Incrementally incorporating new healthy habits into your everyday routines can significantly impact your overall physical and mental health and well-being in addition to improving your skin’s appearance. This post gives some tips on incorporating healthy lifestyle habits into your everyday living that will set your skin aglow.

Healthy Diet Habits

Increase your water intake.

Your skin is approximately 70 to 80% water. This water is vital for cellular functions and maintaining soft, flexible skin. The outermost layer of the skin acts as a barrier between the body and the outside environment. An important function of our skin barrier is to maintain a healthy moisture level in the skin by preventing moisture loss. Lack of proper moisture results in dry, cracked, and rough-appearing skin.

Doctors recommend eight glasses of water per day to stay hydrated, help remove toxins, replenish your body’s fluids, and help keep our skin healthy.

Focus on whole foods.

The convenience is nice, but the health dangers of too much fast food are abundant. Instead, keep your kitchen stocked with plenty of whole grains, lean meats such as chicken or fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Avocados, sweet potatoes, broccoli, red grapes, and red or yellow bell peppers are among foods high in healthy fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin C, or antioxidants, which all help keep your skin healthy.

Whole foods high in vitamin and mineral content and rich in antioxidants can slow the progression or signs of aging and provide your skin with a healthy glow.

Cutting out ultra-processed foods is also a simple way to lower your risk of diabetes or other chronic diseases. 

Cut your sugar intake.

Lowering the amount of sugar in your diet is another healthy habit that has many benefits.. 

Added sugar can influence your body’s insulin production, causing increased oil production which encourages the appearance of acne. High blood sugar levels also lead to increased inflammation detrimental for acne-prone individuals. 

In addition to sugar, be aware of your dairy intake as this can also flare or worsen inflammatory conditions.  

Healthy Sleep Habits

Stick to a schedule.

Sleep and health experts recommend getting at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night. A healthy sleep routine can improve the look of your skin. Your body naturally produces collagen while you’re asleep, and it’s an essential ingredient for healthy skin. As skin loses collagen, wrinkles appear and skin loses its natural elasticity.

Consistently going to bed and waking up at specific times also regulates your natural body clock, helping you feel refreshed, energized, and ready to explore more healthy habits as you take on the day. 

Put down the devices.

Try to make a habit of setting boundaries with your electronic devices at all times of day, but especially before bedtime.

Research shows blue light from smartphones, tablets, TVs, and computers can shrink or damage skin cells over time to cumulatively speed up the aging process. Long-term heavy exposure to blue light can cause damage including inflammation, swelling, redness, and pigmentation changes, which appears more likely with darker-skinned individuals. 

Try to limit your screen time in the two to three hours before sleeping. The blue light emitted by device screens disturbs our natural sleep cycle and interferes with the body’s release of melatonin, which encourages feeling drowsy and helps us doze off.

Healthy Lifestyle & Self-Care Habits

Get active!

A regular exercise routine can help strengthen muscles, manage weight, and reduce your risk of heart disease. But did you know exercise also benefits your skin complexion, too? Sweat is great at helping keep your skin clear. Sweating forces your pores to flush out the toxins that can lead to blemishes. Just always be sure to wash your face following a workout to remove as much breakout-causing toxins, dirt, and oil from your skin—and experience that post-workout glow.

The more your muscles are toned through physical exercise, the firmer, smoother, and healthier your skin will look and feel. Research also suggests exercise helps skin repair itself more quickly to better protect against UV damage.

You don’t have to be intimidated by joining a local gym or aerobics class—although those are great ideas! Any physical movement that burns calories and increases blood circulation is a good start!

Your own little exercises throughout the day could include short walks, opting for the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or simply getting up from your desk to move around. Try tracking your daily activity with your smartphone or a wearable step counter to help encourage you to be more active. Try something new, like yoga or dancing—anything to get your body moving!

Cut out or reduce alcohol intake.

Be aware of the effects alcohol can have on your skin. Frequent or excessive drinking can lead to skin issues such as dry skin or flushing, while long-term effects can include increased risks for skin infections and skin cancer due to a weakened immune system.

Alcohol is a diuretic, causing the body to lose more water than usual and leading to dehydration which can affect your skin. You may also develop a flushed or inflamed complexion when drinking as a result of alcohol stimulating the release of histamines that dilate blood vessels under the skin. Hives, jaundice, psoriasis, eczema, and rosacea are among other common skin conditions linked to alcohol consumption. 

You may notice improvements in your skin as recently as one week after your last drink, and your skin will likely appear significantly healthier with less swelling, a more even tone, and a more hydrated look after one month of sobriety.

Stop smoking or using tobacco.

Nicotine and the other harmful chemicals in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco damage almost every organ in the body, including your skin.

The toxins in cigarette smoke produce free radicals and limit the amount of oxygen your skin receives. They also hamper the production of collagen and elastin that help hold skin firm and supple, leading to wrinkles and premature skin aging. Minor cuts or abrasions take longer to heal and they may scar more noticeably as smoking slows the production of new blood vessels and circulation.

Nicotine changes your brain to form an addiction, raises your blood pressure, causes lung inflammation, and damages the DNA that acts as instructions for cell growth and function, potentially leading to the creation of cancerous tumors.

Healthier-looking skin may become noticeable as quickly as a few days after quitting smoking, while increasing oxygen flow, antioxidants, and blood flow will continue to visibly improve your skin complexion in the following weeks and months. 

Quitting smoking is one of the most difficult unhealthy habits to break. Still, it’s never too late to quit, and ample helpful resources are available from the CDC and smokefree.gov, among others.

The Ultimate Healthy Skincare Habit: SkinTherapyMD

Every skin type and condition can be effectively treated with a consistent routine. Make healthy skincare habits part of your daily morning and evening self-care routines to help exfoliate, deep clean, shrink pores, treat acne, and reverse sun damage, signs of aging, or environmental stress on your skin.

Clear, healthy skin doesn’t require an entire shelf’s worth of products or a complicated, detailed step-by-step routine mixing and matching different brands, bottles, and formulas. SkinTherapyMD’s CAMU acne and anti-aging solutions contain all the effective and natural ingredients your skin needs in one product line and just two simple steps. 

Begin with the CAMU ClearSkin or anti-aging exfoliating pads, applying over your entire face and desired areas until the pad loses its natural brown color—the result of antioxidant- and flavonoid-rich licorice root as an ingredient.

Follow with approximately half a dropper’s worth of CAMU ClearSkin or anti-aging moisturizing serum, applying a drop or two of serum per quadrant of your face. 

New daily habits may be tough to form and stick with, but keeping them simple is a great recipe for repetition and long-term success. Keep up the good work and watch as the positive results of your efforts begin to compound over time and lead to remarkable results.