Medically CitedIn This Article
With the holiday season in full swing, you're probably already feeling the stress from the too many obligations you are trying to juggle. From buying gifts and visiting relatives, to finishing your work load – there are so many things before, during, and after New Year that can stress us out.
When you combine that with a lack of free time to devote to a good anti-aging skin care routine, you have a recipe for horrible skin. Holiday food doesn't make it easier on your skin either.
But there are ways to go around the many challenges that New Year time can cause. And with the right products and anti-aging skincare tips, you can go through all the hassle of New Year with beautiful and glowing skin.
To help you keep your skin flawless during these difficult (but joyful) times, we've gathered information from studies, journals, and health and beauty experts that you'll definitely find valuable.
From how you handle the stresses of the holiday season to what products you should be using to make your beauty routine more efficient and easier, we got it all covered. However, you also need to plan your anti-aging skin care strategy careful this holiday season if you want to prevent breakouts, dull skin, scaling, dark circles, and sagging.
Yes, these are things that can show up on your skin when you're desperately trying to have fun with the family and friends. So, without further ado, here are 6 anti-aging skincare trends you should try to keep your skin glowing this New Year season.
Keep in mind that anti-aging skincare is a serious matter – it can help you defeat the physiological aging process and look better than ever. Follow the below-mentioned anti-aging skincare tips and decide which one works the best for you.
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*All individuals are unique. Your results can and will vary.
New Year Anti-Aging Skincare Tips
1. Anti-Stress Strategy for Glowing Skin
Although we mostly think about topical treatments when speaking of skincare, the reality is that good skin requires a more comprehensive approach from within.
Studies show that emotional stress can wreak havoc on the skin causing skin disorders such as acne, premature aging, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and many other skin problems. [1]
The main reason why stress leads to skin problems has to do with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis becoming. The HPAA axis becomes overactive during stressful times and this leads to chronic low-grade inflammation in the body through the stimulation of pro-inflammatory chemicals that also happen to reach the skin.
Controlling your stress levels is of primary importance if you want to have glowing skin this New Year and look great in family photos.
Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness explains that the main source of stress on New Year is the family. [2]
To control your stress levels, Dr. Duckworth suggests thinking deeply about what is causing your holiday stress – is it toxic relatives, too much family obligations, or underlying depression? Once you get to the root cause of your stress, you'll be able to understand your emotional response to New Year family gatherings and subsequently have more control over your stress.
Another way you can control your stress during New Year is by practicing relaxation techniques like breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga.
Research shows that relaxing the body will also relax the mind and this will help you put things into perspective. [3]
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*All individuals are unique. Your results can and will vary.
2. Beauty Sleeping and Staying Hydrated
Since you already know that good skin depends largely on the state of your health, then you also need to consider your holiday habits as an important contributing factor to skin aging. Salty food, alcohol, and inadequate water intake can dehydrate your skin and lead to all sorts of skin problems, including premature skin aging.
If your skin isn't getting enough water, it can easily become dry, flaky and less resilient to damage. This is why you need to make sure that you are keeping yourself well hydrated during New Year. The Institute of Medicine recommends that men drink up to 13 cups of water a day and women should drink up to 9 cups.
Besides adequate water intake, sleep is just as important for normal skin barrier functioning. According to a study published in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, not sleeping enough leads to increased signs of skin aging, poor skin barrier functioning, and general dissatisfaction with one's own appearance. Sleep is an important process and during which cell metabolism is regulated. [4]
Our skin tends to renew itself faster during sleep than during wake hours. Skipping on your sleep because you are trying to tackle many holiday obligations at once is inevitably going to lead to skin problems.
To prevent sleep problems during the holidays, make sure to go to bed early and avoid watching television or spending time online before bed as the light emitted from these devices is known to disrupt melatonin secretion, sleep onset, and reduce the overall quality of your sleep.
3. Treat Your Skin with an Advanced Routine
Treat Your Skin with an Advanced Routine
Your usual cleanse and moisturize routine is simply not enough to survive New Year. You'll need to upgrade your skincare routine if you want to avoid breakouts and dehydration before and after the holidays.
We suggest using an over-the-counter skin peel to ensure that your skin is free of dirt and excess dead skin cells. A great option is the Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel. This product helps exfoliate lackluster skin in a gentle and non-abrasive manner.
The product has also received rave reviews from many happy customers and was the 2013 winner of Best Face Exfoliant - Woman & Home, South Africa. Other than exfoliation, you should definitely treat your skin with a revitalizing serum such as the Clinique's Turnaround Revitalizing Serum with lactobionic acid.
Optionally, try a vitamin C serum & anti wrinkle cream like Lifecell to improve your skin's barrier functioning and ward off free radicals.
To keep your skin moisturized, go for a hyaluronic acid cream such as the Platinum Skin Care Hyaluronic Nano Grape Stem Serum. Since a study that was published in The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology found that nanoparticles of hyaluronic acid had better skin penetrability and were able to reduce wrinkle depth by 40%, nano-hyaluronic acid became all the rage in anti-aging skincare products.
But if you don't want to spend too much on anti-aging skincare, using simple Vaseline during night time can help keep your skin moisturized just as well.
A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that Vaseline improves skin barrier functioning without clogging the pores.
4. Watch What You Eat
Watch What You Eat
Holiday food may be tasty, but more often than not, foods served during holiday gatherings tend to be high in fats, sugars, and calories in general. While you really cannot avoid holiday gluttony, you can make wiser food choices in between holiday events.
