The skin is the largest organ of the body, and caring for it is a lifelong task that takes persistence and dedication. It remains in one’s best interest for medical and aesthetic reasons to take the best care of it that one can manage. Below, we cover the top 8 habits that can age your skin.
Skin problems have the potential to rapidly change from merely annoying to more serious quite quickly. For this reason, it’s good to start a dedicated care regimen early.
Top 8 Habits That Can Age Your Skin
Just as important as being proactive with your skin care, like wrinkle removal, is learning what kinds of behaviors to avoid. There are many habits and conditions that can cause one’s skin to begin to look far beyond its natural age at a premature time. Here are some of the habits to avoid in order to keep your skin looking healthy and fresh.
1. Rubbing Your Eyes Too Often
Excessively rubbing your eyes can result in the formation of fine lines and wrinkles on the edges of your eyes. Refraining from indulging in this habit can help keep your eyes and skin healthier for longer.
Some individuals rub their eyes due to the presence of other types of skin conditions, such as eczema. However, this is not the overall best way to deal with skin conditions like these.
2. Not Getting Enough Sleep
Sleep is the body’s first line of defense for most important health issues, and maintaining healthy skin is no different. Skimping out on sufficient rest can spell disaster for one’s health.
During healthy sleep, your skin goes into a renewal state, which doesn’t occur if you consistently miss out on your recommended amount.
3. Using Straws
Although not as impactful as some of the other habits on this list, the overuse of straws can also can cause the development of fine lines around one’s mouth. This can be a sign of skin aging. This is the same reason that smokers start to develop wrinkles around their mouth as well.
4. Stressing Out
Stress is a total body experience that can cause many systems of our physiology to malfunction and break down. If you find yourself experiencing chronic anxiety or stress, your body will release cortisol, which is a major stress hormone.
Cortisol has the potential to break down collagen, which leads to sagging skin and wrinkles and also causes inflammation. Chronic stress has the potential to speed up the aging process and increase inflammation throughout the body.
5. Using Makeup for Sunscreen
Some people use makeup in lieu of dermatologist-recommended sunscreen as sun protection. However, this is not ultimately sufficient to protect one’s skin against the full spectrum of radiation that has the potential to damage one’s skin.
For example, even makeup that is marked as sun-safe will often protect against UVB rays but not UVA rays. These rays can cause significant damage to one’s skin.
6. Ignoring Commonly-Exposed Areas
There are several areas of skin that receive heavy sun exposure that are easy to forget about. Two such places are the hands and the back of the neck. The hands in particular are prone to developing wrinkles, veins, and sun spots after receiving heavy sun exposure.
Long-term sun exposure can also cause one’s neck to become wrinkled and discolored as well.
7. Forgetting the Shades
Approved sunglasses can protect the eyes from UV rays that can harm the eyelid and other parts of the eyes. In addition, squinting at the sun or raising one’s eyebrows can cause age lines to develop over time in the areas where these repetitive motions are performed.
Investing in a pair of UV-safe sunglasses can give one the edge in terms of protecting your eyes and the skin surrounding the eyes from harmful UV radiation.
8. Using Certain Types of Soap
Using certain types of soap that dry the skin out can cause one’s skin to exhibit whatever wrinkles do exist more intensely. Choosing products that are more holistically moisturizing can help one to ensure that their skin doesn’t dry out and show the signs of aging.
Choosing the Best For Your Skin
Setting up a consultation with your doctor can help you to ensure that you can make a concrete plan going forward to keep your skin healthy for longer. Brightcraft Med Spa prides itself on being totally dedicated to keeping patient’s skin elastic and fresh through the decades. If you’re interested in scheduling a consultation to discuss the best path forward for your skin care needs, contact us today in order to schedule a consultation.
