- Be aware that recreational as well as some prescription drugs, can affect your skin. They can inhibit oxygen levels, affect cell growth, cause dryness, allergic reactions and acne.
- Smoking is one of the fastest ways to age your skin, next to sun exposure. Smoking depletes your skin of oxygen and causes cancer. Smoking stains the skin and teeth, creates hyperpigmentation, premature aging, wrinkles and fine lines, reduces blood flow to the skin, causes the skin to look dry and sallow, encourages wrinkles to develop around the mouth and “crow’s feet” around the eye, delays wound healing, creates a puckered mouth from smoking action, wrinkles around the eyes due to squinting to avoid the smoke, pale complexion due to nicotine constricting blood vessels, and the skin tends to be thin and sags due to loss of collagen from free radical damage.
- Drinking alcohol affects the appearance of our skin. It over dilates blood vessels creating a flushed appearance. Drinking excessively dehydrates the body and keeping the skin hydrated is vital to keep the skin looking healthy.
- Stress can cause hormonal changes in the body and therefore the skin, can cause breakouts, psoriasis or hives. Stress slows down the renewal of cells, causes dehydration, and premature aging. When we are stressed we can loose sleep causing dark eye circles and puffy skin around the eyes.
- Diet is crucial for healthy looking skin. A bad diet over taxes the liver, which filters out toxins of the skin, and affects the tone and texture. Toxins can cause blemishes. Our bodies find it difficult to digest lots of meat, dairy, processed foods and sugar, which can clog pores, and cause the skin to excrete too much oil and sebum. A good diet consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, wild fish, flax and borage oil and fiber. Choose organics when possible. Avoid eating foods that have been sprayed with pesticides or have been genetically engineered. Meat or dairy that have added hormones affect our body's hormones and our skin can become unbalanced with hormone fluctuations. Drinking teas is a great way to introduce antioxidants. Try green, white and even red teas. Loose leaf teas are ideal.
- Drink plenty of water. It will keep you hydrated and assist in digestion.
- Exercise increases blood circulation and brings oxygen to the skin's surface, killing toxins and bacteria.
When keeping in mind these factors, you will be healthier and in turn your skin will look its best.
