Most of us are all too familiar with that “dreaded” internal clock that wakes us at 7:00 AM on the weekend, despite our desire to sleep in. We fail to appreciate that this internal clock is part of a natural body rhythm that can dramatically impact our skin.

Scientific studies have revealed that our skin’s biological functions follow “circadian cycles” which vary over the course of a 24 hour period. In the skin’s biological clock, epidermal cell renewal and the permeability of the skin are both highest during the night.

The trick to good skincare is taking advantage of this knowledge and utilizing it to enhance our skin’s health. Because the permeability of the skin is higher at night, more water loss naturally occurs at night. Consequently, a moisturizer that offers greater skin permeability and prevents water loss, should be applied before bedtime, to ensure moist, hydrated skin.

To provide the greatest effectiveness, a moisturizer should meet two tests. First, it should contain certain natural ingredients that have been specially formulated to be easily accepted by the skin. Green tea compounds, for example, are a must for today’s moisture creams, as these compounds are seen by many scientists as skin cell rejuvenators.

Secondly, moisture cream should contain the latest silicone technology. Silicone molecules in a moisture cream provide a more even coverage than the molecules in hydrocarbon-based moisturizers by forming a sheet of hydration over the skin.

We sleep for approximately one-third of our lives, so let’s make our sleep useful by developing good sleep habits and utilizing products that rebuild skin while we sleep. With ingredients that are formulated to work on a sub-cellular level and provide extra hydration to your skin, you’ll be working with your skin’s natural rhythms.

Copyright 2005 Alpha Ward-Burns

Alpha Ward-Burns is a cancer survivor and co-founder of Skin Solved, a skincare company devoted to achieving healthy skin through the use of scientifically advanced skincare with natural ingredients. You may contact Alpha at http://www.skinsolved.com

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Staggering amounts of money are spent daily on cosmetics and skin care products that promise to lift, firm and tighten our faces. How many of us use a product for just a few weeks before purchasing yet another product? Do we jump from item to item because we really don’t see a visible improvement and we feel disappointed in the results?

The ads are so compelling and we want to believe that we can look younger and healthier just by topically applying the latest and greatest discovery. Maybe that will happen one day but for most of us, using certain skincare items and cosmetic aids has not been helpful in the long-term because Mother Nature continues to tromp across our faces causing us to look older.

When we look at our faces in a mirror, if we’re over 40, the aging we see isn’t usually about wrinkles. The aging we see is looseness in our skin; maybe we see tired, sagging eyelids developing or a deepening nose to mouth fold or line. Our jaw probably isn’t quite as distinguished as it was a few years back as it slides downward into the neck. Maybe this face is beginning to resemble your older relatives.

Is your face puffy and would you like to see it have more contours? No skin care or cosmetic product that can do that. Even dieting cannot produce the firm, toned, youthful face you remember in your 20’s; in fact, dieting alone may deplete the fat underneath the skin making you look older than your years.

There are several avenues to address a droopy face but only one solution.

Many men and women seek plastic surgery to help correct signs of aging. Facelifts, eye lifts, and brow lifts are prevalent but they are only a temporary solution. The risk involved to one’s health and bank account is dreadful. Infection, loss of sensation, slow healing time and unexpected outcomes are just a few potential complications one can experience from surgical procedures.

Another temporary avenue available is injected fillers that plump up the skin where there is creasing or a sunken appearance. Some injectables paralyze the muscles, relaxing the skin so wrinkles are less apparent. These expensive fillers are being injected at an alarming rate and the patients seeking treatments are younger than ever. Even though these fillers may temporarily ease the look of aging, the results will not last and will need to be repeated many, many times over a lifetime. These fillers only mask aging and the user will continue to experience sagging facial muscles.

So what is the secret to stop an aging face? It’s exercise - Facial Exercise. Just like the body responds to Pilates, weight training, sit ups, etc., your face will look younger and healthier with exercise.

Just any old exercise won’t do; isometric and resistance type exercises work for your face just like exercise works for the body. Facial muscles need exercise; the motions and movements we make daily aren’t considered exercise because there is no resistance. No matter if you’re singing, yawning or yelling; these movements aren’t sufficient to create a younger looking face. The reason is that facial muscles attach to bone on one end and the other end of the muscle weaves over and under other muscles. It is only when special anchoring techniques are applied that a contraction can be caused in the muscle or muscle group; this contracting motion then allows the muscles to become fuller, plumper and more youthfully positioned. This action lifts the face.

Imagine applying these techniques for a few weeks and looking 10-15 years younger without invasive or costly procedures. You create the look of a face lift and save a ton of money with no risk to your health or your savings. You can keep the aging process in abeyance, feel revitalized, and look healthier and younger just by exercising your face a few minutes each day.

Cynthia Rowland is widely recognized as an expert in all-natural facial fitness with many years experience in health & beauty related fields. She has appeared on The View, Fit TV, HGTV and other popular shows. This author, speaker and television personality is leading the crusade to keep men and women looking vibrantly younger through natural techniques without spending their children’s inheritance.

http://www.cynthiarowland.com

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It is easy to think “my skin looks fine, I’ll worry about it when I am older”, but that is not a sound way to view the health of your skin. A proactive skin care approach is where you adopt a skin care regime to prevent premature aging of your skin before it starts, rather than having to ‘fix’ problems later.

If you think about it, why should you treat your skin any different from some other valuable asset like your car? Why do you get the car serviced? It is just because you want to spend some money, or is it because you need it and do not want expensive repair bills?

A proactive skin care approach is no different and investing in the health of your skin is the same as investing in health insurance, care maintenance, house insurance, etc. We brush our teeth several time as day, why? - not because they have holes in them, but we want to prevent the holes and avoid expensive trips to the dentist…

We take our skin very much for granted and spend little time thinking about it. Maybe because of the many Skin Cancer Ad Campaigns, we will apply sunscreen lotion when going outside, but beyond that, we don’t seem to spend much time looking after our skin.

Similarly, a proactive skin care approach takes the quality of skin care products into consideration, however to often we buy skin care by smell and how good the packaging looks. Neither of which guarantees a quality product. On the contrary, often the expensive, good looking products contain artificial perfumes, synthetic essential oils, chemical emollients, preservatives, and many other ingredients that have been shown to be toxic if used over a long period of time.

Natural Skin Care Products are the only way to approach your skin care regime. Natural products, not just natural ingredients that have been added to an otherwise non-natural base, are a great way to take a proactive step towards promoting and maintaining healthy skin.

In addition to taking a proactive skin care approach, you should also consider doing the same with your diet. Foods that can benefit the skin will also benefit other parts of your body and promote healthy body tissues.

Similarly, exercise and other physical activity will promote blood circulation to the outer layers of your skin, providing it with nutrients and oxygen that will help in promoting the health of your skin.

So, a proactive skin care approach while there is nothing wrong with your skin is the best way to prevent problems from occurring later on.

Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.

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© Wildcrafted Herbal Products 2004 - 2005

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