It is true that you must follow a good skin care regimen to keep your skin looking as healthy and young as possible. At its simplest, a proper skin care routine includes: washing your face with a gentle cleanser once before bed to remove all the makeup, sweat, dirt, pollutants and debris that have accumulated on your skin throughout the day; washing your face in the morning; and applying a moisturizer after each wash, including using a moisturizer with a broad spectrum SPF of 15 or higher every morning.
However, caring for your skin goes beyond the basics. Your lifestyle choices show up on your skin, so to keep skin looking young, adhere to the following lifestyle tips.
Eat Right
Simply put, what you put in your mouth will show up on your face. For instance, eating excessive amounts of sugar stimulates a physiological process known as glycatin, which causes the proteins that are essential for healthy, elastic skin—collagen and elastin—to become hard and rigid. When this happens, your skin texture becomes coarse and uneven. Inflexible skin also makes it easier for dead skin cells, oils and bacteria to get trapped underneath or within pores, causing the appearance of large pores and acne.
In addition, consuming the right nutrients including antioxidant vitamins A, C and E helps minimizes the damage caused by unstable molecules in your body called “free radicals.” Also, getting a sufficient amount of omega-3 fatty acids helps keeps skin supple.
Stay Hydrated
Approximately 70 percent of your body is comprised of water. Therefore, it is no surprise that drinking enough water is essential for your body to function well. Although drinking plenty of water will not immediately leave you with glowing skin, not drinking enough water can cause your skin to appear dry and wrinkly.
Don’t Smoke (or Quit Smoking)
If health concerns are not enough to stop you from smoking, think about this: Smoking robs your blood of life-giving oxygen and constricts blood vessels. It also causes premature signs of aging, such as wrinkles around your mouth from repeatedly pursing your lips around the end of a cigarette. There are so many good reasons not to smoke, and caring for your skin is one of them.
Get Enough Sleep
Getting enough sleep each night—seven to eight hours for an adult—allows your body to repair your skin cells and other tissues. While you sleep, your cells release human growth hormone, which is integral in repairing skin cell damage. If you don’t get enough quality shut-eye, your body cannot release a sufficient amount of the hormone to keep your skin looking healthy.
What to Do If Your Skin Could Use Some Help
If you need assistance getting your skin back on track, Dr. Sheena Kong can help. She provides skin-rejuvenating laser treatments such as Fraxel, Clear + Brilliant, skin-tightening Ultherapy and Thermage treatment to help your skin looks its best. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Kong, contact our San Francisco medical spa by calling (415) 673-7600 today.