There’s no need to look your age when you can rejuvenate and protect your skin naturally.

HOW OLD IS YOUR SKIN? Chronology isn’t the best measure of skin’s health and good looks, because the rate at which skin ages is significantly influenced by genetics, lifestyle habits and environment. Nutrition and exercise, exposure to sun or smog, and your skin care regimen all influence skin’s appearance. Thus, even if you feel younger than ever, it’s possible that your complexion could be getting old before its time.

But there’s good news for those who want to look as good on the outside as they feel on the inside, because, "You don’t have to look your age," says Doris J. Day. Day is a medical doctor, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the New York University Medical Center, and author of Forget the Facelift. "Your skin’s health and resiliency can be decades younger than the number of candles on your last birthday cake," she affirms.

What makes skin age?
While DNA’s role in how skin matures might be around 30 percent, the remaining factors are environmental. "It really is rooted in diet, how we handle stress, how we rest or sleep, and our exposures to environmental toxins," observes Dr. Andrew Weil, director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and author of Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being. Poor sleeping and eating habits, along with exposure to sunlight, chemicals or smoke, can lead to the formation of free radicals, those unstable molecules that capture oxygen and release cell-damaging electrons, explains physician Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She notes that free radicals break down the skin’s vital support structures— namely, collagen and elastin—which leads to premature aging. Environmental and lifestyle factors also can trigger chronic, low-grade inflammation, increasing the number of free radicals and infiltrating your complexion with harmful chemicals. "Micro-inflammation can’t be seen or felt, but goes on all the time," says Dr. Nicholas Perricone, an adjunct professor of medicine at Michigan State University and author of The Wrinkle Cure. Fortunately, it is possible to forestall the aging process and prevent further skin damage. With the right approach, you may also be able to diminish problems that have already occurred. "No matter what your genes have to offer you in terms of your complexion, if you take care of it, you can have beautiful skin that will stay young," Day declares.

Click Here to find out how to make your youthful looks last.

Source: by Stacey Colino