How To Keep Skin Healthy: Top 11 Tips For Healthy Skin

How To Keep Skin Healthy: Top 11 Tips For Healthy Skin

When it comes to overall health, one of the most important, yet often under-prioritized areas, is skin health. Like your heart and liver, your skin is a living body of cells that can burn, injure, and repair itself. Your body works constantly to keep its skin as healthy as possible and it needs the proper nutrition to continue to do so. In the following article, we outline and discuss our top tips for maintaining healthy skin.

What Does Healthy Skin Look Like?

Before we begin discussing our best tips for skin health, we'll need to outline and discuss what exactly healthy skin looks like. In general, skin with a clear complexion that is not blemished by excessive zits and acne is defined as healthy. However, there are many cases in which skin may look healthy but still require treatment. Here are a few common signs that your skin is healthy and functioning as it is supposed to:

  • Your skin doesn't have dark patches
  • Your skin is not red
  • Your skin has a smooth texture
  • You don't have excessive acne

How To Keep Your Skin Healthy

Keeping your skin healthy has been shown to have the following benefits:

  • Keeps fluids in the body and skin
  • Prevents dehydration
  • Keeps organs, blood, and nerves healthy

Here are our top tips for keeping your skin healthy, radiant, and full of moisture.

1. Drink More Water

Most people underestimate the benefits drinking adequate water has on skin health. Like other organs, the health of your skin is inextricably tied to your overall health, which is heavily influenced by your water intake. Drinking water is one of the most popular and effective ways to maintain consistently healthy skin.

2. Eat Foods High In Healthy Fats

When it comes to fats, some people are quick to assume that eating more fats will lead to weight gain and high blood pressure. This, however, is only the case if one ingests too much saturated fat and sugar. In fact, healthy fats have been shown to boost skin health by promoting the action of omega-6 fatty acids, which serve as building blocks in collagen and skin cells. Research also suggests that eating more fat can help you skin ward off damage from ultraviolet rays caused by excessive exposure to the sun. To revamp your diet to include more healthy fats, we recommend checking out our blog where we list 11 of the most nutritious high fat foods, including almonds, walnuts, and more!

3. Apply Sunscreen Daily

Most people apply copious amounts of sunscreen when they go to the beach or the pool, but few put it on every day. Although you may not feel the need to do so, applying sunscreen every day can help keep your skin healthy. This is because sunscreen reduces your risk for skin cancer and other harmful conditions, including . For most people, applying one ounce of sunscreen across the entire body should be enough coverage to last a few hours in the sun.

Curious about the other benefits of sunscreen? Feel free to check out our blog on the benefits of sunscreen, its uses, and popular brands here.

4. Try Using Collagen Supplements

Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. In addition to supporting skin health, it also works to keep hair and nails full, healthy, and rich. Most collagen supplements contain amino acids, which have been shown to promote hair and nail growth. There are 28 different types of collagen supplements, although four types are more common than others. The most popular types of collagen include:

Type 1: This is the most abundant type of collagen, found in all connective tissue

Type 2: This type is found in joints and intervertebral discs

Type 3: Type 3 collagen is the main building block of reticular fibers, which are found in the skin and blood vessels

Type 4 collagen is abundant in the kidneys and ears.

Foods That Contain Collagen 

As previously stated, collagen is a naturally occurring substance that can be found in myriad places besides supplements. In many cases, a person's diet may determine their collagen levels and skin health more so than their supplement intake. The foods known to contain the highest amounts of collagen include the following:

  • Bone Broth
  • Chicken
  • Pork
  • Fish
  • Foods high in vitamin C such as broccoli, oranges, and bell peppers

5. Increase Your Antioxidant Intake

It's no secret that antioxidant are extraordinary supplements, working to improve digestive system function and ward off disease, among other functions. Their role in maintaining skin health is equally astonishing, as an increased daily antioxidant intake has been shown to protect the body from harmful free radical substances.

