8 things you didn't know were ageing you

What’s ageing your… immune system?

Yo-yo dieting

One of the reasons why women live longer than men is that our immune system ages more slowly – but if you’re constantly battling with your weight you could be damaging this natural longevity advantage. Doctors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have found that yo-yo dieters produce lower levels of immune cells than other women - and that the decline is pro rata. In other words, the more times women gained and lost weight, the worse their immune system performed.

Halt the decline By finding out why you regain weight. "Yo-yo dieting is a sign that whatever you're doing to slim down isn't agreeing with you - and if you don't find out why that is, you'll never escape from the diet trap," says weight loss counsellor Chrissie Webber, author of 'Weight Loss, Life Gain' (Accent Press, £9.99). "It could be that you're not addressing emotional eating issues, which see you going for high calorie comfort foods; that the diets don't fit in with your lifestyle; or the weight you've reached is unsustainable for your body." So address these before you start a diet.

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