8 Secrets to Younger Looking Skin

Paige A. Mitchell
paige.a.mitchell18@gmail.com

As we age, we want our minds and bodies to stay sharp and active and we want our skin to maintain it’s wrinkle-free, youthful glow. Basically, we are all searching for the fountain of youth. 

The skincare industry is a billion-dollar business with products promising to reduce wrinkles, rewind aging, and miraculously present healthy, younger looking skin. While there are some products that are essential to protect our skin, such as sunscreen and moisturizer, the first step and most influential factor in improving and maintaining an outward appearance is to focus on taking care of the wholebody. Below is a guide with daily tips you can incorporate into your lifestyle to help your skin look younger from the inside out.

1. Improve sleep quality

One of the most important yet overlooked acts of self care is a focus on improving sleep in order to let your body heal. Utilizing the MindSpa personal development system allows you to do just that. By using a stimulating technology to mimic a meditative state, users are able to relax and improve focus, sleep, and mood. 

2. Reduce stress

Research has shown that stress levels directly impact skin condition and influence mental health. How many times have you experienced a break out prior to an important, but stressful event? Research actually showsthat the correlation is not just anecdotal. Rather, in his research, Dr. Granstein said experimental data support the idea that the nervous system and stress affect inflammatory skin conditions in humans, such as acne, psoriasis, and rosacea. 

 College students in particular experience a lot of skin conditions and breakouts related to stress, depression, and anxiety. This studyaimed to assess the relationship between perceived psychological stress and the prevalence of various skin symptoms in a large, randomly selected sample of undergraduate students. 

 Both of these studies focus on the benefits you can receive by focusing on improving restorative sleep, thereby reducing stress and helping improve skin.

3. Wash your face every night

Even if you don’t wear makeup daily or use harsh products, it’s important to wash the daily environmental impacts off your skin. With all the soaps and lotions and serums out there today, washing your face can actually be overwhelming at times. The American Academy of Dermatology Associationrecommends a simple approach to face-washing. With your fingertips, gently apply a non-abrasive cleanser, wash away with lukewarm water, and pat dry with a clean, fluffy towel.

4. Hydrate and moisturize your skin daily

Drink plenty of water throughout the day and find a good moisturizer that works with your skin type. If you’ve diligently hydrated and moisturized but your skin is still dry, check your home’s humidity levels. Humidity lower than 40% can take a toll on your health. One solution to this is investing in a portable humidifier or hire a technicianto install or service your whole-house humidifier.

5. Wash your hands often

Not only will this help prevent the spread of germs, but it also keeps dirt and other pore cloggers off your face and skin. Again, use gentle hand soap and warm—not scalding—water. Beware of hand sanitizer too. “By constantly using hand sanitizer, you eliminate the bacteria that helps build up your immune system, allowing antibiotic-resistant bugs to enter your system and make you very sick,” according to Samer Blackmon, M.D.

6. Wear sunscreen

Apply a broad spectrum minimum SPF 30 daily to protect skin. Applying sunscreen daily is important despite the weather and the season. It’ll protect your skin from short-term exposure to UV light, even on a cloudy day. Sunscreenprevents sunburn, early skin aging, and skin cancer. 

 An argument to wearing sunscreen is that most of us don’t get an adequate amount of vitamin D through our diet and one way of doing so is through direct sunlight. You can—and should—get your vitamin D through supplements rather than the tanning bed. Adults should get at least 600 IU per day of vitamin D, according to the Mayo Clinic, however, 1,000 to 2,000 IU per day from a supplement is generally safe.

7. Consider your diet

We’re sorry to say, but you’ve got to cut back on your vice—be it sugar, alcohol, or caffeine. Eating a lot of sugar causes collagen breakdown while alcohol and caffeine dehydrate the skin. This recent study highlights the positive benefits of participating in Dry Januarycan have on your skin and overall wellness. 

8. Don’t smoke

It’s bad for your health and your skin. If you haven’t found a good reason to quit yet, perhaps one of these points will do the trick: 

●     Smoking cigarettes can lead to poor sleep quality and result in undereye circles. 

●     It accelerates aging too. The average smoker looks 1.4 years older than nonsmokers. 

●     Nicotine stains your fingers and your teeth. 

●     Not to mention, the toxic chemicals in cigarettes make your hair thinner and grayer. 

●     Nicotine causes vasoconstriction, which limits oxygen-rich blood flow to the tiny vessels in the face or other parts of the body.  If you have any visible scars on your body, you can expect them to appear larger and redder.

