Everyone has their own skin issues to deal with. Whether this may be dryness, wrinkles, acne, dark spots, or anything else, there are numerous products out there that promise to help. However, using a few skincare products every now and again will only work to a certain extent. If you really want to improve your complexion, you need to be making the right choices in other areas of your life.
You Are What You Eat
Topical skincare products are great for nourishing your skin externally. However, the majority don’t penetrate deep enough into the skin to reach those lower layers. This makes it so important to eat a healthy and balanced diet – it’s the only way to feed your skin cells from within.
Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables are particularly beneficial. They’re packed with beta-carotene. Your body converts this into vitamin A, which helps to improve texture and firmness. Oily fish, such as sardines and salmon, contain skin-moisturizing fatty acids, while beans, nuts, and seeds provide your skin with the building blocks it needs to create more structural proteins.
Keep Your Body Hydrated
The food that you eat is important, but the fluids that you drink are equally so. It’s common knowledge that you should be drinking eight glasses of water a day, but do you really do this? Each and every day?
Research shows that those who consume more water have higher skin moisture levels than those who aren’t drinking enough. Hydrated skin cells not only look plumper, fuller, and smoother, but fine lines and wrinkles won’t be quite so obvious.
Minimize Stress
Stress wreaks havoc on a person’s mental health, but did you know that it seriously affects the skin too?
It all comes down to cortisol – the hormone that your body releases during times of stress. Back in the day of our ancestors, that hormone triggered fight or flight mode. It would only really occur during life or death situations, making it key for survival. However, these days, stress is everywhere. From personal relationships to work deadlines to the effects that the pandemic has been having on your life, chances are that cortisol is almost constantly flowing through your body.
The result? Internal inflammation, which not only triggers inflammatory skin conditions, such as acne and eczema, but also destroys the protein fibers that give your skin its structure and volume. Cortisol also increases the skin’s oil production, meaning more chances of clogged pores and acne. Keeping your stress levels down, and therefore reducing the amount of cortisol in your body, could really work wonders on your skin.
Be Diligent About Your Skincare Routine
There’s not much point in having a skincare routine if you’re only going to follow it whenever you happen to remember. Most of the ingredients and products out there need to be used regularly and consistently to bring about results. So, even if your skincare routine only consists of a few steps, make an effort to follow it every day.
When it comes to the products that you use, always make sure that they’re suitable for your skin type. You can go down the natural route with plant oils and butters if you’re trying to soothe dry or sensitive skin. However, if anti-aging is your aim, advanced formulas produce better results – take a look at some of the LifeCell reviews out there if you’re looking for products that really do what they promise.
Make Sure That You’re Getting Enough Beauty Sleep
Your skin cells are always working hard – they don’t rest when you sleep at night. Instead, the time during which your body is asleep is when your skin cells focus on healing and regenerating. The majority of collagen production takes place at night. Your skin cells can’t work on this during the day because they’re busy defending themselves against environmental stressors.
This makes it imperative to ensure that you’re getting enough sleep each night. If you don’t, your skin cells won’t be able to carry out their nightly duties, leaving your skin dull, rough, and wrinkled.
Seven to eight hours a night is the recommended amount, but sleep quality matters just as much as quantity. Establish bedroom conditions that allow for the most restful and uninterrupted sleep possible – dim lighting, soft music, soothing aromatherapy scents, and a ban on electronic devices can all help.
Stay Active
Exercise is key for keeping your body healthy, but it also directly benefits the skin. Get your heart pumping and your blood circulation will increase. This means that more oxygen and nutrients are being delivered to your skin cells, enabling them to function more efficiently.
This increase in blood flow also means that waste and toxins are carried away from your skin cells at a faster rate, preventing them from causing damage.
Cut Back on Cigarettes and Alcohol
You’re probably well aware of the fact that cigarettes and alcohol aren’t doing your health any favors, but your skin will be suffering from them too. Cigarettes starve the skin of oxygen, suffocating skin cells and leaving them dry and lackluster. They also heavily contribute to wrinkles around the mouth.
Alcohol is extremely dehydrating. It doesn’t help that many alcoholic drinks are packed with sugar, which, again, causes serious damage to your skin.
Healthy Choices Means Healthy Skin
It’s easy to fall into a rut when it comes to bad lifestyle choices. However, so long as you’re determined enough, you’ll be able to turn things around pretty quickly.
Rather than completely overhauling your lifestyle all at once, implement gradual changes. It may take longer to notice the improvements in your skin, but your new lifestyle habits will be easier to adhere to. Either way, start making the above-mentioned lifestyle choices and it won’t just be your skin that benefits – you’ll soon notice a boost in your overall health too.