Nine Tips To Keep Your Skin Looking Younger

Anti-aging skin care is very popular in today’s world. Today most people want to maintain their youthful looks through antiaging skin care procedures (and a number of people are successful too). However, anti-aging skin care is not achieved by any magic potion. Anti-aging skin care is about discipline. It is about being proactive.

Although most of the nine tips below are mentioned in other blog posts, it never hurts to continually emphasize some of the most basic steps needed for proactive anti-aging skin care. As you read through the tips below, make a list of two to three items that you can begin implementing today. Once accomplished, add the next two to three items until you have incorporated each tip into your daily routine.

1. Maintain healthy eating habits. A well balanced diet is the key to maintaining a proper body metabolism. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables (raw), they are the best source of fiber and have a very refreshing effect on your body. Avoid oily and fatty food; not only do they lack in essential nutrients but also cause obesity and other diseases which accelerate the aging process.

2. Beat stress. This is probably the most important anti-aging skin care measure. Stress disturbs the body’s metabolism and accelerates the aging process. Sleep, exercise and a relaxing bath, are all good ways of beating stress. Aroma-therapy is also known to bust stress.

3. Drink a lot of water: Anti-aging skin care can’t be any simpler than this. Water helps flush out the toxins from the body, hence keeping it clean and making it less prone to disease. Around 8 glasses of water (per day) is recommended by all doctors.

4. Regular exercise is a wonderful anti-aging skin care procedure. Besides toning your muscles, it also helps in cleaning the skin by flushing out the toxins in the form of sweat. Exercise should be followed by a warm shower in order to completely remove the toxins.

5. Avoid the use of strong, chemical based products on your skin. Natural skin care products are a good option. Use of organic skin care products (home made or commercial) can be a very effective anti-aging skin care measure.

6. Do not overuse skin care products. Excessive and harsh application can prove harmful to the skin.

7. Do not ignore skin disorders; it can lead to permanent skin damage. Try over the counter medication and if that doesn’t help, immediately visit your dermatologist and seek his/her advice.

8. Vitamin C based skin care products are a very popular means of anti-aging skin care. However, these seem to oxidize very quickly (which makes them harmful for the skin). So store them properly. If the product turns Yellowish brown, it means that vitamin c has oxidized and the prodct is no longer suitable for use.

9. Protect your skin against UV radiation. UV rays are known to speed up the aging process. So, a good sunscreen lotion should be a part of your anti-aging skin care routine.

By adopting these simple tips, you are well on your way to more youthful looking skin.

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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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Three Age Defying Solutions To Manage Wrinkles

I. Upgrade Your Sunscreen

Use sunscreen with a sun screen protection factor (SPF) of 30. While SPF is a measure of protection against UVB, the rays that cause sunburn, higher SPF sunscreens usually offer greater protection against UVA, the rays most responsible for fine lines and wrinkles, particularly around the eyes. Your sunscreen should also contain antioxidants like vitamins C and E. Recent research shows that sunscreen with built in antioxidants offers even more insurance against UVA exposure. Antioxidants are your ally because no sunscreen protects you 100%.

• What to do: Check labels for UVA blockers such as avobenzone (Parcel 1789), mexoryl and helioplex (found in some Neutrogena sunscreens). Apply at least 1 ounce, the amount that fits in a shot glass, to all exposed areas.

II. Use Serious Skin Care

When it comes to minimizing wrinkles and smoothing texture, there are no more proven anti-aging ingredients than retinoids. Derived from vitamin A, retinoids have been shown in over 30 years of study to rev up collagen production and normalize cell renewal - a process that slows with age. It is recommended that everyone over the age of 30 should be on some form of retinoid if they want to look younger.

A good starting point: An over-the-counter product containing retinol, the less potent chemical cousin to prescription retinoids like Renova. While it may take longer to see results with a nonprescription product, you’ll forgo a lot of dryness and peeling that can accompany those often-irritating ingredients.

• What to do: After cleansing skin at night, use a retinol-containing cream to diminish fine lines and increase cell turnover. To allow your skin to adapt, you may need to use every other night to start.

For added benefit, choose one that also contains peptides, small chains of amino acids that have been shown to signal cells to stimulate collagen. Two products that contain both ingredients are:

• Philosophy Save Me

• Neova Dual Action Lotion

III. Get Better Sleep

Sleep is an essential need for your skin. While you sleep, physiological important things are happening to your skin, including an increase in cellular renewal. Unfortunately, a recent University of Chicago study shows that we are not only getting less shut eye than we need (six hours, instead of the recommended seven to nine), we are getting less efficient sleep. Even after getting into bed, we spend as much as an hour and a half awake - sharply diminishing the time skin has to repair itself.

• What to do: For deeper, more restorative sleep, help your body and mind wind down before going to bed. Begin by dimming the lights an hour before bedtime; light suppresses melatonin, disrupting the natural sleep cycle. Soaking in a hot bath can also help you nod off faster. Listening to soft music before turning in improves sleep quality too – the sedative sounds may decrease levels of hormones that keep you awake.

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Fine Lines? Vitamin C To The Rescue

Got fine lines around the eyes? A stroll down the aisles of your local department store will reveal lots of sparkling bottles, jars and vials guaranteeing to smooth out those fine lines and give you a youthful look. Unfortunately, these claims are rarely true. As you may intimately know, many products offer only limited, short term benefits. That’s not to say that these products can’t do your skin some good. Many companies produce high quality emollient and exfoliant formulas that can temporarily smooth the skin’s surface around the eyes or increase its ability to maintain moisture. And if you are in need of a quick fix, a short-term gain may very well suit your needs.

If you are serious about getting rid of eye wrinkles, however, you must consider those products and treatments that have been scientifically proven to penetrate to where the aging process actually takes place: in the deeper layers of the skin. Antitoxidants or, more specifically, topical antioxidants fit the bill. One of the most effective antioxidants for treating eye wrinkles is vitamin C.

Vitamin C is essential for the production of collagen, the strong connective tissue that essentially holds us together. Dietary vitamin C is just as important as topical solutions. Fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, tomatoes and red bell peppers are rich in vitamin C.

Vitamin C ester is a topical solution discovered by Nicholas Perricone M.D., that can be easily absorbed into the skin. It can be mixed into creams and lotions and keep its potency for months and even years. And over time, vitamin C ester can reduce deeply embedded lines as well as fine lines around the eyes.

But, not all antioxidants are created equal. Even more important, some are better suited to some skin repair jobs than they are to others. According to Dr. Perricone, the skin conditions most likely to respond to treatment with vitamin C ester topical preparations are:

• Fine lines and wrinkles on severely sun-damaged skin;

• Sagging skin that is losing its firmness because of lost or damaged collagen; and

• Sunburned, inflamed or irritated skin.

So if your skin falls into one of the above categories, check out the newest products from Dr. Perricone.

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