Anti-Aging Skin Care: What You Need To Know
Understanding how the body ages is the first step in identifying the most effective practices for anti-aging skin care. If you are aware of what causes the skin to age, it is far easier to find the appropriate products. Your knowledge will arm you with the confidence to choose products with the right ingredients to fulfill your skin care needs. This is always a better option than blindly following what everyone else is doing.
There are three main reasons and causes of wrinkles and aging skin.
The first cause of aging skin is something called oxidization. This occurs as we age because molecules in our body begin to become unstable. Known as free radicals, these molecules have a significant impact on our cell behavior and have been attributed with all sorts of illnesses. Antioxidants are one of the biggest weapons to combat the damage caused by free radicals. So, any product you choose to use needs to replenish and instill antioxidants into the skin.
The second greatest reason for aging skin is the reduction in our bodies ability to produce collagen and elastin. Collagen and elastin are the building blocks of healthy, firm skin. This includes it’s connection to facial tissues and bone. With the aging process the ability of the body to produce elastin and collagen is greatly diminished. This leaves us with thinner,less firm skin.
Third, the production of hyaluronic acid which is responsible for regulating the growth and renewal process of our skin slows. This causes our skin to appear more aged, dry, and more wrinkled.
These three causes of wrinkles and aging skin need to be considered when buying skin care products. If you are not addressing these and making sure that the ingredients in the products you use are able to address these skin factors, then you are not getting the maximum results possible from your skin care.
In sum, you want to make sure you choose products that are able to fight back the signs of aging by focusing on ending and replenishing these causes of aging.
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What You Eat Today You Wear Tomorrow
Our diet influences how we look, how we feel and, ultimately, how we die. Saturated fats contribute to heart disease; alcohol to liver disease; and refined carbohydrates to cancer. But one vital organ that rarely seems to get mentioned in all of this is the skin. It may be the only external organ, but it is equally affected by what we put inside our bodies. A busy and complex material, like any other in the body, skin needs a precise and complete supply of nutrients to regenerate, repair and defend itself.
The high prevalence of skin problems today is largely attributable to eating too many prepackaged, chemically preserved and calorie-dense foods lacking the nutrients that the skin needs. Skincare manufacturers have sought to remedy this situation by producing a preponderance of creams and lotions containing every vitamin from the A to K and phytochemicals to boot. Although these products provide substantial profits to manufacturers, they rarely penetrate to the dermal layers of the skin where they can have impact.
Although there are some creams on the market that actually have a positive impact on the skin, it is more effective — and undoubtedly cheaper — to eat what the skin needs from your plate. Eating is a sure way to get nutrients to where they are needed. As an added benefit, many of the foods needed for healthy skin tissue are also those that benefit the circulation, digestion and elimination mechanisms.
The most important nutrients for the skin are antioxidants. Antioxidants perform such a fundamental role in destroying the free radicals that are the root of much age-related deterioration, that they can effectively be defined as antiaging nutrients.
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Resources to Combat Eye Wrinkles
In the war against aging, the eyes constitute the battered front lines — the most fragile skin on the entire body in the area that becomes progressively more wrinkled, hollow and shadowy with every passing year. Today’s doctors have access to a wealth of line smoothing injectables, energy sources that tighten skin and tweak pigmentation, and refined surgical technology that have revolutionized the way we turn back the clock. However, there are many over the counter products that can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles without surgical intervention. A good source of information on what works can be found at ShopWiki.
If you are unfamiliar with wikis, they are simply a collaboration of data, usually for reference. ShopWiki includes a skincare guide that includes sections on sun care and anti-aging. As emphasized heavily on this blog, sun protection is critical to reducing the appearance of eye wrinkles. And the wiki highlights one of my favorite sunscreens, Anthelios SX.
The anti-aging section highlights another of my favorite topics, antioxidants. There is a good summary on the major antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, copper peptides and vitamin A). You can also find tips on choosing antioxidant products. So, if you are at a loss as to where to begin to combat the appearance of eye wrinkles, utilize the resources at ShopWiki along with the information on this blog and you are sure to find helpful solutions.
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Quick Tip: Top 10 Anti-Aging Foods
February 24, 2008 by RLuve
Filed under Quick Tips
According to USDA researchers, the best fruits and vegetables that act as antioxidants are:
| Beets | Oranges |
| Blueberries | Plums |
| Broccoli | Red Grapes |
| Brussel Sprouts | Spinach |
| Kale | Strawberries |
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Smoking: The Second Leading Cause of Wrinkling
After the sun, smoking accelerates the normal aging process of your skin, contributing to wrinkles. It thins the skin by around 40%, so that water escapes more easily. Further damage is caused by the chemicals in cigarettes which break down the fibers in collagen and elasticity, mimicking and accelerating the normal aging process. Cigarette smoke also contains a substance called benzopyrene which destroys the vitamin C needed for collagen manufacturing and is replete with free radicals that degrade the skin. Smoking also constricts the tiny capillaries that feed the skin so that it is deprived of nutrients and oxygen.
And if that wasn’t enough, the facial expressions that smoking encourages - squinting of the eyes and puckering of the lips - stretch the most delicate skin on the face. All of these effects together can add 15 years to the age of your skin and you are five times more likely to have prominent wrinkles than non-smokers of the same age.
To combat the impact of smoking, “just say no.” If you have tried and failed, at least decrease your intake of cigarettes while increasing your intake of antioxidant nutrients and water to help counter some of the effects.
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