Aging of skin depends on many factors. While no two people age the same way there are some basic features that affect all of us. Below are listed important factors that affect how your skin ages and its appearance.
What Does Your Parents’ Skin Look Like?
Like most things about your body, genetics contributes to about 75% of how your skin will look and age. So look at both your parents (not just Mom!) and their relatives to get a sense of what your genetics say about your skin.
How do you treat your skin?
Do you cleanse your face twice a day? Do you use an exfoliator appropriate to your skin type? Do you use appropriate treatments for your skin type? Do you moisturize? Most important, do you wear sunscreen every single day? Be kind to your skin!
How ‘Wet’ Are You?
Skin loses moisture continually. This is even worse in dry climates (like beautiful Southern California!). To stay hydrated you must provide skin with liquids from the inside by drinking plenty of fluids. A lot of folks tell me they ‘drink constantly’. Obvious to me it’s not enough, because I see their dry skins and their blood results telling me they are dehydrated.
Because I spend most of my day on my feet, talking to and chasing after patients, I try to drink a lot. My routine: A 16 oz bottle of water or other light juice while I drive to work, one during the morning, one in the afternoon, one on the way home, and one at night. I also drink water with my meals.
Photoageing(Aging from Sun Damage)
Along with smoking one of the two most damaging things you can do to your skin. Never ever leave your house without sunscreen. Make sure you are using at least spf 30 and make sure you also put some on the back of your hands (slows down their aging!). Damage from sun exposure is considered to be the primary cause of premature aging.
Some signs of sun damage: age spots, broken capillaries, dryness, wrinkling (due to accelerated collagen and elastin breakdown). This doesn’t happen overnight. Repeated unprotected exposure through not using appropriate sunscreen results in these changes.
These signs are hard – but not impossible- to fix. Start now by using sunscreen every single day!
Do you smoke?
It is one of the two worst things you can do to your skin (the other is sun exposure). Smoking causes the blood vessels in your skin to narrow, reducing the blood supply and the flow of nutrients needed to renew your skin. This in turn leads to slower cell growth, breakdown of collagen and elastin, thinner skin, and that grayingsh-sallow look smokers often have.
Other side effects of smoking: extremely dry skin, lip lines, premature thinning of lips.
There are many ways to quite smoking. Please, if for no other reason, for your skin (not to mention to avoid coronary heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, emphysema, bladder cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, esophagus cancer and more)
Are you in Good Health?
Did you know your skin is the largest organ in your body? It is a convenient mirror of the overall condition and your health. There is a large number of medical conditions that are often diagnosed through skin changes (for example, lupus, scleroderma, some cancers).
Do You Get Enough Sleep?
Getting plenty of sleep is important not just for your skin, but for your whole body and sense of well-being. Adults need between 7-9 hours of quality sleep a night; teens need even more.
You Really are What you Eat
Are you eating a balanced diet? Do you live on fast food and junk? Try some of these tips to help you achieve a healthier diet:
1 Healthy snacking – nuts, celery, carrots
2 Avoid large carbohydrate-based meals – They’ll make you sluggish, and the worst of it is, they’ll trigger hunger much sooner than if you have a more protein-based meal.
3 Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables
4 Eat plenty of fiber
Take the Correct Vitamins and Supplements to help your Skin as well as your overall health
* Speak with a knowledgeable person, preferably a physician, about what vitamins and supplements you may need. contrary to popular belief, even among mostphysicians, there are vitamins and supplements that adults need.
* Buy your supplements from a reputable manufacturer. Make sure the product is manufactured under cGMP (certified Good Manufacturing Practices) or has the official USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) seal. For a complete selection see our Vitamins and supplements section.
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