The role of food in skin health is now well recognized and researchers are looking into how certain food benefit the skin while others seem to cause skin problems.
Soyun Cho of Seoul National University, Seoul who is an expert in Dermatology explains that anti-aging foods exert their action mostly through their anti-oxidant content. Anti-oxidants work as natural anti-inflammatories, preventing collagen degradation and improving overall skin barrier functioning.
By boosting your intake of these foods during the holidays, your skin is more likely to stay in prime condition once all the fuss is over.
Look for foods high in vitamins C and E such as citrus fruits, green leafy vegetables, avocados, nuts, and seeds. Both vitamins are found naturally in the skin and they scavenge free radicals while also helping in the synthesis of collagen.
Foods high in beta-carotene are another great option as this important nutrient is known to prevent DNA damage and boost natural skin cell turnover.
Foods that are highest in beta-carotene include sweet potato, carrots, spinach, romaine lettuce, and butternut squash. But as a rule of thumb, eating more vegetables and fruits is the way to go if you want to keep your skin in prime condition this New Year season.
5. Change Your Makeup Routine
Professional Makeup Application
Healthy skin is beautiful skin, and no amount of makeup will hide the damage done to your skin from sleepless nights, too much eggnog, and bad makeup choices.
If you are in the habit of applying far too many beauty products, now is the time to think about your makeup New Year's Resolution that involves reducing the amount of stuff you put on your face. Too much makeup can clog your pores and dehydrate your skin.
The flaws that you are trying to hide will definitely show more if you choose the wrong products in wrong quantities. Just think about it, from foundation, concealer, blush, bronzer, setting powder, highlighter, to eye and lip makeup – we tend to really overdo it with makeup products these days and this can lead to disastrous skin when you're wearing so many products during the long hours of New Year gatherings.
Instead, go for lightweight makeup and reduce the number of products you are using to six. Try wearing a water-based foundation such as the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 foundation. This product feels like a second skin and the coverage is pretty decent.
Next use a concealer and a rose blush and that is it as far as your face makeup should go. For the eyes, you can try a simple cat-eye with liquid eyeliner and mascara and use red lipstick for a festive winter look.
Beauty is always in simplicity and minimum makeup is what looks best on celebrations such as New Year.
6. Nighttime Pampering
Nighttime Pampering
Your nighttime routine just may be the most important part of preventing premature aging during the holidays. While you may feel tired by the end of the day, you should try to gathering the strength to prepare your skin for your well-deserved beauty sleep.
Not taking off your makeup is not an option, and you can make this boring task easier by using wet-wipes with vitamin C if you really don't feel like spending too much time on your nighttime beauty routine.
Otherwise, you should exfoliate every night, preferably with an exfoliating brush to make sure that all dirt and debris is removed from your face before moving on to your beauty products.
As far as nighttime creams, lotions, and potions go, you can apply as much product as you like without having to worry about how you will look and if it will make your face look greasy. Studies show that skin permeability is much greater during the night so your skin is able to absorb ingredients in your products as you sleep.
Apply a vitamin C serum followed by a heavy-duty moisturizer every night. Optionally, use almond oil under your eyes to reduce the appearance of dark circles and to keep the thin skin in this area moisturized as this prevents wrinkling.
If you are really in the mood, you can use an overnight face mask such as the Drink Up™ Intensive Overnight Mask by Origins. This is a lovely rejuvenation treatment with an overnight hydrating mask that you can really find useful and oddly satisfying after a long, stressful day during the holiday season.
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*All individuals are unique. Your results can and will vary.
Final Verdict
Although family gatherings and holiday celebrations in general are meant to be enjoyable, the reality is that they are more often stressful than not.
It's hard for most people to organize their life obligations with family tradition and meeting up with relatives is stressful in itself.
On top of all that, you know that it's next to impossible to look your best with so much going on and the stress can really show on your skin. Luckily, there are ways to tackle skin problems during the holiday season, and we've covered just a few of the options available here.
To look great this New Year, make sure to reduce your stress levels by looking into what is most stressful to you about events like these.
Also, don't feel guilty about asking for time for yourself to spend on your beauty routine.
Getting your beauty sleep, spending a couple of minutes on your easy anti aging skin care routine, and eating foods you know are healthy are a must if you want to keep your skin looking fabulous this New Year.
Also, spending a tad bit more on quality anti-aging skincare tips may be a worthwhile investment to help you tackle the stress of the holidays.
As you have seen, when it comes to anti-aging skincare, there are several measures that you can consider taking. Always remember that these skin care tips for anti aging are meant to help you defeat the aging process and impress others with your general appearance.
However, anti aging creams like Niagen may also be able to provide flawless skin.
4 Sources
We review published medical research in respected scientific journals to arrive at our conclusions about a product or health topic. This ensures the highest standard of scientific accuracy.
[1] Chen Y, Lyga J. Brain-skin connection: stress, inflammation and skin aging. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets. 2014;13(3):177-190. doi:10.2174/1871528113666140522104422[2] Tips for Managing the Holiday Blues: https://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/november-2015/tips-for-managing-the-holiday-blues
[3] Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need To Know: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-what-you-need-to-know
[4] Oyetakin-White P, Suggs A, Koo B, Matsui MS, Yarosh D, Cooper KD, Baron ED. Does poor sleep quality affect skin ageing? Clin Exp Dermatol. 2015 Jan;40(1):17-22. doi: 10.1111/ced.12455. Epub 2014 Sep 30. PMID: 25266053.
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