5 tips for healthier skin

Your skin is your first layer of defense against the outside world. Learn to take good care of your skin, so your skin can keep taking good care of you.

1) Protect your skin from the sun.
The best way to prevent early signs of aging is to protect yourself from sunlight. The sun can damage and age your skin quickly. Ninety percent of fine lines are caused by sun exposure, which makes sunscreen the ultimate ingredient for younger-looking skin. Use an SPF 30 or higher daily. Apply the sunscreen 15 minutes before heading outdoors, as it takes a while for sunscreen to activate. Up to 80% of UV light can penetrate clouds, so sunscreen is still important on a cloudy day.

2) Stay hydrated.
Staying properly hydrated is necessary for your overall health. Not only does water play an important role in your digestion and circulation, but it’s also vital for your skin’s health and beauty. Without adequate water intake, skin appears duller, and wrinkles and pores more prominent. Proper hydration helps the skin become plump and improves its elasticity, meaning it’s less likely to crack and have irritations and blemishes.
Most people should drink half their weight in ounces daily.

3) Don’t smoke or drink.
When we talk about skin aging, we’re really talking about collagen or, more accurately, a lack thereof. Pretty much every desirable characteristic of healthy skin comes down to collagen content. The more collagen protein we have, the firmer, plumper and healthier our skin looks. But as we age, our collagen production drops off, and the collagen we already have starts to break down. Smoking, drinking and UV exposure causes the collagen production to decline even faster causing wrinkles, loss of plumpness and loss of fullness. Taking collagen peptide powders daily can also help decrease collagen loss.

4) Don’t skip the serums.
If there’s one step in our daily skin-care regimens we dare not skip, it’s applying serum. Serums are the best way to deliver a highly-concentrated, potent dose of active ingredients to the skin. Whether it’s antioxidants, hyaluronic acid, peptides, botanical agents or any number of other ingredients, serums can carry smaller molecules deep into the skin, where they exert the most benefit.

5) You are what you eat.
Your diet is important to healthy skin. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. Research suggests a diet rich in fish oil or fish-oil supplements and low in unhealthy fats and processed or refined carbohydrates can promote younger-looking skin. Once you make changes to your diet, don’t expect an overnight miracle. It takes 6-8 weeks for new skin to emerge, so the visible benefits from dietary changes will take time.

At Maricopa Wellness Center, we care about your health and skin. We offer collagen peptide, collagen serum and sunscreen, and our skin-care products and supplements are professional-strength and medical-grade resulting in higher efficacy and ingredient concentrations. Our products are produced in the United States with no added fillers.
Maricopa Wellness Center sunscreens contain zinc oxide. Zinc provides the skin physical broad-spectrum coverage from UVA (aging rays) and UVB (burning rays).

Maricopa Wellness Center’s collagen peptide contains a unique blend of three patented collagen peptides supported by clinical research showing their efficacy for supporting collagen production to help strengthen bones and joints, and improve skin elasticity.
MW Skincare’s Liquid Collagen Serum is clinically proven to deliver equivalent results to one injection of collagen filler in just two weeks of regular use. It delivers an 85% increase in hyaluronic acid synthesis and a decrease in skin laxity of 50% after four weeks.

For persistent skin conditions, talk to your provider. This article is provided for general information only and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your health-care professional. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your health care provider.

This story was first published in the September edition of InMaricopa magazine.