10 Basic Anti Aging Beauty Tips

Who doesn’t want to stay younger forever! All women (and several men too!) are always on a lookout for anti aging beauty tips that can keep them younger. While aging gracefully is desirable, what’s the harm in looking younger than your age? If you too want to look younger than your age, here are some really helpful beauty tips for you.

There are actually two aspects for such evergreen youth:

1. Internal anti aging– Taking such anti aging measures that keep your body younger from inside. This includes, diet, exercise, meditation, and everything that you do to keep your inner body and mind ageless. This makes you beautiful from within, you can feel the fountain of youth inside yourself!
2. Outer ageless beauty– Making yourself beautiful from outside. This includes all the anti aging things you do for your skin, hair, teeth, hands, feet etc. so that you may look beautiful to others too.

So, here we go with all these anti aging beauty tips for you so that you may become ageless from inside as well as from outside.

These anti aging beauty tips will not only make your skin and hair glow with youthfulness but will also make you feel younger from within. First, we’ll look what you need to do inside your body.

Your body cells are made up of about 55% to 78% water. Think your body as a beautiful plant, one of the many you have planted in pots inside your house. What happens when you forget to water these plants for a day? Can you visualize the dried, limped looks of the plants? This is also what happens to your body cells when you do not drink enough water. Just as your plants freshen up and look happy after you water them, your body remains fresh and young when you hydrate it with water continuously. So, the first beauty mantra on anti aging is- drink water to prevent aging!

There’s one very important reason for drinking water for anti aging- as we age, our body’s water reserves dry out as compared to younger people. So, get into the habit of drinking more water every day.

What Happens When You Drink More Water For Anti Aging?

• Your joints remain flexible and healthy. Dehydrated joints plus age related wear and tear may lead to chronic pain in the spine, hands, or legs.
• Your heart remains disease free. lack of water in your body makes your blood thicker and toxic.
• Your memory remains intact and you remain alert. Dehydration leads to poor concentration, and memory as well as reduced alertness and cognition.
• You remain free from constipation.
• You have a glowing skin. Skin is made up of about 30% water. Dehydrated dry skin is more prone to get wrinkles.
• You flush out toxins with the help of water. If you don’t drink enough water, you may get innumerable diseases some of which can be listed as urinary tract infection, kidney and gall bladder stones etc.

Drink at least 3-4 liters of water every day and more in hot and humid weather or when you sweat a lot such as after exercising! Drink water and stay younger.

If I say exercise is the inner anti aging serum for your body, it won’t be an exaggeration! How does exercise slow down the aging process? There are at least two reasons for this (if not more!)- One, exercising slows down shortening of telomeres of your DNA and, two, it promotes the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

Exercise, Telomeres And Aging

Exercise works at your DNA level and slows down the aging process of your cells! Your cells have, among many other things, something called telomeres. These telomeres are actually tiny caps at the end of your DNA strands. They look like plastic aglets found on your shoelaces. Telomeres protect your DNA from damage that happens at the time of cell division and replication.

As you age, the telomeres situated at the end of your DNA strands get shorter. In fact, they get shortened at accelerated rate if are obese, smoke or suffer from insomnia, stress, diabetes or other lifestyle related diseases. This is called premature aging of cells. Now, if you exercise regularly, you can stop or at least, slow down the process of shortening of your telomeres. It has been proved by many researches that people who exercise regularly have longer telomeres than those who don’t. Thus, exercise is good for anti aging!

Exercise, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) And Aging

Human Growth Hormone (HGH), as the name suggests, plays significant role in the growth of body tissues. When we are young, we don’t have to think about this hormone. However, as we age, it starts decreasing inside our body. There are two factors that can help you release more HGH in your body- Exercise and Sleep!

When we exercise, our brain naturally releases Human Growth Hormone (HGH). But how is it anti aging? With aging, our body starts losing muscle mass and increases fat mass. That’s why, we look fatter in our middle age. When you exercise and make your brain release more HGH, your body will have more lean muscle tissue and less body fat. And thus, you’ll look younger.

How Is Exercising Anti Aging?

When you exercise regularly,

• you have more energy,
• your skin becomes clear and smooth
• your movements get more agile
• your brain becomes sharper
• your body gets firmer

What Exercises To Do For Anti Aging?

• Walking
• Jogging
• Swimming
• Cycling
• Pilates
• Tai Chi
• Yoga
• Dancing
• And because it is about anti aging, Facial exercises to reduce wrinkles

If you have read the previous anti aging beauty tip about exercising, you know why sleep is essential for slowing down the aging process. It boosts the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) in your body, just as exercising does.

