I’ve never met anybody who wants to have older-looking skin. (Some people want to look older than they are, sure, but not to have older-looking skin.) When you take care of your skin, you not only look younger and healthier, but you also radiate confidence. Who doesn’t enjoy being thought of as confident?
Fortunately, getting (or keeping) a beautifully-glowing face is as simple as maintaining a healthy lifestyle and making good habits. Let’s take a quick look at how you can get started today.
1. Eat Healthier
How we feel inside determines how we look outside. Healthier-looking skin starts with eating nourishing food. Our dietary needs play a pivotal role in skin-cell repair. This repair process is directly responsible for how we look. In addition to that, the right food for our skin—by turn—makes us happier, because the right food is making us healthier. I don’t know anyone who hates happiness, do you? When we eat good food, we feel better and function more optimally.
Here are some anti-aging foods you need to pick up:
- Oats or brown rice (foods with a high glycemic index like white bread and pasta cause acne and wrinkles; oats and brown rice have a low GI)
- Oranges (vitamin C)
- Brussel sprouts (vitamin A and C)
2. Handle Stress
Most of us are stressed-out nail-biters, foaming at the mouth. (Okay, that may be an exaggeration – but the fact is a lot of us are flat-out stressed.) Always being in a rush, bolting through life like The Flash, freaking out every single day… is no good. Stress like this is the primary reason our faces sag, are littered with wrinkles, and very much shows the “wear and tear” of living.
Several ways to combat stress:
- Meditate to serene music
- Perform deep breathing exercises for 5 minutes
- Do beginner’s yoga
- Go for a run
3. Protect Against the Sun
If there’s sun, there are sun-rays damaging your skin. Those UV ray devils [info]. Protecting your skin is as easy as applying SPF 15 sunscreen on your face areas directly exposed to sunlight. (Forehead, cheeks, chin, nose.) Those harmful rays still shine on your face throughout winter, too. Remember this helpful saying: “If the sun shines, it’s screen time.”
4. Invest in Happiness
It’s easy to spot people who are happier than others. Happy people simply have a happy face. People who are sad often have long faces and, by association, look older. If you have a busy day, you need only half an hour out of your day to do something that truly invigorates you and excites you. Or just go out in the sun.
It has been shown time and time again that getting some sun makes us happier. I love creating music, so when my work for the day is done I pick up my Montana guitar and play music. This makes me happy. When you outright refuse to do what makes you happy, your skin will reflect your level of inner sadness.
5. Drink Alcohol Infrequently
All forms of alcohol (including wine) dehydrates us – leaving our skin drier, making wrinkles and lines more visible. While a way to counteract this would be to drink one cup of water with each drink, the fact is alcohol ages you.
6. Laser Skin Tightening
You may have heard about laser skin tightening, which removes skin layers layer by layer. When new skin cells emerge to heal the lasered areas, they make the skin younger and tighter. The process is relatively painless – compared to a rubber band being snapped against your skin. The process is also extremely safe when it’s done by a board-certified physician.
7. Wash Face
Keeping your skin free of dirt, dust and grease build-up is crucial for having younger skin. Clean skin simply looks healthier, fresher, vibrant and more alive. When you have a dirty face, your skin can’t breathe. Therefore, in order to ensure your face (and body) look the most jubilant, it’s important to wash them at least twice daily. Once in the morning and once at night is the preferred maintenance routine.
8. Don’t Smoke
“Besides lung cancer, heart attacks, and strokes, just one more good reason to stop smoking is that it’s definitely making you look a lot older.” Said Dr. Elizabeth Tanzi, a dermatologist at the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery. The evidence is apparent: smoking makes you look older. Therefore, if you do smoke, and want to look younger – quit smoking.
9. Go Herbal
Commercial brand-name skin care products are filled with harsh chemicals that damage our skin rather than replenish it. Instead, look for herbal products the next time you go shopping. Although it’s important to remember that “green” and “natural” are usually marketing labels – not regulated by the government.
Be sure to go to a botanical store and pick up these herbs:
- Basil
- Sage
- Lemongrass
Here are more herbs you can use to make your skin healthier.
As for the products, you actually need – when it comes to faces, you can never go wrong with sticking to basics. All you need is a gentle cleanser, a moisturizer with sunscreen (daytime) and a moisturizer without sunscreen (nighttime), and a gentle exfoliating cream.
10. Drink Green Tea
Thanks to the antioxidants in green tea, which neutralize free radicals that cause cancer, green tea is phenomenally beneficial to our health. As well as boosting our immunity, preventing cancer, reducing cholesterol, assistance in losing weight, green tea has a lots of other health benefits. Yes, this includes reducing aging. This is because the free radicals that corrode our bodies, are being fought by the catechin polyphenols found in green tea. Drinking green tea simply delays the effects of the corroding skin.
Last Thoughts
Amy Wechsler, M.D. (and a board-certified dermatologist and psychiatrist) said “Tension – not time – causes the lines on your face.” According to her, “stress can add three to six years to the look of your skin.” Therefore, you can use all these tips to your heart’s content – but living with the least amount of stress in your life is the best aging-skin prevention and treatment.
