5 Tips for Healthy Skin

There are a lot of factors that affect our skin. You have to be mindful of the sun, your diet, your stress levels and your hygiene. With so many things to remember, it can be difficult to keep your skin fresh and healthy.

Taking care of your skin will help you look your best and boost your confidence. However, there’s more to skin care than just appearances. If you don’t treat your skin properly, you can become vulnerable to skin ailments like eczema, infections or even skin cancers.

As a result, it’s important to understand how your skin works and what to do to protect it and keep it looking young. Natural skin care products can avoid these health threats and promote faster healing of your skin cells. But skin care is about more than just the products you use.

So let’s have a look at five tips for maintaining healthy skin.

1. Manage your Stress Levels

There are plenty of reasons to manage stress. It can help you sleep better, help you lose weight and improve your overall health and mood. But one not-so-obvious reason is that it keeps your skin looking fresh and healthy.

High levels of stress cause our bodies to produce an excessive amount of sebum. This oily substance blocks our pores and causes those dreaded breakouts. Additionally, too much stress can also worsen cases of psoriasis, eczema and rosacea.

To prevent yourself from breaking out during high-pressure situations, it’s best to use stress reduction techniques. This might include meditation, taking yoga classes or even just practicing slow breathing and mindfulness.

These stress management techniques can also help you with hair loss, muscle tension and your ability to recover when ill.

You can’t completely avoid stress. However, if you let it overwhelm you, it can affect your skin and other aspects of your health.

2. Have a Healthy Diet

Research has suggested that reducing your intake of processed foods and increasing your consumption of healthy foods can help promote healthy skin.

In particular, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish help to moisturise the skin and reduce inflammation. Fatty fish is also a source of vitamin E and antioxidants that protect your skin from free radicals. Vitamin E and omega-3 acids are commonly found in salmon, mackerel and herring.

Additionally, drinking a lot of water can keep your skin hydrated. This reduces your chances of getting dry skin, which increases the likelihood of breakouts.

Of course, the well-being of animals is important as well. If you don’t want to use the methods discussed above, there are plenty of cruelty-free vegan skincare products to choose from. These include organic herbal teas, botanical balms, aromatherapy massage oils and more.

3. Treat your Skin Gently

How you physically treat your skin is an essential part of skincare. Be good to your skin and it will be good to you. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of how you treat your skin when showering, bathing, shaving and moisturising.

Taking too many long hot showers can dry out your skin. Hot water can remove oil from the surface, causing your skin to peel and become flaky. Because of this, it’s best to limit your bath and shower time. Make sure you use warm water and be mindful of strong soaps and detergents as well. Too much of these substances can potentially irritate your skin if you’re not careful. After showering, it’s important to gently pat dry the skin in order to maintain some of the moisture.

When shaving, it’s essential to lubricate your skin and shave along with the direction in which the hair grows. Shaving improperly can cause rashes or irritation.

Lastly, make sure you use a moisturiser that suits your skin type. For example, you have naturally oily skin, make sure to use a lightweight moisturiser that is non-greasy. Also, if you can, choose a moisture that has SPF (sun protection factor). Of course, when you’re out on the beach or on a hike, always use sunscreen.

4. Avoid Smoking

Smoking can cause a lot of damage to your skin. For one, it narrows the blood vessels in the outer layers, causing your skin to look pale. It also reduces the production of collagen and elastin, proteins that give your skin strength and elasticity. This can lead to premature aging of your skin, meaning more defined wrinkles.

It’s commonly known that smoking cigarettes is a common cause for lung cancer. What you might not know is that smoking also increases your risk of getting squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.

To protect your skin and your overall health, it’s best to avoid smoking altogether. However, we understand that this can be difficult for many. We recommended speaking to your doctor for tips or treatments. Additionally, you can look at online resources to help you quit as well.

5. Get Better Sleep

It’s recommended that you get at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night for healthy skin. Getting better sleep will get rid of those dark circles and improve your skin tone.

During deep sleep (the state before the final REM stage), your body will begin to repair itself. This includes regeneration of skin cells and proteins like collagen. As a result, if you don’t give your body the opportunity to fix itself, your skin will start to suffer. Poor sleepers often have premature skin aging and a decreased ability to recover from skin damages. This makes them particularly vulnerable to stressors like sun exposure.

Sleeping less than the recommended seven to nine hours will not only affect your skin but your overall health as well. Poor sleep quality is often linked with obesity, immune deficiency, diabetes, and cancer.

As you might have noticed, skin care and caring for your overall health overlap quite a bit. In keeping your skin healthy, you will also improve so many different aspects of your well-being. Thus, it’s important to take the necessary precautions in protecting your skin. Consider the tips we’ve given above so that you can become comfortable in your own skin.