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At the end of winter, skin can be dull, dry and lackluster. While there are many ways that you can help to combat this throughout the winter, once the damage has been done it's even more important to fight back and give your skin some attention. Three simple steps you can take to rejuvenate your tired winter skin with ease are as follows:
1. DRINK WATER. the average American is in a constant state of dehydration. This is partially because many people don't know what their daily required water intake is. The simplest way to calculate this is to divide your current body weight by two and drink that many ounces per day. for example, if you weigh 140 lbs you should be drinking 70 ounces of water a day. It is no easy feat for most people to drink over a half a gallon of water a day, but it is vital to the health and normal functioning of your cells. Make sure to keep a silicone wrapped glass water bottle with you at all times, like those found here http://www.mybkr.com/index.asp. We recommend glass because of all the yucky chemicals leached out of plastic, and sometimes even metal bottles. If you find you're having trouble drinking enough water, try a bottle with a straw for delivery, because it is often easier to drink more when we drink out of a straw.
2. SLEEP. your skin needs sleep to go into repair and rejuvenation mode. During the day we are coming into contact with numerous environmental pollutants and free radical creators that can cause damage to the skin. When we sleep, our body kicks into repair mode to deal with the damage and ensure that it doesn't stick around for longer than we can handle. This is incredibly important. On average, we should be getting 8 hours of sleep per night. The best hours for sleeping are those that line up with our natural circadian rhythms, during the hours of darkness. This is obviously not always possible, but if you can watch the sun go down, go to bed shortly after and wake to watch the sunrise, you will find you have increased energy overall and your body will maximize its renewal processes. Plus, your skin will glow like you've never seen.
3. EXFOLIATE AND MOISTURIZE. As your body goes through the cycle of cellular renewal, the new cells that are created, the living cells, push the old cells to the surface of the skin. During this process the old cells die, and in fact, the outer 3 layers of your epidermis are comprised of dead skin cells. in order to ensure that the skin remains healthy and clear, it is important to slough off the dead skin cells regularly so they do not clog your pores and inhibit the absorption of moisture. Another major benefit to exfoliation is the stimulation of your cellular renewal factor, or the speed at which your cells turn over to create new living cells. as we age, our cellular renewal factor slows, taking as long as 65 days or more to go through a cycle. This is the reason our skin starts to show the signs of aging, so anything we an do to help stimulate the process will be of benefit in our fight against wrinkles. After exfoliating it is equally important to apply a toner to re-balance the pH of the skin and a moisturizer to provide the skin with protection from the elements. My favorite moisturizers are natural oils, which are host to numerous vitamins and minerals which are important to the health of the skin. Jojoba oil is closest to our skins natural moisturizer, sebum,
As much as we might like to travel to the tropics for the winter, it's important to make sure we are taking the necessary steps we are able to in order to prevent the damaging and aging effects of the dry weather. With the end of winter coming, moisture will start to return to the air and our skin will start to glow again!
XoXo,
