The moment you find time to slow down and check up on yourself, you may find yourself doing a new facial-massage technique, constantly stroking your jawlines to see how your skin has changed over the years or pinching your cheeks to check its elasticity. Most of the time, skin care becomes your go-to aid, hoping to pamper yourself, revitalize your skin, and restore what was lost.
As you get older, your skin will naturally become less defined or saggy as your skin’s collagen, hyaluronic acid, and elastin levels continue to deplete. Unfortunately, aside from ageing, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the decrease of skin firmness and radiance. Let’s discuss them so we’d know what to manage and avoid!
Reasons why skin loses its firmness
Aside from ageing, there are other reasons why your skin loses its firmness prematurely. One is because of ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun that penetrate the dermis to destroy collagen and elastin.
Another reason is skin dehydration, which often happens when one doesn’t have enough water intake to keep the skin hydrated and moisturized. While many love sweets, consuming large amounts of sugary food and beverages can also lead you to saccharification. This causes the skin to lose its elasticity, which results in a sagging face.
Fret not though, since there’s good news! There’s still a lot you can control. You can help your skin keep its youthful glow and firmness with some lifestyle tweaks. Let’s discuss them!
Keeping your skin firm and youthful
1. Give your skin its much-needed collagen boost
Collagen is a protein that plays a crucial role in building and supporting many tissues. It keeps your skin smooth and gives it a plump, youthful look. When you experience collagen loss, your skin’s texture and elasticity are affected.
Achieve softer skin by stimulating your collagen production. You can do this by opting for products with ingredients like retinol, hyaluronic acid, vitamin c, aloe vera, ginseng, and other antioxidants.
Use products that support collagen production regularly. This helps you ensure that you’re doing something good for your skin day by day—which is the reason why skincare is important in our lives.
2. Have a skin-healthy diet
Your diet also determines your skin health. Keep your skin nourished and repaired with antioxidant-rich food like fruits and vegetables. This helps protect your skin from the damage caused by free radicals. Consider also leafy greens, turmeric plants, and essential fatty acids found in almonds and salmon.
3. add antioxidants to your skincare routine
Antioxidants are powerful ingredients that help protect your skin from free radicals—molecules with unpaired and reactive electrons. While naturally produced by the body, these free radicals cause trouble for skin cells and can lead to a host of diseases as they cause unhealthy chain chemical reactions.
Antioxidants also promote firm skin with their anti-ageing and moisture retention properties. So you’ll never go wrong with them.
4. Choose genuinely natural over synthetic
Synthetic beauty products typically use preservatives such as parabens, sulfates, phthalates, fragrances, and synthetic colors. Such ingredients are utilized to inhibit bacterial growth and make artificially appealing smells and colors. Unfortunately, they contain chemicals and carcinogens, which are linked to breast cancer, eye damage, endocrine function disruption, birth defects, and more.
Note, however, that while you avoid synthetic ones, not all-natural products are safe for your skin. Check your products’ ingredients to see whether they are genuinely natural and healthy.
5. Never forget your sunscreen
You may be wondering how you can reduce the visibility of your fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation. These skin issues are usually caused by sunlight and UV light exposure, which speeds up the ageing process.
To keep your skin protected from the sun, sunscreen is the way to go! Wear sunscreen religiously and regularly to shield your skin and help maintain its firmness and youthful glow.
6. Stay hydrated
It’s no secret that staying hydrated can tremendously impact your skin’s health even in the long run. Your skin is the largest organ in your body, and water plays a crucial role in retaining its moisture, elasticity, and firmness. Water also helps fix dry, flaky skin, so it’s important to keep yourself hydrated.
Health experts commonly recommend taking around eight glasses of water a day for better fluid intake.
7. Get a good night’s sleep
Never underestimate the power of good sleep. In addition to keeping your immune system stronger, your brain sharper, and your skin healthier. A good night’s sleep gives your cells the downtime to undergo a repair cycle.
The National Sleep Foundation advises that adults should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night.
The night is also when your face best absorbs product ingredients and nutrients. During the nighttime, you can leave healthy skincare products on your skin to do wonders. You can keep it hydrated with a moisturizer, serum, and oil cleanser. Note though that you should avoid mistakes when oil cleansing to ensure that the way you cleanse your face is optimized.
8. Embrace an active lifestyle
Having an active lifestyle by regularly exercising is one of the most effective ways to lessen inflammation in the body. This inflammation signals the breakdown of elastin and collagen, which result in saggy, unhealthy, and less firm skin. So, when you regularly exercise, you also allow your skin to be equipped to reverse the early signs of ageing.
The American Heart Association recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity weekly, or a combination of both. This may include walking, weightlifting, and more. Gradually start incorporating exercise into your daily routine and you’ll witness the difference.
The bottom line
It takes intentional actions, responsible daily decisions, and effective skincare products to keep your skin youthful, glowing, and firm. Start taking care of your skin early by heeding these eight tips.
You do your skin a favor the more you start early.
