While there are hundreds of products on the market to repair aging skin, the key to a flawless face is preventing the damage in the first place. Women in the United States spend millions of dollars each year on creams, lotions, serums, and contraptions to help make their skin smooth, wrinkle-free, and age-defying.
What many women do not understand is that specific habits and lifestyle choices can make even the best, most expensive products useless. Here are three choices anyone can make to prevent premature aging and create flawless skin.
1. Do not smoke.
To be blunt, cigarette smoke kills. It can kill one with cancer and it can kill the healthy cells in one's skin. Whether one smokes directly or just absorbs it secondhand, it can cause premature aging.
Research has shown that cigarette smoke depletes the body of much-needed vitamin C, which is known for keeping the skin moist and supple. Exposure to smoke can significantly increase wrinkles and dryness of one's skin.
2. Wear sunscreen.
Limiting one's exposure to the damaging ultraviolet rays of the sun is another key way of preventing wrinkles and skin dryness. This does not mean women need to stay indoors or walk around with parasols like in the past. Wearing a simple sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher (though some experts suggest SPF 30+) will be enough to thwart the sun's damage for most people.
Women of color need to heed this advice too. Though those with more melanin in their skin have a natural form of SPF, it is not enough to keep them totally safe from sun damage. The sun can cause leathery, dry skin and increase wrinkles and sagging, as well as cause skin cancer.
3. Get enough sleep.
Sleep is the way human bodies reinvigorate themselves so it is no wonder that when one doesn't get enough sleep it will show on one's face. Lack of sleep can create dark circles, sagging, and bags under the eyes. Also, studies have shown that the way one sleeps can also affect wrinkle creation.
Those who can sleep on their back do not develop "sleep lines" or wrinkles created by sleeping in the same position each night. For those who sleep on their sides or with their faces pressed into their pillow, they can develop lines that become etched on the surface of their skin and do not disappear when they wake up.
While everyone wants smooth skin, it is not necessarily something that can be bought from a bottle. By making good, healthy choices in life, one can give oneself the best chance for preventing aging skin and looking good at any age.
Sources:
Seniorliving.about.com. Web. 16 March 2012. "The 7 causes of aging skin." http://seniorliving.about.com/od/healthnutrition/a/7agingskincause.htm
Skincarephysicians.com. Web. 16 March 2012. "Aging skin basic facts." http://www.skincarephysicians.com/agingskinnet/basicfacts.html
Reviewed March 16, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN