I'm often asked how I maintain a youthful appearance, especially now that I'm turning 44 in just a few weeks. I have a few tips to share that make a big impact on skin appearance and overall health. We can actually do something about the way we age, and it's easy! Start today and see the results for yourself.

 

- Sleep with an eye mask or close the blinds when sleeping. When the sun comes up in the morning, our bedrooms are filled with light, and we probably don't want to get up just yet. This is a common source of the grooves that form between your eyes and the small lines in the corners of your eyes, which are partially caused by squeezing your brows together to block out the light while sleeping. A mask will also help you sleep if you're sensitive to any source of light, like the blue and red LEDs on many modern electronic devices. Cover up and sleep on!

 

- Always wear sunglasses in the daylight, even when it's overcast. Squinting is a major cause of the small lines that form around and under your eyes, and squinting generates forehead wrinkles. Squinting also contributes to the grooves that form between the brows. Sunglasses that extend around and below your eyes are best to give full eye protection. When outside, protect your eyes. You only get one pair!

 

- After showering and before bed, moisturize with organic, raw coconut oil, especially under the eyes and areas prone to wrinkling. This will keep your skin moist and supple. Organic coconut oil is 100% pure so you're not absorbing any toxins, and it's anti bacterial and anti viral. It even helps prevent sun spots and sun freckles from developing. And it's edible! Here is a great article on the natural powers of pure coconut oil. http://www.naturalnews.com/026624_oil_coconut.html#

 

- DO NOT SLEEP ON YOUR BELLY OR SIDE! I emphasis this more than any other behavior to prevent wrinkles on your face. I have avoided sleeping on my face for many years now and I attribute most wrinkle prevention to this. When you sleep on your face, your skin is being folded and creased between your cheeks and mouth, the cheeks and nose, the upper lips, forehead and around the eyes for 6-8 hours at a time. When you do this for many years, the lines may become irreversible as the tissue and fats are literally squeezed out of the wrinkled grooves. The solution is to sleep on your back and rest with your head to one side or the other. If you must sleep on your side, place your head on the edge of the pillow so that your head only comes into contact with your face from the ears back. Trust me, this is a MAJOR wrinkle prevention method and I swear by it. Sleep on it, but not on your face!

 

- Drink water. Our skin is primarily made of water and when we drink soda, alcohol and sugary drinks, we're introducing a lot of acid into our system, which weakens skin elasticity, causes acne and makes skin more prone to wrinkles. Sunken, dark eyes are a great indicator of water under-consumption and skin health. Drink up!

 

- Avoid soaps and chemicals that dry out the skin. Skin is meant to have oils. When you dry out your skin, you are losing suppleness and elasticity. Exfoliating with hot water on a washcloth is a great way to clear out pores and get skin oils to flow, while preventing dryness. Hot water and exfoliation will do the job.

 

- Stay out of the sun. I know! Who wants to be a ghost... Sunscreens are full of chemicals and your skin is the major organ of your body. Skin is porous and you absorb whatever you put on it. Sunscreens block dangerous UV rays, but the compromise is lathering up your body with toxins that build up in your system - There are no distinctive, long term studies that show just how this will affect our health in the future, but we do not to wait for science to tell us how to take care of ourselves. Cancer is rampant in our culture and we need to be very aware of what we can do for prevention and avoid putting obvious toxins in and on our body. We are what we eat, and we are what we put on our skin. Cover up and limit your sun exposure.

 

- Avoid sugar! Sugar is a major cause of acne. Acne starts cause beneath the skin when yeasts and bacteria form in pores fed by sugars, just like in the fermentation of wine when grape skin yeasts consume the sugars inside the grape. It takes a few days to see the results of sugar removal from your diet, and you will definitely notice skin changes within a few days after a major sugar intake. Sugar isn't a material we ingest in most healthy foods and the way we now consume it in concentrated forms is wreaking havoc on our system with diabetes, weight gain, acne and cancer, which thrives in the acidic environment that sugar creates in our body. Just say no to sugar!

 

- NO SMOKING! We won't even discuss this toxic topic. We all know what smoking does to our skin and body, and it's bad bad bad! : /

 

- Stop smiling! I jest, but smiling does contribute to eye wrinkles. Happy people tend to have more fine lines around their eyes, but I would never suggest you stop smiling. Instead, just laugh a little more on the inside. ;)~

 

These are a few methods you can easily embrace to change your skin health and limit aging of your skin and face. Best of all, it's entirely within your great power of choice to make changes in your life and take care of you!

 

Ommmmmm 😊