Can You Avoid Sagging Skin? Know the Causes
Can you avoid sagging skin? Well, maybe not completely. But you may be able to avoid a good percentage of droopy jowls and other signs of aging. The first step is to learn what causes sagging skin in the first place.
As you have probably guessed, gravity is a major cause of sagging skin as we get older. However, it’s helped along by the aging process. While our bodies naturally produce elastin and collagen, as we age, production of these two proteins slows down. Elastin and collagen are the proteins that make the skin flexible and youthful looking. As production slows, the skin lacks the support it once has and thus begins to sag.
Unfortunately, we don’t do any favors by the way we treat our skin during our youth. Remember all those days you spent sunbathing as a teen? While the tan you got as a result looked great at the time also broke down some of the elastin and collagen, actually causing you to look older before your time.
Also, if you’re a bit of a partier, you may also be helping yourself to look older. Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol both play a role in aging your skin cells, resulting in wrinkles and sagging.
Smoking causes wrinkling and skin sags three ways:
1.The more you purse your lips to take a puff (or squint your eyes because of cigarette smoke), the more wrinkles get set into your face.
2. The chemicals in cigarettes have been shown to damage elastin and collagen, according to the Mayo Clinic.
3. Nicotine narrows the blood vessels to the skin, so it gets less support from nutrients and oxygen.
Alcohol is particularly drying to skin and is also a diuretic, wicking away the moisture your skin needs to stay firm and young looking.
You probably already know that you need exercise to tone the muscles of your body. For example, if you don’t do those crunches, pretty soon you may develop a pot belly and love handles. By extension, then, you should realize your face also needs exercise to tone the muscles of your face and neck. This is especially important if you’ve lost a lot of weight because your skin may no longer have the elasticity to absorb that extra skin.
If you have sagging skin, what should you do?
First, exercise every day, especially those places where your skin tends to sag. There are many places online where you can find facial exercises. They are fun and easy to do, although you may feel very silly at first.
Second, moisturize twice daily. You really can look years younger by regularly applying moisturizers designed for your skin type.
Third, avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
Fourth, stay out of the sun. Wear sunscreen (or at least a good hat) when you need to be outdoors for extended periods.
Fifth, see a dermatologist. If your sagging skin really bothers you, your dermatologist can recommend products and procedures to reduce it or get rid of it. Anti-aging is a big topic in medical research, you may be surprised at what is available.
Sagging skin is part of life, but it doesn’t have to ruin it. Now that you know what causes sagging skin, do what you can to prevent and/or reduce yours.
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