Lifestyle | Tips for Beautiful, Glowing Skin
How to achieve and maintain an amazing glow.
Top 5 Tips for
Beautiful, Glowing Skin
Who doesn't want beautiful, glowing skin? Look and feel amazing with our top five self-care tips that will help you achieve and maintain an amazing glow!
Most of us know and understand how important self-care is. Or, at least we hope you do. There's even a hashtag for it. Self-care is an essential component of living a healthy lifestyle and should be a priority. Self-care isn't selfish. It is your absolute greatest responsibility.
This is not going to be your typical self-care blog post. You may be disappointed if you're here looking for the latest homemade face mask or body scrub.
Face masks and body scrubs are super important and have their place and purpose. We're here to talk about what I believe is even more important.
The skin-related self-care things that are typically promoted and talked about, are external. How about we discuss what you can do internally that can have a far greater long-term impact?
Top Tip Number 5
Move Your Body
It's common knowledge that exercise can have a positive effect on your body. But, it can also influence how your skin looks and feels. Exercise is a key component of a healthy complexion. There is a reason why we experience what's known as the post-workout glow. Yes, it's a real thing.
This is a result of increased blood flow, which moves oxygen and nutrients through our bodies. The increased blood flow and sweating help in flushing out toxins. Sweating opens up your pores and releases impurities.
Did you know that exercise releases anti-inflammatory proteins and can reduce inflammation? Stress can also wreak havoc on your skin, and regular exercise decreases stress by decreasing cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
You will certainly experience these benefits at a greater level with higher intensity workouts since they get your heart rate up, and make you sweat more. But, low to moderate intensity can also be beneficial and is better than nothing.
It's important to find a form of exercise that you actually enjoy. Exercise shouldn't be just another thing on your checklist that has to be done. It can be something that you actually enjoy and look forward to. There are so many options. Explore different things until something clicks. You are more likely to stick to it long term, which is the goal.
If you have just recently started your journey, simply walking can be a fantastic starting point! There is beauty in simplicity. Slowly work your way up to higher intensity as you are able. Remember, it's about progress, not perfection.
top tip number 4
Eat Nutritious Food
It is really important to understand how food affects your skin. When it comes to food, try keeping it simple.
Focus on eating unprocessed, clean, natural, whole-foods. especially making sure to consume plenty of fresh produce! This approach not only helps with your overall wellness but will make your skin healthy as well.
The foods that can seriously mess with your skin and should be eliminated, or at the very least decreased significantly; processed food, fast food, soda, and refined sugar. All of which you would naturally avoid with a clean eating, whole-food approach.
top tip number 3
Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking enough water can be one of the most impactful things you can do for your skin and overall well-being.
Our body naturally contains a high percentage of water. Every single cell and organ needs water to function properly, and our skin is the body's largest organ. We need a certain amount of water just to survive. There is, however, a huge difference between merely surviving and thriving. We naturally lose water throughout the day and can see adverse effects if we don't properly replenish.
There are many healthy ways to add flavor if you have a hard time drinking plain water. Dehydration can make your skin more vulnerable, and prone to dryness, dullness, fine lines, and premature wrinkling.
The importance of drinking water can not be overstated. Water is an undeniable catalyst for glistening, glowing skin.
top tip number 2
Get Enough Quality Sleep
Lack of sleep or lack of quality sleep can negatively affect your skin. Our skin needs sleep to repair itself. Lack of sleep can cause inflammation in the skin, which can promote all kinds of undesirable skin conditions.
Did you know that sleep deprivation can increase dryness because there's more water loss when you don't sleep enough? It can also reduce growth hormone production which can reduce skin thickness. This may cause collagen and elastic tissue to break down, and produce loose skin and wrinkles.
Most of us know that inadequate or low-quality sleep can cause eye redness and under-eye dark circles and puffiness. It's one of the most outwardly obvious signs of tiredness and lack of sleep.
Prolonged, chronic sleep deprivation can accelerate skin aging and make you look older than your actual age. This is a sign of intrinsic aging, which means your skin will have more lines, laxity, or looseness.
How can you improve the quality of your sleep so you don't experience any of these negative side-effects? There are certain things that work for some people such as melatonin, and herbal teas. We won't recommend anything specific because results can vary from person to person. These remedies may not work for some people because of other factors. For example, hormones can play a role for those who are over 40. And, that's a whole other conversation.
top tip number 1
Minimize Stress
This is a big one! Stress can wreak havoc on our entire body, including our skin. Stress can cause your skin to be more sensitive and reactive. It can worsen and aggravate existing skin issues, such as psoriasis, rosacea, and eczema. Fever blister flare-ups can also be caused by stress.
Did you know that stress can accelerate skin aging? High amounts of the stress hormone cortisol, can play a big part in breaking down collagen and elastin and cause wrinkles.
Let's be real though, completely eliminating stress is probably close to impossible. There are always going to be external factors beyond our control, but we can at least try to control how we react to those stressors. And, we can also try to focus on what steps we can take in helping reduce stress in our lives.
Let's go ahead and focus on the things that we can control. Please refer to tip #1 above. We absolutely believe this is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress. Exercise releases endorphins known to produce positive feelings, and can help you feel happier, calmer, and less stressed! Exercise can also improve the quality of your sleep (tip #4), which can positively affect your skin, as well.
Try to remind yourself of this on hard days. When you're feeling down or extra stressed. It's even more important to move on those days. It can give you the motivation that you need because you want to feel better.
Let's not underestimate the importance of laughter when it comes to stress relief! Laughter really is the best medicine. It actually induces positive physical changes in your body. Not only does it reduce stress and soothe tension, but it can also strengthen your immune system and relieve pain. Surround yourself with those who bring you joy, watch a funny show or movie, or go to the comedy club for date night.
spa days are the best days
Self Care = Skin Care
And, those face masks and body scrubs that you probably thought you were going to read about here? Sorry if we disappointed you. We will probably do future posts about them though. They absolutely are great stress relievers!
Or how about soaking in a nice Epsom salt bubble bath with smell-good candles glowing? Or a massage? Or a pedicure? Please and thank you!
Really try and make an effort to set aside one "spa day" per week where you can focus on these types of self-care activities. They're marvelous and can definitely help you feel more relaxed and less stressed.
These are just suggestions, and things that have helped many. We hope that this post will encourage you to include nurturing your body with healthy food, water, exercise, rest, and stress relief as part of your overall skincare plan. If you are already making these things a priority, we applaud you and sincerely hope that you continue to do so.
3 comments
Very helpful! I will be taking better care of myself this year for sure.
Awesome article! I do need to drink more water I will say.
Great tips! I will try this!