Holding back the years: Madonna can expect her recent divorce from Guy Ritchie to add two years to her appearance

    If you've been through it, this will probably come as no surprise. Divorce can add years to a person's face, it is claimed.

    Researchers found that marriage breakdown can take a significant toll on appearance.

    They looked at identical twins, who would be genetically predisposed to age at a similar pace, to determine whether certain experiences affected ageing.

    'A person's heritage may initially dictate how they age but if you introduce certain factors into your life, you will certainly age faster, and likewise, if you avoid those factors you can slow down the hands of time,' said Professor Bahaman Guyuron, who led the study.

    Professor Guyuron and his colleagues gathered information from questionnaires and digital images taken from 186 pairs of twins.

    An independent panel of judges then viewed the images for perceived age differences between the siblings.

    The results showed that the twin who had gone through a divorce appeared two years older than the one who was married, single or had been widowed.

    Those who took antidepressants or were overweight also aged quicker.

    It is thought antidepressants can calm the facial muscles, causing them to sag in longterm users.

    The research was conducted by the Case Western Reserve University in the U.S., and published in the Journal Of The American Society Of Plastic Surgeons.

    Sun exposure, smoking and alcohol use were all found to have a negative effect on appearance.

    如果你已經經歷了，你可能不會感到驚訝。日前有研究稱，離婚會讓人的容顏變老。

    研究人員發現，婚姻破裂會對人的外貌造成很大影響。

    為確定人生中的某些經歷是否會影響衰老進程，研究人員對同卵雙生的雙胞胎進行了研究，這些雙胞胎在基因的設定下衰老速度完全一樣。

    研究負責人巴哈曼•古尤倫教授說：“遺傳可能是決定一個人如何變老的基本因素，但如果在人生中加入某些因素，那么肯定會加速衰老，同樣，如果避免這些因素，那么則會減緩衰老。”

    古尤倫教授及其同事對186對雙胞胎進行了問卷調查和數碼拍照。

    之后，一個獨立評審小組瀏覽了這些照片，并根據照片判斷這些雙胞胎外表上的年齡差異。

    結果顯示，一對雙胞胎中的離婚者比已婚、單身或守寡者看起來要老兩歲。

    研究同時發現，服用抗抑郁藥物或體重超標的人衰老速度也較快。

    據稱，抗抑郁藥物能夠使面部肌肉松弛，所以長期服用者肌肉容易下垂。

    該研究由美國西儲大學開展，研究結果已在《整形和修復外科醫學期刊》上發表。

    研究發現，日曬、吸煙和酗酒都會對外表造成不良影響。

    Vocabulary:

    sag:to sink, droop, or settle from pressure or weight（下垂；松懈）