A good sleep does these things to you:

• Boosts your immunity
• heals your body at cellular level by repairing damages done to the body cells. This also means repaired and smooth skin!
• helps regulate your metabolism
• regulates hormone levels
• keeps your memory intact

You thus, need to sleep well every day. It depends how much sleep does your body need and that’s different for every person. If you wake up and find yourself refreshed and rejuvenated, you can understand that you have slept well. If you don’t feel like leaving the bed, you haven’t slept well. If this is a regular feature with you and you cannot sleep well naturally or depend upon pills for sleeping, find ways to sleep better without sleeping pills. Because naturally sleeping is more beneficial as it doesn’t bring side effects with it but only youthfulness!

This is no brainer. What you eat is what you are! If you eat healthy, you’ll be healthy. If you eat junk, you’ll be just that. So, opt for healthy foods because they will help you slow down aging and will keep your skin younger by delaying the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. So, what is an anti aging diet. It is basically made up of anti-inflammatory foods. And what are these foods? These are the foods rich in anti-oxidants.

Foods rich in antioxidants fight off inflammation and prevent cellular damage by destroying free radicals in your body. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules transferred into your body by such things as stress, pesticides, chemicals, pollution and harmful sunrays. Free radicals in your skin cells cause collagen breakdown and you then get wrinkles. If you don’t fight off inflammation caused by free radicals, you may get various diseases because your immune system gets compromised due to such inflammation.

What Anti Aging Foods To Have?

Stick to organic foods, as far as possible. Have lots of foods that are rich in Omega 3 such as nuts and fish. You may also opt for vegan diet or macrobiotic diet. If you don’t want to get trapped in the diet jargons, have a look at the below list that contains simple foods that are anti aging too!

• Fruits
• Vegetables- all types and especially the leafy greens
• Nuts
• Fish
• Natural fats like those from coconut and olives, avocados etc.
• Whole grains
• Herbs and herb spices

The key is to have nutrition from lots of antioxidant food sources

Anti aging diet not only includes those foods that you must have, it also includes those that you must avoid.

Foods To Avoid

• Processed foods – avoid all artificial ingredients and additives. If it doesn’t grow naturally, don’t eat it- follow this simple rule to achieve your anti aging goals.
• Sugar- and also the artificial sugar substitutes. These are the most dangerous foods that lead to various diseases and also premature aging. Instead, have natural sweeteners like honey, jaggery, maple syrup etc.
• Salt- is one of the ingredients that leads to tremendous inflammation. Cut down on salt intake. You may also switch to rock salt like Himalayan pink salt which is rich in mineral content.
• Artificial fats- found in refined oils etc. Use cold-pressed oils like extra-virgin olive oil, oils made from seeds and nut such as mustard, sesame oil, and moderate amounts of coconut oil.

Avoid having fried and fast foods.

Have you ever wondered why so many laughter clubs have mushroomed in the past few years? Because laughter (and relaxation!) are anti-aging and anti-diseases. What more!  A study conducted by the American Heart Association in 2008 founded that laughter and relaxation may be the best medicine for your skin.

The study stated that relaxation and laughter can improve blood flow all through your body- organs, skin, face, neck, everywhere. Isn’t that a good news for all who are in a search of natural anti aging technique?

Need more reasons to laugh often?

• When you have a hearty laughter, you give a good workout to your abdomen, thus getting all the benefits of abdominal exercises without even doing them!
• Laughter relieves stress, and that’s no secret.
• It releases endorphins, the elements that make  you feel happier, content and relaxed.
• It also exercises your face muscles to keep those wrinkles at bay.

So, join a laughter club today itself! And adopt some other ways too and stay relaxed. Did you ask, how to stay relaxed and defy aging? Here are some ways to relax.

How To Relax To Stay Young?

• Breathe deeply
• Meditate
• Try progressive relaxation
• Visualize creatively
• Massage your body and face
• Spend some time alone
• Be in nature
• Do yoga
• Walk
• Listen to music
• Dance
• Smell some nice fragrances- flowers, essential oils, may also consider aromatherapy
• Be with a pet
• Go on vacation
• Be with friends
• Laugh, yes again, that’s the magic potion for anti aging!

Smoking not only affects your heart and lungs, it also leads to premature aging. Here’s how smoking can make you age faster:

• When you smoke too much or for too many years, you can have a ‘smoker’s face’.
• A smoker’s face makes your facial skin appear grayish and you develop lines and wrinkles around your eyes and mouth.
• You develop wrinkles all over your body because nicotine present in cigarettes is a vasoconstrictor. It decreases blood flow to vital organs like skin. This prevents availability of oxygen and important nutrients to skin. This further affects regeneration of skin cells and you look aged.
• Smoking may  affect your body’s ability to absorb two important anti aging vitamins, Vitamin A and C
•  The production of skin collagen and elastin gets heavily affected. This makes your skin look saggy and aged.

