What You Can (And Can’t) Get Away With

You’re not invulnerable. But during this decade, you may be more resilient than you think

Routinely Drinking To

Oblivion

Your brain isn’t fully developed until your mid- to late twenties, so the potential for harm is significant, says neurologist Frances E Jensen. As vast numbers of connections form between your neurons, habits form easily, and drinking to excess can affect your memory and attention. You might cheat the hangovers, but you can’t cheat time.

A Chronic Weed Habit

CBD oil may be everywhere, but don’t mistake that for a green light to get stoned. In your first decades, the connections in your brain are gradually being wrapped in a form of insulation called myelin, with the frontal lobe (linked to decision making) the last area to complete this process. Daily cannabis use can disrupt this, which affects your cognition. Make smart choices now so your future self can do the same.

Out-Training A Bad Diet

Living off the saver menu isn’t a routine you want to get into, no matter your BMI. A poor lifestyle can lead to invisible yet enormously harmful fat storage around your major organs. However, the high muscle mass and metabolic flexibility (the ability to adapt to different diets) of men in their twenties make a weekly burger and chips a permissible indulgence.

Avoiding The Dentist

‘The twenties are the worst decade for oral health in males,’ says Mark Wolff, a restorative dentist at Penn Dental Medicine. Failing to book in dental appointments now (coupled with frequent nights of crashing before brushing) can prove a painful mistake. Decay can be permanent, but it’s preventable. Book in now and you should be okay, limiting future check-ups to once every two years, says Dr Wolff.

Those Two (Three?) Times You Did Ecstasy

‘We don’t have evidence of long-term brain damage from intermittent use,’ says Wilson Compton of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. ‘I wouldn’t expect someone who had no complications at the time to have problems 10 years later.’ Long-term use, however, carries bigger risks.

Drop it regularly and ecstasy can harm the brain regions involved in memory. Not something to dance about.

‘Borrowing’ The Odd Cigarette

While we aren’t offering you carte blanche, a study of former smokers in the New England Journal Of Medicine found that those who quit between the ages of 25 and 34 had a life expectancy equal to that of non-smokers.

But you’re gambling with your health: after all, cigarettes are moreish. If you carry that ‘only on weekends’ habit into later life, your risk of heart complications won’t be too different to that of a daily smoker.

An Erratic

Sleep Schedule

‘We tend to get more deep sleep when we’re younger,’ says

MH sleep adviser W Christopher Winter. In other words, the sleep you get will likely counterbalance any midweek Netflix binges, as long as you aim for seven hours per night. This ability diminishes as you age, when consistency is key. You can’t bank sleep for your thirties, so enjoy yourself now.