By Donna V. Scaglione
If you’ve looked in the mirror lately you’ve probably noticed your skin isn’t what it used to be. As we age our bodies make less elastin and collagen, which give skin resilience, strength, and suppleness. Also, skin becomes thinner and more fragile and transparent. Lines and wrinkles become more pronounced and skin sags. Time in the sun, lifestyle habits, stress levels, heredity, and even sleep position affect the condition of our skin. While we can’t stop the aging process, we can help our skin look and feel better as the years pass. Here’s how.
1. Don’t smoke
If you smoke you are speeding up your skin’s aging process, to say nothing of your increased cancer risk. The nicotine in cigarettes causes your skin to wrinkle because it narrows the blood vessels in skin’s outermost layers, hindering blood flow there, MayoClinic.com explains. This robs skin of all the nutrients and oxygen it needs. What’s more, the 4,000-plus chemicals in tobacco smoke damage your all-important collagen and elastin, leading to premature wrinkling and sagging. Also, the repeated lip pursing and eye squinting you do with every puff likely adds to wrinkling as well, the website says.
While this damage is irreversible, you can keep it from worsening and prevent more from occurring by quitting ASAP.
