Your lifestyle and the environment directly affect your skin’s condition. Here are five factors and how you might counteract the negatives.
1: Winter Weather
Cold winter weather often causes many skin issues, including dry chapped hands and lips. Your skin may become itchy and flaky during our long, cold winter. Lack of moisture in the air—both indoors and outside—also drains moisture from your skin.
What you can do: Moisturize! Moisturize! Moisturize! And hydrate!! Cover up when you’re outside, and make sure to get out of wet clothing quickly. When you bathe, warm water is better for your skin than hot since hot water can further irritate and dry your skin.
2: It’s in the Air
Dust and pollutants can clog pores and make your skin appear dull. When we seal up our homes against the cold air, this further exacerbates certain skin issues.
What you can do: Smart and consistent skin care is your best defense! Use a gentle cleanser with warm water to remove dirt and oil. Then add a moisturizer that’s right for your skin type. Also, you may want to consider adding a hepa air purifier in your home to remove many airborne irritants.
3: Food Choices
Comfort foods seem like great ideas during the cold weather, but poor diet choices are not healthy for your body or your skin. Regardless of the temperatures on the thermometers, you need healthy fruits and vegetables that contain antioxidants to fight free radicals that may age your skin.
What you can do: Eat at least 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Add nuts and berries to your diet since many are rich in zinc and may help reduce inflammation. You’ll also want to decrease the amount of caffeine, sodium, sweets, and carbohydrates you consume.
4: Sun Exposure
Snow or none. Gloomy or sunny. Cold or even colder. No matter the weather outside, exposure to harmful UV rays will damage your skin, aging you faster than you want, and increasing your susceptibility to skin cancer.
What you can do: Always wear a broad spectrum sunscreen of SPF of 30 or higher that protects against UVA and UVB rays every day on all exposed skin. And, remember your lips. Make sure you use a lip balm or lipstick that has SPF.
5: Shut Eye
Skin looking dull? Acne flare-ups? Dark circles under your eyes? Lack of sleep may be the culprit.
What you can do: Do your skin and your overall health a favor and get adequate sleep each night.
The bottom Line
Be proactive in your skin care routine. Cleansing, moisturizing, eating a healthy diet, and getting enough sleep will help keep your skin looking it best.
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