Numerous skin care brands have come up with products that promise to prevent premature skin aging, wrinkles, fine lines and other skin infections.
Most of these problems are caused by the low production of collagen as you age. In fact, as early as 25, you might start experiencing some of these disturbing conditions.
Well, while aging is inevitable, you can reduce its effects and still maintain a smooth, firm and healthy skin.
This is not about purchasing expensive skin care products or going for plastic surgery like most of the models. This is about increasing the production of collagen naturally in your body.
Yes, you can naturally stimulate the body to increase the production of collagen or protect the existing collagen in your skin from environmental damage. I’ll show you how.
Take Supplements Designed to Increase the Production of Collagen
You can stimulate the skin to naturally produce collagen by eating collagen-boosting foods like bone broth, wild salmon, carrots, green vegetables, etc. Nevertheless, the efficacy of these foods is not exceptional. And that explains why supplementation is essential.
Collagen supplements contain some key ingredients: Vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and hydrolyzed collagen.
Vitamin C maintains and protects existing collagen from damage especially from free radicals in the skin.
Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in the body, and mainly found in connective tissues. It boosts the repair of damaged skin cells and promotes new cell growth.
Hydrolyzed collagen contains important amino acids such as glycine, proline, and lysine. All these are used to create connective tissues and stimulate cell growth.
When you ingest collagen supplement, you get all these benefits. So, before purchasing any supplement, make sure the formulation has included all of them.
Get At Least Six Hours of a Good Night Sleep
I don’t have to remind you that having a good night sleep is necessary. However, it’s important to note that sleep is not only vital to help you function properly but also allows for the repair of damaged skin cells and growth of new cells.
When you sleep, the body goes into repair mode and produces cells and hormones that boost the production of collagen.
It’s recommended that you sleep for at least 6 to 9 hours for your body to repair and restore the damage that occurs every day. The problem, therefore, comes when you sleep poorly. The effect is the increase of certain immune hormones which prevent collagen production. These hormones thwart the recuperative process and weaken your body’s ability to produce collagen.
Eat a Balanced Diet Full of Proteins, Fats and Other Nutrients
Your diet plays a significant role in the production of collagen. Since collagen is a protein made up of four amino acids: Glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and arginine – It’s thus important to include healthy proteins at each meal. This includes both animal sources and plant based proteins like meats, eggs, seafood, beans, and soy.
You also need to eat an adequate amount of vitamin C, micronutrients and fats. Foods such as green vegetables, guavas, citrus fruits, and tangerines are good sources of amino acids and increase the production of collagen.
High-fat foods like omega-3 fats found in seafood, grass fed beef, flaxseed are super healthy. Since skin cells are surrounded by a fatty layer of skin, these foods help keep the layer intact and healthy, thus maintaining skin softness, firmness, and elasticity.
Exercise Regularly (and Do the Right Types of Exercise)
In addition to keeping your body at a healthy weight, exercising regularly can boost the production of collagen. However, the type of workouts you perform matters too.
When you work out, the body is stimulated to produce Human Growth Hormones (HGH) which boosts collagen production, according to some studies.
The types of workout that increase the production of HGH include resistance training and endurance training.
Resistance training involves lifting heavier loads more often. At this time, the amount of HGH created by the body increase, and as such collagen production increases as well. But, for better results, make sure you focus on large muscle groups.
Endurance training involves performing short bursts of exercise multiple times, rather than spending more of your time on the treadmill or bike. These exercises need to be performed in short intervals for a given period of your training. When done correctly, HGH increases, and no doubt, collagen as well.
Use Other Alternatives, Such as Light Therapy
Sometimes incorporating the healthy habits above in your routine might not be enough to boost collagen production. In that case, you can try other alternatives such as red LED light therapy and infrared light therapy, which are proven to elevate collagen production.
Red LED light therapy involves the use of red, low-light wavelengths which are emitted through the skin to encourage cellular reconstruction, increase blood flow, and stimulate collagen production. This is important because it prevents and treats acne, scars and other skin imperfections.
On the other hand, infrared light therapy involves the use of infrared lights which is directly placed on the skin, specifically over the area of injury or imperfection. This is usually performed to diminish the appearance of wrinkles and other skin imperfection.
All these procedures play a great role in increasing the levels of collagen and elastin produced by fibroblasts. The result is a smooth, elastic and healthy skin.
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