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President Barack Obama in 2009 vs. 2016 State of the Union: How He’s Aged

Barack Obama gives the State of the Union address in 2009 and 2016

Being the leader of the free world takes a lot out of you. President Barack Obama has changed quite a bit since he was first inaugurated in 2009.

The Commander-in-Chief, 54, looked considerably older during his final State of the Union speech in Washington on Tuesday, January 12 — with more wrinkles and gray hair.

Obama has poked fun of his aging before. He brought up his changing hair color during a town hall event at a university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2015.

The State of the Union address from 2009 through 2016

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“Well the first thing I want from young people is to stop calling me old,” he said, laughing, at the time.

“I will tell you I don’t dye my hair, and a lot of my fellow leaders do,” he continued. “I’m just saying. I won’t say who — but their barbers know. Their hairdressers.”

Last year, studies found that presidents age faster and die younger than the average person. “(Leaders) probably felt national priorities were much more pressing than eating right and exercising,” Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical School wrote in a 2015 medical journal, via AP.

“The stress (of leading a country) could accelerate the greying of hair and wrinkling of skin,” University of Illinois professor S. Jay Olshansky added, although he cautioned: “But that doesn’t mean they’ll die earlier.”

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