Right from the first moment we enter this world, we start to age - and our skin is no exception. However the skin is a complex detox and protective organ so it is striving to keep its best condition forever really! At least until our time is up on this earth.
The skins function is to protect you from environment stresses, bacteria and viruses, regulate temperature, make you feel amazing, keep in the moisture, show you signs when something is wrong internally, detox as well as many more functions. It makes sense it wants to keep itself healthy. So what goes wrong? Why do we age?
Why do we age?
From the age of approximately 25years old, our skin starts to lose its fat pads as well as blood vessels to the skin by 1% every year. This means that when you are 50years old, in theory you have lost 25% of fat pad and nutrients to your skin. Putting that together with environment stresses such as burnt in the sun, harsh chemicals in your products, waters and surroundings as well as stress that you may find yourself in along with foods such as high sugar diet - it makes it extremally tough for your skin to work and keep healthy.
What are fat pads under the skin?
Fat pads are closely packed. subcutaneous fat cells around your face and other areas of your body. These start to decline 1% every year from approximately the age of 25 years giving the look of sagging to your face and with gravity, start to accumulate lower down in the jowls giving the look of loss of structure in the top and middle and more heavier look lower down the face.
Current research is starting to show that some fat pads decline quicker with diets high in refined sugars and salts. As we are surrounded by these foods, it is becoming more and more of an issue with people turning to invasive options such as injectables.
Photo credit: Osmosis Beauty & Wellness
Lack of blood vessels to the skin is a big cause of aging
When your blood vessels to the skin are decreasing at the rate of 1% every year from the age of 25years, as well as damage to the vessels from products, treatments such as IPL and Laser as well as other environment stresses, this can stop the nutrients getting to your skin which then accelerates aging. As an organ, our skin needs healthy nutrients to keep its strength, health and glow.
What foods contribute to aging?
Chemicals and viruses are all around us, in our waters, products, packaging and foods. Our skin has to work hard to protect us from these external pressures and the more there is around you the more it leaves the skin little time to repair as it is in constant overload.
Foods such as :
High refined sugars eg bread, sweets
High salt - eg biscuits
Fried Foods - eg Fries
Processed and added preserves - eg margarine, bacon
GMO foods
Caffeine / Alcohol
Dairy - eg lots of cheese
Cooking in high heat with processed oils eg sunflower oil
How does our skin age by the sun?
The Vitamin D that comes with sun is needed to enter our skin to help our body with certain functions. It can help with all sorts of skin conditions such as eczema, acne and internally Vitamin D is needed for bone health, reduce cancers, fight infections and reduce inflammation. However, when we burn we can create an accelerated aging effect on our skin. Research shows that UV exposure is 80% of aging but this is quickly been overturned by our high diet in sugar with fat pad loss.
Moderation is key, you need to expose your skin to sunlight - not at the highest UV time of day - but you also need to cover up to limit your burning to your skin.
Stress and aging
High levels of stress cause elevated cortisol in your body which causes inflammation and stress within your skin. Inflammation is another high cause of aging skin. High cortisol can cause over production of oil, dehydration, skin inflammation, itching and swelling. Ageing making the skin work harder and causing premature aging.
Oxidative stress can also cause wrinkling and skin diseases and has been researched that can play a role in skin cancers. It speeds up the aging process by creating free radicals which harm the skin. Smoking, x-rays, pollution and chemicals all contribute to free radicals hence a healthy skin barrier high in antioxidants is needed to control these.
How does the wrong skincare hurt our skin?
If you are on the wrong skincare for you or ingredients that inflame your skin, then again this will cause accelerated aging. It is extremely important to make sure your skincare has ingredients that are safe, do not damage your skin barrier and assist your skin work its magic. This also goes for your skin treatments as some treatments can be too harsh for your skin such as p
The bests vitamins and minerals that are needed for aging skin health are:
(this works for both foods as well as in skincare or wellness products)
Vitamin A - important vitamin that helps lower & upper layers, helps skin boost collagen & simulates new blood vessels
Vitamin C - powerful antioxidant to fight free radicals
Vitamin E - antioxidant and anti inflammatory. absorbs energy from sun
Vitamin D - decreases inflammation, improves immunity, bone health
Healthy Fats - to little fat in your diet can make your skin dry and and healthy fats help calm inflammation.
Zinc - helps your skin heal and cell walls stable
Can we control or prevent aging? No we cant prevent. But we can certainly control by putting things into place to help reduce or slow the aging process. You can aim to look 10-20years younger than your age. Can we actually reverse aging? Yes we can! There are many tools in our basket. We can look to a more holistic approach by making sure our environment and food choices are healthy and balanced. We can make sure our choice of skin products is non inflammatory and the right skincare for us.
Aging product recommendations:
Comments