Top 10 Tips for Maintaining Healthy Skin
What are the 10 best things to do to keep your complexion glowing and youthful as long as you possibly can? Without resorting to a plastic surgeon or aesthetician or any harsh procedures following a few simple guidelines can help maintain your skin in great condition well into “middle age”.
If you want to keep people guessing as to how old you really are or shock them when you reveal your true age, the keys are nurturing and maintenance. Most of the best possible things to do for your skin have minimal cost investment and only moderate time investment. The reward of great skin far outweighs the input required.
- Sleeping Well — Sleeping Beauty had the right idea. Regular, sufficient sleep allows your cells to renew and repair themselves. A full 7-8 hours of sleep permits your body to reach the deepest sleep stages and refreshes your skin as well as your body.
- Regular Exercise — Not only is exercise good for your figure, your heart and your mentality; but increased circulation benefits your skin by allowing more blood to reach your skin cells faster and more efficiently.
- Hydration — Those eight glasses of water a day help all of your cells and all of your bodily functions, including your skin. Proper hydration rids the body of toxins and helps prevent dehydration related water retention.
- Eat a Healthy Diet — In the same way that exercise benefits the whole body so does all of the food you put into your body. Especially beneficial to your skin are foods that are rich in phyto-nutrients, anti-oxidants and hyaluronic acid. They give your skin the building blocks it needs to fight free radicals and maintain collagen levels.
- Not Smoking — Minimizing or eliminating smoking has an incredibly positive impact on the skin. Not only are fewer carcinogens being introduced but you are also eliminating a major cause of discoloration and naso-labial wrinkles.
- Fighting the Elements — The more extreme the weather conditions are where you live, the more care you must take to ward off the damage the elements do. Sun, wind and temperature extremes will burn, chafe and dry your skin, but you can prevent it.
- Cleansing — Proper and regular cleansing should be done twice daily. Oil, make-up and pollution will take their toll and the right cleanser will leave your skin breathing freely.
- Exfoliation — Eliminating dead skin cells increases in importance as one ages. Cell turnover rate slows with the ageing process and using the correct exfoliator between one and three times a week will keep your skin glowing.
- Moisturizing — The drier the environment, the more important your moisturizer is. Winter heating systems, summer air conditioning and the ravages of time and wind all take vital moisture from your skin. Replenishing with the right moisturizer twice daily is sufficient for all but the driest skin.
- Smile — Often and regularly. Frown lines have a much bigger impact than laugh lines in the perception of age. Fabulous skin is even more wonderful when it is lit from within and on a happy face.