These antioxidants are naturally-occurring elements that work by sharing electrons with free radical elements. By doing so, antioxidants are able to stabilize and reduce the effectiveness of many popular free radicals found in smoke, pollutants, and ultraviolet rays. The most common antioxidants that are most beneficial for your skin include:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin E
  • Lutein
  • Catechins

6. Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Reducing your sugar intake can help improve your skin's tone, texture, and moisture. Sugar aggravates common skin conditions such as acne and zits because of its relationship to insulin production. When you consume too much sugar, your body releases large amounts of insulin to keep your blood sugar from rising. While this insulin keeps your blood sugar down, it also triggers oil glands to increase their production. Eventually, this excess oil finds its way to the surface of the skin and develops into acne.

7. Take Vitamins For Skin

Your skin needs the appropriate balance of vitamins and nutrients to serve its purpose as a protective barrier for your body. Without adequate nutrients, skin can become thin, dry, and infected. The best vitamins for skin health include the following:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin C
  • Zinc
  • Selenium

To bring out the best skin possible, you will want to take the right balance of vitamins and nutrients. We recommend a daily intake of the following vitamins and nutrients:

  • Vitamin A: 900mg for men, 700mg for women
  • Vitmain C: 90mg for men, 75mg for women
  • Zinc: 11mg for men, 8mg for women
  • Selenium: 55mg for men and women

8. Keep Stress In Check

Have you ever been in the middle of a stressful week, burdened with countless meetings and responsibilities? You wake up and look in the bathroom mirror to find your face has broken out with small red dots and blisters.

This is actually quite common. Stress is known to be one of the most common triggers of acne. In fact, one study found that college students who reported feeling high levels of stress were over twice as likely to experience skin issues such as:

  • Hair loss
  • Scaly skin
  • Itchy skin
  • Acne
  • Hand rashes

9. Keep Your Skin Moisturized

The ninth tip on our list calls back to the first, but keeping skin consistently moisturized requires much more than drinking enough water. Even people who drink more than 100 ounces of water per day can experience dry, flaky skin in the right conditions. In other cases, skin becomes dry due to genetic factors, infection, or disease.

The American Academy Of Dermatology recommends the following tips to help keep skin moisturized and healthy:

  • Use warm water instead of hot water while showering
  • Pat skin gently when drying
  • Wear non-irritating clothes that are not too tight
  • Avoid getting too close to hot things that can dry out skin
  • Stay away from harsh scrubs, brushes, or washcloths

10. Take Care Of Your Gut

Research shows that underlying gut issues can cause blemishes and excessive flushing on the skin. Gut health can be a complicated and confusing subject but a here is a general guide to follow: anything that's not healthy for your gut (like processed food) is probably also not the best for your skin.

11. Avoid Harmful Products

Certain hair and skin products may be advertised as helpful, but can actually be harmful to skin and its health. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that the average person uses more than 5 skincare products every day. As such, its no secret that we apply a lot of different ingredients to our skin. Unfortunately, some of these supposedly healthy products and ingredients are not as helpful as they are advertised to be. Look out for the following ingredients and elements when perusing the skincare section at your local store:

  • Parabens
  • Carbon Black
  • Oxybenzone
  • Petroleum Jelly
  • Formaldehyde

How To Keep Skin Healthy And Glowing In Winter

The colder temperatures and harsh climates brought on by winter can damage and dry out skin across the body. To keep skin healthy during the year's coldest months, we recommend applying a thick, moisturizing lotion to the affected areas 2-3 times a day. It is also important to keep skin from being exposed to cold temperatures for extended periods of time.

How To Keep Skin Healthy: Summary

Skin health is essential to your overall well being; your skin works as a protective layer that keeps harmful substances away from internal organs. To maintain skin health we recommend reducing sugar intake, applying sunscreen and collagen supplements, and enhancing your diet with vitamins and nutrients.

 

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