Top 5 Tips for Beautiful Skin

Good skin can be hereditary, but you can control how your skin looks, and how well it ages, by treating it well. Everything you eat, your lifestyle choices, your skin –care regime and your exposure to the sun will all have a major impact on how you look.

1) Walk Away from the Light

Light is very aging to the skin, causing damage with every moment of exposure. This may seem a little dramatic, but UV rays are the number one cause of skin aging. Your face gets more light than any other area on your body, so if you want to stave of the damage, use and SPF all the time.

Light damage is commonly accepted wisdom in beauty circles these days, so there is an excellent range of moisturisers available from Thérapie Clinic from Murad, Eve Lom and Image Skincare, which contain a good Sun Protection Factor (SPF) to guard against light damage.

Many foundations now contain an SPF too, and together with the non-comedogenic (non-pore-blocking) powders can help protect your face. You should use a minimum of factor 15; higher if you are in actual sunshine or outdoors for any length of time. You may scoff now but you’ll be glad later.

2) Cut the Sweet Stuff

Sweeties make you old, sweetie. Sugar has a dreadful effect on skin; when it breaks down and enters the bloodstream, it bonds with protein molecules of collagen and elastin (the fibres that support skin). This process is called glycation, and it degrades both collagen and elastin, leading to sagging and wrinkles.

Refined carbohydrates like white bread, soft drinks and white rice are all converted into sugar and speed the glycation process too. If you’re dying for a sweet treat, you can have a square of pure dark chocolate; it has antioxidants that help protect from free radicals (unstable atoms in the atmosphere that bind to your skin and cause wrinkles).

Increase your vitamin C intake, especially if you’re a smoker. Smoking is astoundingly bad for your skin, both the mechanical action of pulling on a cigarette which causes harsh lines around the mouth, and the appalling morass of toxic chemicals you inhale. Vitamin C helps generate collagen, and is easy to find in foods like oranges, broccoli, strawberries, kiwis etc.

3) Stabilise Your Weight

Women are demons for yo-yo dieting; picking up and discarding fad diets every time they come along. Weight fluctuations take a serious toll in the skin; when you gain a little wright your face not look much plumper on the surface,  but those excess pounds cause levels of insulin (hormone made in pancreas to control blood sugar) and cortisol to rise, which leads to a breakdown in collagen. Going up and down in weight by even 10 or 15 pounds can cause sagging, have an effect on the elasticity of your skin, and give you jowls like a bulldog. Not to mention stretch marks like a tiger.

4) Calm Down, Dear

Long-term, low grade stress is the most common type of stress. Most of us suffer from it, and it’s a killer as it leads to increased Cortisol production. Cortisol damages collagen, decreasing our skin’s ability to heal itself, advancing the aging process considerably.

Cortisol allows interferes with insulin response, making us gain weight around the middle. Exercise is instrumental in getting cortisol levels under control, and is one effective way to tackle anxiety and the body’s stress response, even if you can’t solve the source of the stress.

5) Stay Hydrated

Proper hydration is vital to your overall health; not just your skin. As skin is the largest organ on our bodies, the effects of dehydration become very evident as skin dried out from within and look crêpey and old. Also as we age, women tend to lose oestrogen. As oestrogen stimulates oil and collagen production, skin gets drier as levels drop.

Use moisturiser to help; drink at least two litres of water each day, and clean your face every night. Clogged pores and dirt won’t allow your skin to breath. If you are nearing menopause, you may consider HRT; or you can achieve more instant results in reliving the signs of aging with anti-wrinkle injectables or dermal fillers

Thérapie Clinic can advise you on skincare, weight loss and anti-aging; call them for a free consultation on 1890 650 750