Have you noticed a few fine lines starting to emerge on your face? Are you starting to look for ways to look younger longer? You are not alone!
Your skin is usually the first thing that starts to give your age away. Most people start the aging process earlier than one would think, around 25 years of age. While we all have different DNA and genetics that can affect how we age, certain environmental and lifestyle factors can play an even bigger role in how we age, especially when it comes to our skin.
Read on to learn more about why we age and what we can do to look younger for longer. You may be surprised to learn that many of the same things that keep you in overall good health, such as eating right, exercising, and staying hydrated, may also be the fountain of youth.
Why Do We Age?
Aging is a natural process of life. Starting in your mid-20s, your skin starts to age at a cellular level, leading to senescent cells that no longer divide to make new cells, but instead maintain their own cellular health. From there on, you may start to notice those fine lines getting deeper and your skin getting a little thinner and drier.
There are two types of aging: intrinsic aging and extrinsic aging. A lot can go into both types of aging that influence how quickly you see their effects.
Intrinsic aging is the natural aging process. Your genes control the changes you see. If your parents look youthful even in their 50s and 60s, you will likely have that same youthful glow. If your parents showed signs of aging at a younger age, don’t worry too much — it is thought that intrinsic aging only accounts for as low as 3% of the effects of aging.
So, where does the other 97% of aging come from? Extrinsic aging.
Extrinsic aging describes the effects of your environment and lifestyle on how you age. Your environment (including diet, skincare, and sun exposure, to name a few) can directly impact how slowly or quickly you appear to age. The more you take care of your overall health and skin, the slower the aging process may begin.
How Can I Look Younger for Longer?
Your skin is one of the first things that will start to show your age. While you can’t change the DNA you were given, you can change your lifestyle to create a better environment for your skin. The best part about making these changes is they may also increase your longevity.
Nourish Your Body
The best thing you can do for your skin is to pay attention to the foods you eat. Try increasing your intake of gluten-free grains and foods rich in antioxidants like fruits and vegetables, especially salads with leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, berries, and legumes.
Fatty foods, like salmon, avocado, and nuts, are also good for the skin because of their antioxidants and omega-3s. These foods are also high in vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A, and vitamin E, which are all beneficial for the skin.
> The Kroma Lifestyle: Kroma’s 5-Day Reset & Daily Essentials
One way to help nourish your body is with our 5-Day Lifestyle Reset. Our Reset is five days of bringing nourishing, satiating superfoods into your everyday diet. Each day, you are given delicious foods and drinks that are easy to make and full of nutrition, helping you to create a balanced diet.
You can also handpick our daily essentials from our shop. Three easy-to-incorporate favorites of ours are:
- The 24K Chicken Bone Broth, with collagen in it. Collagen has been shown to improve hydration, elasticity, roughness, and density, helping your skin look younger.
- Our Beauty Matcha Latte also has collagen, along with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of matcha, ginger, and turmeric.
- Kroma’s Supergreens Elixir is packed with 76 superfoods and vitamins, which means tons and tons of antioxidants to work hard for your skin.
Exercise Regularly
You may not think of exercise as beneficial to your skin, but as your skin ages, muscle is reduced. By building muscle in your body, you can protect your skin against wrinkles. Endurance exercise specifically helps the mitochondria in aging skin and the regulation of metabolism in the skin cells.
Exercise helps to increase circulation, which can help deliver nutrients and oxygen to the skin. Regular exercise can also help reduce stress levels and may lower your risk of age-related diseases. Constant psychological stress can cause free radicals and immune dysfunction and may lead to DNA damage, causing the skin to age faster.
Prioritize Skin Care
We already know what we put in our body is important, but so is what we put on our skin. Prioritizing a skincare routine is extremely important if you are trying to delay those pesky fine lines and wrinkles as long as you can.
The key to a skincare routine is starting early. Before you even see those lines forming, start using products that cleanse, moisturize, and revitalize.
If your skin needs a little extra beyond store-bought skincare, dermatologists can prescribe certain products to help reduce the effects of aging. Retinoids are vitamin A compounds that can help reduce signs of aging and wrinkles. If the version of vitamin A available in your daily skincare regimen doesn’t seem to be helping, you may want to schedule an appointment with a dermatologist to see what they recommend for you, such as prescription-strength vitamin A.
Wear SPF
We all know the sun can do a number on our skin, but do you know just how much? The sun is thought to be responsible for 80% of visible facial aging signs. The sun gives off ultraviolet radiation, or UV rays. While this helps create vitamin D in the body, it can also leave you at a higher risk for sunburns, which can lead to skin cancer.
To protect your skin against the sun, you should wear sunscreen on any areas of skin that are not covered when you go outside. Your sunscreen should have a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30, with protection against both UVA and UVB (referred to as “broad spectrum”). You can also wear hats to help protect your face against the sun, but wearing sunscreen or moisturizer with SPF included is a better route.
Drink Less Alcohol (and More Water!)
We all love a fun night out or mimosas for brunch. While that is generally fine in moderation, alcohol can do a number on your skin. Alcohol can cause wrinkles, puffiness, uneven skin tone, and volume loss around the eyes, cheeks, and lips over time, which can cause you to look older than you actually are.
The key to younger-looking skin is to drink lots of water. Water helps skin stay hydrated and elastic. Staying hydrated with water also helps transport nutrients to the skin and gives it the protection it needs to stay younger for longer.
Conclusion
There is both a genetic component and an environmental component of aging. The genetic component accounts for much less than one would think, which is good news because it means more control over your own aging process.
Nourishing your body, exercising regularly, prioritizing skincare, wearing SPF, and hydrating are always ways you can protect your body and your skin against the aging process, keeping you looking younger for longer.
At Kroma Wellness, our goal is to provide you with conveniently delicious, nutritious superfoods so you can make wellness an everyday part of your routine and keep that youthful glow!
Sources:
Fighting against Skin Aging (nih.gov)
The best foods for healthy skin | Mayo Clinic
Effect of the sun on visible clinical signs of aging in Caucasian skin | NCBI