So, stop smoking, it is essential to stay young.

And how does alcohol affect aging?

• Alcohol dehydrates your body as it over-activates your kidney which excretes excessive water from your body. A dehydrated body develops wrinkles faster.
• As alcohol causes depletion of Vitamin A in your body, your skin and face looks grayish (read aged)
• Alcohol increases blood flow and dilates the tiny blood vessels lying close to epidermis, the outer layer of your skin. And sometimes, this happens in such volume that these vessels burst and give rise to broken capillaries on the face. Of course, your skin doesn’t look smooth.
• Alcohol promotes bloating and gives rise swollen face and puffiness around eyes. If you want to get rid of puffy eye bags and puffiness on face, limit your alcohol intake
• Alcohol also dehydrates your hair and make them weak and brittle. Bad hair is definitely not a sign of youthful appearance.

Once you work upon your inside, you will feel and look good and fresh. You can now also work upon your outside so that you may appear years younger than your age. This is also important because your skin keeps on growing forever and regenerates itself in about every 27 days. In this process, it sheds lot of dead skin. You must therefore take proper care of skin not only to remove these dead skin cells but also to keep it healthy so that all your organs stay intact from infections. After all, skin has this major work of protecting everything inside our bodies, from germs and infections. There are at least 5 steps to take proper care of your skin so that you can remain younger for years. You may call these the anti aging beauty tips for skin!

• Cleansing
• Exfoliating (deep cleansing)
• Moisturizing
• Protecting the skin from sun damage
• Providing balanced nutrition to your skin (this we have read in the earlier section where we talked about balanced and healthy diet. So, this part is essential for both, internal as well as external beauty)

There’s nothing new in this statement, you have heard and read it millions of times. But do you follow this? Do you wash your face or cleanse it every morning and night? That’s important.

Why Cleanse Face At Night?

Our skin goes through so much during the day that it needs proper cleaning. It faces pollution, exposure to various chemicals in the cosmetics you use, harmful sun rays, dust, dirt and what not! If you don’t wash your face at night with mild soap and water or a gentle cleanser, all the external pollutants will stay back there and give you wrinkles and other signs of aging.

When you sleep with your make up, it seeps down into your skin and give you clogged and enlarged pores. Clogged pores will give you acne and other skin un-friendly things. Enlarged pores will give you inflammation leading to free radicals, then collagen breakdown and ultimately, sagging skin. Once your collagen levels start reducing, it is very difficult for pores to come back in its original shape and form. So, take the needed step now and start washing your face twice, in the morning and at night.

Also, if you don’t cleanse your face at night before going to sleep, your skin couldn’t breathe and due to lack of oxygen, it cannot repair itself. It is at night that skin heals itself and if the process is hampered, it is not good for your skin as it will then lead to premature aging of skin cells. Cleansing is the inevitable part of any anti aging skin care routine.

Why Cleanse Face In The Morning?

At night, the skin cells repair themselves when you are fast asleep. In this process, when it de-toxifies the skin cells, it sheds a lot of dead skin. If you don’t clean them in the morning, your skin will look dull. And just rinsing your face with plain water doesn’t mean cleansing of skin. You need to use a mild soap or gentle cleanser to remove all those sticky dead skin.

How To Cleanse Your Face Morning And Night?

• Wash your face with mild soap and water. Use a soap that is suitable for your skin type
• Don’t use too much of soap though, just a little bit is enough to clean face. More of it will strip off the natural oil produced by skin.
• In place of soap, you can also use gentle cleansers. Naturals cleansers can also be used. They are safe and have no chemicals and as such your skin stays safe.
• Never use too hot or too cold water to wash face. Water at room temperature is best for washing face. In winters, you can use warm water but never use hot water.
• Don’t over wash, it will make your skin very dry.
• After washing, pat dry with soft towel. Don’t rub your skin.
• Apply moisturizer after every wash. If you have oily skin, you might not need a moisturizer or you may use oil free moisturizers.
• Once or twice a week, exfoliate your skin for deeper cleansing. Exfoliating is essential for anti aging!

Exfoliating is anti aging, perhaps one of the best ways to restore youthful glowing skin. With aging, your skin begins to become dull and lifeless due to excessive build-up of dead skin cells. Aging also brings dryness to skin due to natural water loss and breakdown of collagen forming process. This leads to appearance of all sorts of aging signs such as uneven, blotchy skin tone, blemishes, age spots, wrinkles and more. Exfoliation helps get rid of all these aging signs. How, you ask?

