How to Get Healthy Skin

Skin is extremely important for good health, since it is the largest organ and protects the rest of your body from germs and infectious agents. While many people want healthy skin because of the radiant appearance it provides, it can also be an indicator of overall health, and having healthy skin starts with having a healthy body. Skincare and anti-aging products are huge industries, but taking care of your skin has just as much to do with how you treat your body and what you put into it as it does what you put on it.

Part 1 – Cleansing and Moisturizing

1. Wash regularly, but not too often. Your skin is covered in a layer of dead skin, oil, and good bacteria that help prevent harmful things from entering your body.
2. Have short showers or baths in warm water. Bathing in hot water and for too long strips helpful and necessary oils from your skin
3. Use mild hypoallergenic cleansers. Just like hot water, strong soaps will remove oil from your skin and leave you feeling tight and dry.
4. Pat your skin dry. Instead of rubbing dry with a towel when you’ve finished bathing, gently pat your skin with a towel and let the remaining moisture air dry.
5. Exfoliate once or twice a week. This will remove the top layer of dead skin and reveal the fresh, new, radiant skin below, giving your skin a healthy, glowing appearance.
6. Moisturize regularly. Along with keeping moisture against the skin, which keeps it from drying out, moisturizers also protect the skin and improve its tone and texture.

Part 2 –Eating a Healthy Diet

1. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Eating foods that come in all the colors of the rainbow ensures that you will get the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are vital for good health.
2. Eat skin-friendly foods. Foods rich in antioxidants, selenium, coenzyme Q10, and flavonoids all promote healthy bodies and radiant skin.
3. Consume foods high in vitamins A, C, and E. These vitamins provide different benefits, but they all contribute to healthy skin.
4. Get your omegas. ats are necessary for healthy skin, especially omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. 
5. Drink water. The skin, like every part of the body, needs proper hydration to function optimally.
6. Avoid added sugars. Sugar in your diet can lead to wrinkles and sagging skin. Sugar molecules attach themselves to protein molecules, and when this happens it can damage collagen and elastin.

Part 3 – Taking Care of Your Body

1. Exercise on a regular basis. This is essential for healthy lungs, your cardiovascular system, and your body as a whole, including your skin.
2. Relax and unwind. Stress can wreak havoc on your skin and body as well as your mind, and the hormones your body releases in response to stress can exacerbate things like acne, psoriasis, rosacea, and eczema.
3. Don’t smoke. Smoking, like stress, has a negative impact on your health, skin, and appearance.
4. Get enough sleep. Sleep is important for many reasons, and healthy skin is just one of them.
5. Protect your skin from the sun. While a minimal amount of UV exposure is necessary for vitamin D production (20 minutes is enough for most people).
6. Use an infrared (IR) sauna to reduce wrinkles and increase collagen. IR saunas use infrared radiation to increase the amount of collagen your body produces and therefore reducing the amount of wrinkles you have.
7. Keep an eye out for signs of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the abnormal growth of skin cells caused by DNA mutations, and the primary cause of these mutations is UV exposure.
8. Seek professional help for irregular skin issues. It’s important to be aware of things that irritate your skin, allergens, and other sensitivities so that you can distinguish between a regular reaction to something versus a skin change or condition that requires the attention of a doctor or dermatologist.

Part 4 – Caring for Aging Skin

1. Focus on treating your biggest skin concern first, not all of them at once. Using too many anti-aging products can actually over-stress your skin, making it look even older.
2. Buy a moisturizer suited for your skin type and use it daily. Daily moisturizing is one of the keys to healthy skin at any age, but it becomes even more important as you age.
3. Eat a skin-healthy diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The more vitamins and minerals you can get from your diet, the better.
4. Apply topical antioxidants to fight sun damage, wrinkles, and dark spots. Anti-oxidants help prevent “free radicals” from damaging your skin’s DNA.
5. Use creams containing alpha-hydroxy acid to fight skin damage due to old age. These products are considered great, safe ways to exfoliate your skin, remove unsightly dark spots and dead skin, and help your skin stay young.
6. Avoid “miracle cures” or overly-hyped results. Many skin-care products claim they can “completely erase wrinkles” or turn back the clock twenty years on your skin.
7. Continue to take care of your skin with sunscreen, hydration, and regular skin cancer checks. As you age, taking care of your skin becomes just as important. Your skin care habits don’t need to change radically as you get older.

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