Skin Aging: Protect your skin now

Many people think skin aging is a fact of life that can’t be helped. But instead of resigning yourself to a wrinkled face, take these essential steps.

1. Always use sunscreen. Much as we all like the look of a golden glow, the sun is your face’s worst enemy. Whenever you are going out (and even if you know you will be spending a lot of time in a sunlit window), always wear a sunscreen with a sun protection factor of at least 15. The best sunscreens will protect your skin from damage by UVA and UVB radiation.

2. Moisturize at least twice a day. A daytime moisturizer will protect your skin from pollutants in the air that leading to premature skin aging. A nighttime moisturizer will sink deeply into your skin tissues while you sleep so you will wake up looking younger and better. Choose the moisturizers that best fit your budget and that you will use every day.

3. Relax. Stress takes its toll on everyone and especially in the face. Every time you squint, frown, smile or laugh, it lives its mark a little bit deeper around your eyes and your mouth. Of course, we’re not saying you should go around like an expressionless robot the rest of your life, but you need to pay attention to how your face reacts when you are stressed. When you feel your face tightening up, take a deep breath. Hold it for a slow count of ten and then slowly exhale. As you exhale, consciously let go of all the tension in your face. If you do this at least once a day, you will gradually become more aware of how your face changes.

As you try to relax, use natural means, such as getting plenty of sleep. Don’t resort to alcohol, which can lead to many health problems.

4. Give your face a massage. Just as a massage helps your body to relax, a massage helps your face to relax as well. Starting at the base of your neck, gently use your fingers to rub in slow upward circles. (You may want to apply lotion or even a tiny amount of cooking oil to your fingers first.) Work your fingers all the way up, through your chin and cheek areas, around the outer portion of your eyes and up through the forehead. As you work around your lower eye, always work from the outer corner in toward the nose.

5. Drink plenty of water. Dry skin is wrinkled and scaly skin that looks years older than it really is. So drink water frequently. Don’t try to substitute colas, coffee or other caffeinated beverages either. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes people urinate more. Caffeine can make your body dry out faster, thus leading to dry, older looking skin.

6. Stop smoking. Ever notice how people who smoke seem to have more wrinkles, especially around the mouth and eyes? That’s because they pucker their lips much more often than the rest of us. They must also squeeze their eyes shut often in order to avoid smoke in them. Smokers also have more wrinkles because of increased free radicals in the skin because their bodies produce less collagen (a naturally occurring protein that adds flexibility to the skin).

By following these six tips, skin aging can be prevented, or at least slowed considerably.

Start following them today.

No Wrinkles: Overnight