4 Life Hacks to (really) Improve Your Skin

People adopt a new diet or fitness routine to meet several goals, but these decisions rarely take skin into consideration. While skin care such as lotions, potions, serums, masks, professional peels, and facials are all intended to enhance the skin from the outside, skin health is impacted heavily from the inside as well through nutrition, hydration, and exercise.

The last decade has seen a record rise in health awareness, and some of the most popular fitness trends play a direct role (both good and bad) in the health of the skin. When choosing new things to include in your life it is important to make well-informed decisions so here is some inside information on these specific health trends:

Hot Yoga

Yoga has numerous benefits but, hot yoga can often have negative side effects. Hot yoga usually takes place in studios heated up to 90 degrees or more, the idea is that performing yoga in high temperatures will increase flexibility and aid in weight loss. In normal conditions, working up a sweat can be a great aid in maintaining healthy skin. Sweat produces “dermacide,” a natural antibiotic is produced by your sweat, that can kill harmful bacteria or reduce the effects of impurities and chemicals on your face. However, the extreme heat that’s maintained in many hot yoga studios can take the body’s natural mechanisms to their breaking point. Humidity in hot Yoga also prevents the sweat from evaporating from our body. Harmful heat levels can not only make your skin more prone to breakouts but can cause heat rashes that make your skin swell, flush and itch in pain, waking up melanin cells which cause brown spots. When experimenting with hot yoga make sure to take precautions.

Juicing

Juicing is one of the more complicated diets to come out in the past few years. The key ingredients in the most popular juice recipes can be fantastic for the skin – they’re packed with vitamins and antioxidants which contribute to smooth and strong skin. When implemented into a healthy diet, juicing becomes very beneficial for overall health. However, for many people, juicing has become more than a healthy indulgence – it’s become a lifestyle – and that’s when juicing becomes unhealthy. When juicing becomes a replacement for regular food, you run the risk of absorbing too many vitamins and not enough calories. Excessive vitamin intake can cause various skin problems. One of them is carotenemia which causes the skin to turn orange from consuming too many veggies with carotene. Carrots are the most common vegetable associated with this disorder, but many veggies and fruits contain carotene. Juicing diets also lack important nutrients like calcium, protein, vitamin D, and essential fats. This can lead to problems such as hair loss to dry and wrinkled skin. When juicing it is important to make sure that it is supplemented with essential nutrients.

HIIT/ High-Intensity Interval Training

HIIT advocates short bursts of extreme movement – an ideal session lasting less than 10 minutes. There are many exercises that fit into the HIIT category, but when it comes to our skin, they all have their benefits. HIIT workouts can get our heart and lungs pumping faster than long gym sessions, which can increase oxygen flow, and boosting our capacity to produce our own antioxidants, providing the necessary nutrients to our skin more quickly. Studies have shown that positive metabolic activity can be maintained for even two days after exercising. Another benefit of HIIT is that encourages natural and healthy sweating cycles, unlike hot yoga.

The Gluten-Free Diet

Like all diets, you should consult a health professional before becoming a devotee. However, staying gluten-free is probably one of the safer options as far as skin goes. A common skin condition that’s often passed down through family, psoriasis is chronic and hard to manage. However, the swelling that’s associated with the disorder has been shown to be connected to gluten and can be helped by cutting out gluten. Outside of psoriasis, gluten has also been linked to numerous skin problems such as red cheeks and general inflammation. Wheat, especially processed bread, can advance aging effects like wrinkles and sagging skin.

As always, do research and stay educated as you look to enhance your diet and fitness lifestyle instead of blindly following health trends.  Or ask Christie Brinkley. I am sure plastic surgery can fix it.