As you now know, skin sheds dead cells during many processes. All these dead skin cells, when not properly cleaned, get stuck to the epidermis, the outer layer of your skin. Even if you cleanse your face regularly, then also certain dead skin are stubborn and they do not go easily. Exfoliation is the only way to remove the stubborn dead skin cells and regain even toned, healthy youthful skin.

How To Exfoliate To Get Younger Smooth Skin?

Choose the exfoliating agent based on your skin type as well as what damages have already been done to your skin.

If you are buying some exfoliant, consider the following:

• If you have skin that has been damaged by sun, buy an exfoliant containing AHAs (alpha hydroxy acid like glycolic and lactic acids)
• If you have sensitive skin,  acne-prone skin, or skin with blackheads and enlarged pores, buy an exfoliant having BHAs (beta hydroxy acid or salicylic acid)
• The best policy is to go with natural exfoliating agents such as sea salt, sugar, oatmeal, baking soda, coffee, papaya, lemon juice, almonds etc. They are natural and have no artificial chemicals, thus, safe for your skin.

Exfoliating is good for anti aging but don’t overdo it, this can backfire. Start with exfoliating once a week. If you start getting a dull look after 3-4 days, increase the frequency to twice a week. One to two times a week is enough when  it comes to exfoliating skin.

Why does moisturizing your face matter when it comes to delay aging? Because your skin cannot work properly when it is dry and dehydrated just as your body cannot!

Imagine staying without drinking water for a day? How would you feel? Your skin feels the same when you don’t moisturize it. Moisturizing is nothing but hydrating your skin. Remember, your skin is made up of proteins, minerals, lipids and water. If you don’t provide it with lipid and water (read moisturize), you end up having dry, dull, skin having uneven patchy tone. When you drink enough water and moisturize your skin daily, the following happen:

• Skin cells can repair themselves faster
• fine lines and wrinkles don’t form
• skin looks plump and feels refreshed
• dullness of skin goes away
• itchiness is prevented
• and your make up looks flawless (just try applying makeup on dry dehydrated skin and see the difference!)

How To Moisturize For Anti Aging Purpose?

• Apply your regular moisturizer every time you wash face
• Moisturize face every night before going to bed, without fail. At night, the skin gets dehydrated due to trans-epidermal water loss. As skin temperature rises overnight, our skin loses significant amount of water during night time. So, moisturizing is essential to let your skin work naturally and repair itself overnight.
• After bathing, moisturize your face and body within three minutes. During this time, your skin is most efficient in absorbing moisture. This will allow your skin remain hydrated all day long.
• Make daily moisturizing a habit and get a youthful younger looking skin in return. Try to use natural moisturizers over commercial ones. They are safe without any artificial chemicals. And here’s how to do daily moisturizing naturally.

Protecting your skin from sun is not only essential to prevent sunburn and skin cancer but also to prevent pre-mature aging of skin. A research study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that daily application of sunscreen helps prevent signs of photo aging. To be precise, you don’t get fine lines, wrinkles and coarseness in skin when you apply sunscreen daily. So how to protect yourself against sun damage. There are two ways, and you need to do both. One, apply sunscreen daily and two, adopt other sun protection measures (you’ll get tips here after we talk about what and how to use sunscreen)

How To Use Sunscreen To Neutralize Aging Effects?

• Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen as it protects against both UVA and UVB radiation.
• Use water resistant sunscreen
• Buy one that has sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher. This will also protect you against skin cancer.
• Apply generous amount of sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before going out
• Reapply every 2-3 hours and after every 1 hour if you sweat too much or if you are swimming

Other Sun Protection Measures

• Avoid being in sun between 10 AM to 4 PM. If that’s not possible, walk in shade or use umbrella
• Use protective clothing like hat, scarves etc. wear long sleeve shirts and pants when the sun intensity is high
• Wear sunglasses to prevent crow’s feet and sunburns around eye area

Facial massage helps promote healthy skin while relaxing your facial muscles. It has a relaxing and rejuvenating effect, helping you look and feel better. Whether you want to use facial massage purely for relaxation or to treat a specific condition, there are plenty of techniques to try.

Why Facial Massage is Anti-Aging?

Because we are talking about facial massage here, let’s know why massage given to your face may slow down your aging process!

• Facial massage prevents wrinkles
• Facial Massage increases blood flow
• Facial Massage decreases sagging
• Facial Massage lifts face instantly
• Facial Massage detoxifies to give a brighter glowing face

To read more about the facial massage:  Top 5 Anti Aging Benefits of Facial Massage

Take a minute every night to massage in your skincare products, which in turn helps to lift your facial muscles. Do circular motions with the fingertips in opposite directions on each hand, this encourages elasticity and breaks the pattern of tension helping prevent a degeneration of the tissues.