed to lifestyle changes that have become increasingly popular over the past thirty years.

“There’s a lot of vaping in the Gen Z group, and that will definitely age your skin faster, if not other parts of your body,” she said.

When it comes to stress, studies have shown that biological age increases with stress. Exposure to stress causes inflammation and damage to the DNA in cells, which can accelerate aging.

Dr. Ferree said: ‘Cortisol is the hormone released in our bodies in response to stress. It is what we call a catabolic hormone. Anabolic hormones, such as testosterone, cause things to build or grow. Cortisol is a catabolic or breakdown hormone that causes the breakdown of things, such as the build-up of the skin.

‘It ages the face and causes the breakdown of collagen in the face. It also causes the breakdown of things like brain tissue and intestinal lining, increasing inflammation. It also causes the breakdown of pancreatic tissue, which can ultimately result in pancreatitis or especially diabetes.”

She added: ‘At a younger age it can be dealt with a little better than at an older age, but if the stress level is particularly high, and I would say specifically now that we’ve had our big pandemic around the world, then in the never been present before for most of our lives. And that generation in particular has been hit hard.’

Dr. Robert Friedland, professor of neurology at the University of Louisville, told DailyMail.com, “Chronic stress certainly has a bad effect on the brain and the heart and on glucose metabolism and other things.”

Jordan Howlett’s followers were shocked to learn that he was a Gen Zer and only 26 years old

This could be related to job insecurity, he says.

A lack of physical activity is also likely to blame, Dr. Ferree said.

She said: “Being sedentary is the smoking of this generation. Being more sedentary will definitely age you prematurely because your muscles produce these wonderful chemical messengers that tell your body to be useful when you exercise and especially use your muscles.

‘If you play video games at home while you are more sedentary in front of a computer, you don’t get those nice youthful signals.’

Higher blue light exposure from longer screen time can also cause Gen Z to age faster, “mainly because it disrupts circadian rhythms,” Dr. Ferree said.

She added: ‘Spending time on screens affects their ability to sleep well. That blue light switches off the natural production of melatonin and the natural function of the pineal gland in the brain, which is the center of that circadian rhythm, the day-night switch.

“A lot of that causes aging. This decrease in day-night differentiation will certainly influence or accelerate aging.’

The poorer quality of food will also affect how quickly we age, experts say.

Dr. Friedland said there is now “more fast food, more processed food, more consumption of soda and other drinks that are not nutritious.”

“Fast food has a detrimental effect on gut bacteria,” he said.

‘And the gut bacteria are very important for our health and inflammation throughout life.’

The same foods do not provide us with the same nutrients, Dr. Ferree added, due to an increase in artificial additives and chemicals in people’s diets.

“You may be eating a lot of spinach, but the food is not as nutritious as it used to be,” she said.

In addition to the physical causes, emotions and mental health can take their toll on the body, accelerating aging.

Dr. Ferree told DailyMail.com that Gen Zers who feel they have no purpose in life could be aging prematurely.

‘I see a lot of Generation Z coming through my practice who don’t know what their purpose in life is. “Because we don’t have a target, we know this has a huge impact on geriatric patients,” she said.

The contrast between Millennials and Gen Zers is further exacerbated by the healthier diets, better skin care knowledge and improvements in makeup that Millennials have had access to throughout their lives.

This means that people born between 1980 and 1997 appear younger than older generations at the same age.

While millennials learned how to use good skin care techniques in their late teens and twenties, Generation Z may have been overexposed to the techniques and started using products incorrectly, causing them to age prematurely, other experts say.

Aesthetic experts have explained that getting ‘tweakments’ (minor cosmetic procedures) too young is also a reason why celebrities and influencers in their late teens and early twenties look older than people of the same age in the past.

“Overuse or unnecessary application of fillers and toxins at a young age can affect natural facial development, making younger patients look older than they are,” celebrity cosmetic doctor Dr. Rasha Rakhshani-Moghadam previously told DailyMail.com.

She added: ‘Millennials generally have a greater awareness of skin care and nutrition, compared to previous generations, and often take a more holistic approach to wellbeing. This shift involves a greater emphasis on preventative skin care practices and a focus on balanced nutrition.”