CC Image courtesy of Christian Feichtner via Flickr.
One of the best anti-aging secrets is also one of the simplest: make sure that you are well hydrated. Dehydrated skin appears older, wrinkles are more prominent, and dark circles stand out more. In short, if you’re not hydrating properly, your skin won’t look luminous, youthful, and all of those other marketing buzzwords. So, how do you hydrate? Let’s start with the things that can cause your body to go into dehydration mode – prevention is the best medicine!
You probably knew about some of those things, but the one that often puzzles people are the fact that protein can be dehydrating. If you are on a high protein diet, your body has to work harder to get rid of all that nitrogen (part of protein) according to this Huffington Post article. It’s also a good idea not to wash your face or body with scalding hot water (even though it may feel good during the winter months). What about the rest of those dehydrating factors? What can you do?
Prior to exercise of any kind, increase your water intake drastically. Also, make sure that you hydrate during and after exercise. The same thing goes for being outside on a really hot day – bring water with you! As for alcohol, cutting back never hurts, but you can still have a few social drinks while staying hydrated – the trick is to order one glass of water for every drink that you have. All of these things will help prevent dehydration, but you can also increase hydration in a number of ways too.
What you put into your body is reflected on the outside of your body. So it makes sense that some foods and liquids increase hydration. Here are some foods that you should consume regularly in order to increase hydration:
If you find that you eat and drink all of these things and are still dehydrated, air quality could have something to do with it too. If it’s dry in your home, purchasing a humidifier will work wonders. And while you can’t do anything about pollution, you can try to protect your skin from the elements by wearing sunscreen and staying out of that harsh sunlight. Some experts believe that water quality impacts hydration too.
If your sipping city water, you may want to buy a filter or try a filtering water bottle (really convenient!). Another thing that you can do to stay hydrated is to spritz purified water on your body during those warmer months. You can buy a water bottle at any pharmacy, and fill it with pure spring water. The trick is to make sure that your body stays hydrated at all times, and if you do find that you are dehydrated often, try and find out what’s causing the problem. Increase your daily water, fruit, and vegetable intake, and see if that helps the issue. If not, the humidity levels in your home may be to blame.
At Athena salon and spa, we have a number of amazing spa treatments to help you out with hydration, and to help you look younger. One of our most popular treatments is microdermabrasion, which stimulates and exfoliates the tissue beneath the skin in order to give skin a firmer appearance. Another popular treatment we offer is our Express Facial, which gives skin that rejuvenated look often needed after a really long winter!
But, those two spa services aren’t the only things we have up our sleeves. We know how important hydration is, and we know how to make your skin looks its best at any age. If you feel like your skin is looking tired and worn these days, book an appointment with one of our experts – and make sure to try one of the hydration tips mentioned above. Often, skin that appears to be aging quickly isn’t really aging that rapidly at all when dehydration is to blame!
What are your hydration tips?
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