Look in the mirror and what do you see? The answer – skin and a lot of it. Our birthday suits are our first line of defense against a world that’s now full of chemicals, toxins, free radicals and UV rays. Not to mention all the blunt and sharp objects that can do serious damage.
Keeping your skin as healthy as possible takes a little time, energy, effort and money, but it’s an investment worth making. With the five steps below you can dramatically improve the health of your skin without investing all that much:
Step 1 – Get Skin Issues Under Control
Many, many things can go wrong with our skin. Which is understandable since it takes a beating day in and day out. If you’re already dealing with a skin problem, the first step is getting it under control.
Some issues can be cleared up and/or alleviated by establishing a daily skin care routine that includes cleaning, toning and moisturizing the skin. For simple, yet annoying problems like a benign skin growth, you can use a natural skin tag remover to quickly and permanently handle the situation. For other skin conditions the solution may require the use of prescription medication and the help of a dermatologist. If you believe you may have sun damage a visit to the doctor is a must.
Step 2 – Quit Bad Habits
Genetics plays a factor in the health of our skin and how it ages, but our lifestyle plays a much bigger role. Here’s a short list of the bad habits that are hurting your skin:
- · Smoking
- · Drinking alcohol
- · Sun bathing
- · Not drinking enough water
- · Stressing out
Decreasing and eliminating these unhealthy habits is a must for your skin as well as your overall wellbeing.
Step 3 – Get More Sleep
It turns out beauty sleep is a real thing. Sleep is when our bodies go into repair mode and also rebalances hydration. Compounding the issue is the fact that if you skimp on sleep it will raise cortisol levels. This stress hormone causes inflammation that can damage our skin and cause eczema, acne and psoriasis to flare up. Inflammation will also decrease collagen and hyaluronic acid production in the skin.
In addition to getting more rest, dermatologists suggest that you sleep on your back. Pressing your face into a pillow at night by lying on your stomach or side can cause lines to form and make the side you sleep on flatter.
Step 4 – Get More Exercise
We all know exercising is good for our health, but it wasn’t until recently that researchers realized just how good it is for our skin. As we age, the underlying layers of skin get thinner while the upper epidermis layer gets thicker. A study that was conducted by McMaster University in Ontariofound that exercise helped reverse the aging process within all of the skin layers.
To isolate the potential for sun exposure messing with the results, the researchers analyzed skin on the buttocks. They initially looked at two groups, one with people who exercised for three or more hours a week and another with people that didn’t exercise at all. Not surprisingly, they found that the exercising group had healthier skin that appeared to be younger than its actual age.
Next, they got the sedentary group exercising. After three months of exercising at least three hours a week, the researchers saw remarkable improvements in their skin. Right now the hypothesis is that myokines that are formed from working muscles is aiding the function of skin cells.
Step 5 – Clean Up Your Diet
What goes into our body will be reflected in the health of your skin. Eating a clean diet that primarily consists of whole foods and plenty of antioxidants will dramatically improve the look, feel and functioning of the skin at every layer.
Add these items to the menu for healthy, glowing skin:
- · Blueberries
- · Salmon
- · Whole grains
- · Green tea
- · Greek yogurt (without a lot of sugar)
- · Sweet potatoes
- · Broccoli
- · Avocados
- · Citrus
- · Flaxseed
- · Walnuts
- · Bell peppers
- · Strawberries
- · Kale
- · Pumpkin
- · Carrots
- · Swiss chard
- · Wheat germ
Healthy skin isn’t an issue of vanity. Sure, amazing looking skin has its benefits, but it’s really about improving the function of a vital organ so it can protect everything else in your body.
