Life takes a toll on our bodies and skin. The natural aging process, environmental factors, and lifestyle factors all affect our skin. As we get older, we start to see more wrinkles, spots, and sagging skin. While we can’t prevent our skin from aging, we can delay it. Some lifestyle changes can help our skin, and do you know what’s great about them – they are under our control!

4 Lifestyle Factors that Damage Our Skin

Too Much Sun and Using Tanning Beds

While the sun feels good and many of us enjoy the look of a nice tan, the sun can cause a lot damage to our skin. From wrinkles to spots to cancer, the sun’s rays have the potential to harm. Also, the sun and tanning beds can actually speed up the aging process.

How does the sun cause skin damage? The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light damages and breaks down elastin, a type of fiber in our skin. Elastin helps skin return to its normal shape after being pinched or stretched. Therefore, when elastin is damaged, our skin starts to sag and wrinkle. It also loses its elasticity (the ability to return to normal after being stretched).

Make sure to protect your skin from the sun. In order to limit exposure to UV light, use the correct sunscreen and cover up with hats and clothing.

Swimming Too Much

If you frequent the swimming pool often, you may notice that the chlorine has an effect on your hair and skin. Chlorine can dry out your skin by stripping your skin of its natural oils. Your skin may also feel tight and itchy. After you finish swimming, make sure to rinse the chlorine off as soon as possible. Then add lotions or oils to re-hydrate your skin.

Long Hot Showers

Despite how much we love our hot showers, they can be damaging to our skin. Hot showers can soften our skin’s natural oils, and soap can further strip away this barrier. While removing some of this oil helps reduce body odor, our natural oils help moisturize our skin. Long hot showers take away too much of the oils, causing dry and itchy skin.

To prevent these problems, consider taking shorter showers (less than 10 minutes long) and keeping the water at a lukewarm temperature. Once you finish showering, apply a moisturizer to re-hydrate the skin.

Smoking

Smoking is very damaging to the skin. Smoking cigarettes impairs the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the skin. This can cause premature aging in the skin – such as wrinkles and dry skin. The more cigarettes you smoke and the length of time you have been smoking increases your risk for premature aging. Additionally, smoking doesn’t just cause wrinkles in the face. It can cause wrinkles on other parts of the body as well.

Skin Rejuvenation Treatments

All of these factors and more contribute to dry skin, wrinkles, and aging. However, there are many effective skin rejuvenation treatments to counter these effects. At Apex Medical Spa, we offer skin and facial treatments such as microneedling, Botox, Juvederm, and Kybella to help you look younger. If you are looking for local Las Vegas skin rejuvenation treatments, call us for a consultation!