 Consider your whole body and all of your lifestyle habits to figure out their impact on your skin. Regular sleep, consistent exercise, meditation, a balanced diet—all of these factors will provide the biggest results in younger looking skin. 

Day-to-day experiences affect awareness of aging, mood

July 20, 2017

Science Daily/North Carolina State University

A study of older adults finds an individual's awareness of aging is not as static as previously thought, and that day-to-day experiences and one's attitude toward aging can affect an individual's awareness of age-related change -- and how that awareness affects one's mood.

"People tend to have an overall attitude toward aging, good or bad, but we wanted to know whether their awareness of their own aging -- or AARC -- fluctuated over time in response to their everyday experiences," says Shevaun Neupert, an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and lead author of a paper on the study.

For the study, researchers enrolled 116 participants between the ages of 60 and 90. Each participant took a survey to establish baseline attitudes toward aging. For the following eight days, participants kept a log of daily stressors (such as having an argument), completed a daily evaluation of age-related experiences (such as "I am becoming wiser" or "I am more slow in my thinking"), and reported on their affect, or mood.

"We found that people's AARC, as reflected in their daily evaluations, varied significantly from day to day," says Jennifer Bellingtier, a recent Ph.D. graduate from NC State and co-author of the paper. "We also found that people whose baseline attitudes toward aging were positive also tended to report more positive affect, or better moods."

"People with positive attitudes toward aging were also less likely to report 'losses,' or negative experiences, in their daily aging evaluations," Neupert says.

"However, when people with positive attitudes did report losses, it had a much more significant impact on their affect that day," Neupert says. "In other words, negative aging experiences had a bigger adverse impact on mood for people who normally had a positive attitude about aging."

The study expands on previous work that found having a positive attitude about aging makes older adults more resilient when faced with stressful situations.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170720103137.htm

Natural plant compound may reduce mental effects of aging, more evidence shows

July 10, 2017

Science Daily/Salk Institute

The benefits of antioxidant fisetin have been demonstrated in mouse model of premature aging, Alzheimer's disease.

Salk scientists have found further evidence that a natural compound in strawberries reduces cognitive deficits and inflammation associated with aging in mice. The work, which appeared in the Journals of Gerontology Series A in June 2017, builds on the team's previous research into the antioxidant fisetin, finding it could help treat age-related mental decline and conditions like Alzheimer's or stroke.

"Companies have put fisetin into various health products but there hasn't been enough serious testing of the compound," says Pamela Maher, a senior staff scientist in Salk's Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory and senior author of the paper. "Based on our ongoing work, we think fisetin might be helpful as a preventative for many age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, not just Alzheimer's, and we'd like to encourage more rigorous study of it."

Maher, who works in the lab of David Schubert, the head of Salk's Cellular Neurobiology Lab, has been studying fisetin for over a decade. Previous research by the lab found that fisetin reduced memory loss related to Alzheimer's in mice genetically modified to develop the disease. But that study focused on genetic (familial) AD, which accounts for only 1 to 3 percent of cases. By far the bigger risk factor for developing what is termed sporadic AD, as well as other neurodegenerative disorders, is simply age. For the current inquiry, Maher turned to a strain of laboratory mice that age prematurely to better study sporadic AD. By 10 months of age, these mice typically show signs of physical and cognitive decline not seen in normal mice until two years of age.

The Salk team fed the 3-month-old prematurely aging mice a daily dose of fisetin with their food for 7 months. Another group of the prematurely aging mice was fed the same food without fisetin. During the study period, mice took various activity and memory tests. The team also examined levels of specific proteins in the mice related to brain function, responses to stress and inflammation.

"At 10 months, the differences between these two groups were striking," says Maher. Mice not treated with fisetin had difficulties with all the cognitive tests as well as elevated markers of stress and inflammation. Brain cells called astrocytes and microglia, which are normally anti-inflammatory, were now driving rampant inflammation. Mice treated with fisetin, on the other hand, were not noticeably different in behavior, cognitive ability or inflammatory markers at 10 months than a group of untreated 3-month-old mice with the same condition. Additionally, the team found no evidence of acute toxicity in the fisetin-treated mice, even at high doses of the compound.

"Mice are not people, of course," says Maher, "But there are enough similarities that we think fisetin warrants a closer look, not only for potentially treating sporadic AD but also for reducing some of the cognitive effects associated with aging, generally."

Next, Maher hopes to partner with another group or company in order to conduct clinical trials of fisetin with human subjects.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170710160954.htm