The skin is the first thing people see when they look at you. It’s considered to be one of the largest organs in the human body, not just a wrapper that holds all the important stuff inside. The skin serves many purposes, including acting as our first defense against germs and the environment and converting sunlight to vitamin D. As you can imagine keeping the skin in tip top condition is super important, here are some of the tips one needs to apply in order to develop and maintain a healthy and glowing skin that’s ready for anything.
Eat a healthy diet
A healthy diet can help you look and feel good. Foods get digested and broken down into vitamins, minerals and amino acids that your body can use to build healthy skin. If you eat highly processed foods low in real nutrients, your skin won’t be as strong and supple as it could be and it’s therefore, advisable to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. The association between diet and acne isn’t clear but some research suggests that a diet rich in vitamin C and low in unhealthy fats and processed or refined carbohydrates might promote younger looking and glowing skin.
Avoid smoking
Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to the development of wrinkles. It narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow and therefore the oxygen and nutrients that are important to skins’ health are depleted.
Smoking also damages collagen and elastin which are the fibers that give one’s skin strength and elasticity. In toting, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking such as compressing your lips when inhaling and peering your eyes to keep smoke out, can contribute to wrinkles and dull skin. If you are a smoker try cutting down as much as you can
Protect yourself from the sun
This is one of the most important ways to take care of your skin. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age acnes and other skin problems as well as increase the risk of skin cancer and other diseases which can be prevented through;
- Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., since this is when the sun’s rays are strongest.
- Use of sunscreen. Apply sunscreen generously, and reapply every two hours or more often if you’re swimming or perspiring.
- Wearing protective clothing. Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives, which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet protection for a certain number of washings, or special sun-protective clothing — which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.
Treat your skin gently
Daily cleansing and shaving can lead to the peeling off on your skin. Always keep it gentle by
Limiting bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove import oils from your skin and will leave it dry. Limit your bath or shower time, and use warm rather than hot water.
One may also consider avoiding strong soaps since strong soaps and detergents can strip oil from your skin. Instead, choose mild cleansers.
Always shave carefully and to protect and lubricate your skin, apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving. For the closest shave, use a clean, sharp shavers or razors. Shave in the direction the hair grows, not against it.
Stress Management
Frenzied stress can make your skin more sensitive and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems. Therefore, to encourage and maintain healthy skin one needs to maintain a healthy state of mind through taking steps to manage your stress. Set reasonable limits, scale back your to-do list and make time to do the things you enjoy and the results might be more dramatic than you expect.
Using saunas
While sitting in a sauna the body is subject to high temperature and humid conditions. This in turn, improves blood circulation and makes the body sweat. Sweat is the body’s natural detoxing mechanism and sweat actually contains more toxins than urine (nice). Although that doesn’t sound great, getting these toxins out the body and out of the way of the good stuff means there are less nasties in the body to be reflected on the outside. Sweating through the skin also cleans the skin itself as the sweat travels through with the heat opening the pores even more so for a really deep cleanse – As always be sure to hydrate and moisturize after
In conclusion, since your skin is a reflection of your underlying health, so good nutrition, getting enough sleep, avoiding smoking, protecting your skin from sunrays, reducing stress, staying hydrated, all play a role in creating better-looking skin.