Are These Bad Habits Helping to Age Your Skin?
We have all heard the saying about "getting our beauty sleep" and there is more than a grain of truth in that.
But there are two bad habits that might be undoing the good of our beauty sleep...
Sleeping on your side
Some studies have found that there is a possible link between side sleeping and making wrinkles on the face more likely or prominent. This is because of the mechanical compression which can happen when the face is pressed against a pillow while sleeping. Over time, this could impair blood flow to the tissues, reducing their nutrient supply. When there is repeated compression on one side, it can ultimately reduce volume on that side of the face more than the other side.
This compression could also cause the skin to fold and perhaps injure dermal collagen fibers, causing more fine lines and the deepening of existing ones.
In addition, as we age we are less likely to change our positions during the night increasing the pressure on one side of the face. And the bad news is that older skin develops wrinkles more easily.
There are two remedies for this - one is to change your pillowcase to a silk one to minimize friction and two is to practise sleeping on your back.
Not getting enough sleep
Getting sufficient REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is one of the most important factors in looking less tired and more rested. This is because during sleep, the body undergoes various restorative processes including skin repair and renewal.
Our Sleep Aid Formula is all natural and safe to use, non habit forming, helping you to relax and get a good night's sleep, leaving you feeling refreshed and alert.
Just massage one or two drops on temples and back of neck thirty minutes before bedtime. But if you wake up during the night, you can reapply. Full instructions are included with the product. The good news is that the Formula will help your sleeping regime from the first time it is used while your sleep will progressively continue to improve with ongoing use.
There are other bad habits to avoid to help prevent aging your skin...
Becoming dehydrated
Drink plenty of water throughout the day to improve your skin's health and appearance because adequate water intake is crucial for maintaining skin hydration and elasticity. When the skin is dehydrated, it will often appear more dull and tired with more pronounced fine lines and sagging.
If you can manage to drink up to eight glasses a day, your face will appear healthy and hydrated.
Staring down at a screen
The blue light (emitted from our ever-present phones, laptops, TVs and tablets) could well be affecting the collagen in our skin through oxidative stress.
That same blue light can cause hyper-pigmentation in darker skin tones while research has found that constantly staring down at a screen puts up to five times the normal gravitational pull on the skin on our neck which can lead to premature sagging.
The solution? Take regular screen breaks and try to look up at a screen rather than down when using one.
Eating the same food day in and day out
Try to eat a bight and colorful diet that is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids to support your skin health. Suggestions include fruits and vegetables including dark greens such as broccoli and kale as well as oily fish.
Such nutrients will help to combat oxidative stress and inflammation while in turn minimizing hyper pigmentation and collagen breakdown, improving the look of your skin both in the short term and the long term.
SOURCES:
New Study Says 7 Hours of Sleep Is Ideal Middle Age (prevention.com)
WomensHealth.gov. http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/insomnia.html. (Accessed, Feb 11, 2021).
Lee NC. (2015). 6 tips for healthy aging.
womenshealth.gov/blog/healthy-aging-tips. (Accessed May, 5 2021)
Microdermabrasion. American Academy of Dermatology. https://www.aad.org/cosmetic/age-spots-marks/microdermabrasion-overview. (Accessed May 8, 2021)
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3970829/. (Accessed, Feb 15, 2021).
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.