If you have been looking after your skin since you were a young girl, you deserve to feel very pleased with yourself. Our skin is subject to the toxins and pollution that is in our air, plus cigarette smoke and the sun, and what we eat – all these things age our skin and causes wrinkles and blemishes.

Inflammation is the basis of aging. Inflammation occurs from a rapid rise in blood sugar, that causes oxidative stress and results in accelerated aging of the of the skin. Eating a diet high in sugar not only causes weight gain, it also causes damage to the skin. When blood sugar goes up rapidly, sugar attaches itself to collagen in a process called “glycation”, making the skin stiff and inflexible, causing damage to the skin’s collagen and elastin. Losing this elastic resilience will give you deep wrinkles.

Exercise is not only good for your whole body, but particularly for your skin. Exercise can help increase skin tone and maintain elasticity. Exercise can also increase the blood flow to your skin and give it a healthy glow.

There is a simple 3 step skincare regime that we can do morning and night.
1. Cleanse: using a soap-free formula
2. Tone: to wipe away lingering surface impurities and to restore the skin’s PH balance
3. Replenish: to restore moisture and to support the skin’s natural renewal process

To repair our skin we can use a gentle exfoliator and a nutritious masque along with serums and essences to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Marie Bertrand from SkinScience Clinic says: Having hydrated skin is the key to having healthy skin – be sure to moisturize within three minutes of washing, showering or bathing – when skin is still damp – because this helps to lock in moisture. To the contrary, anti-aging moisturizer creams lock in skin’s own moisture. So hydrating skin when it’s dry is largely unhelpful. So don’t forget, whether it’s your face or body, apply your anti-wrinkle creams (eye, essence, serum and/or hydrating products) within 3 minutes of stepping out of the shower (or washing).

Vitamin C fights the toxins, pollution and cigarette smoke and keeps the skin’s collagen healthy. If we are not getting enough Vitamin C, then our skin becomes wrinkled and loses freshness and the healthy glow. We need to drink water so that some of the toxins can be flushed from our body via the skin instead of accumulating. And Omega-3 oils (fish or flaxseed) promote healthy skin. When we take advanced quality, broad-spectrum antioxidant and multi-mineral nutritional supplements for our inner health, it will reflect in our outer skin health too.

And the sun causes a great deal of damage to our skin cells which causes ageing. We need to be out in the sun but it is vital that we do not get sunburnt, otherwise we risk getting skin cancer and skin damage.

If you read women’s magazines you will notice the one and two page advertisements that cosmetic companies place announcing all the latest marketing ploys to get us to buy their products with promises of anti-aging and wrinkle free. We do have to be careful about what we put on our skin and to avoid the man-made toxins (e.g. the preserving parabens), irritating oils and natural ingredients, that are in much of the skin care.

By: Helen Wenley