Beauty Sleep

We hear of people talking about “beauty sleep”. Does sleeping make us more beautiful? Well, there is some truth in it as sleeping is one of the simplest form of anti-ageing treatment. When we sleep well or go into a deep sleep, growth hormones which repair and rebuild our cells and tissues are released from our body. Production of proteins, require for cell growth and repair will increase during this time. If we don’t sleep well, our body will have a higher level of stress hormones called cortisol, which retards our skin’s repair functions. So lack of sleep means your system is unable to recharge and recover fast enough subsequently causing health related problems and ageing.

So when we sleep, what are the good skin strategies we can adopt?

1) According to dermatologists’ advice, sleep on your back. That is the best position. Do not sleep with your face facing downwards. Due to gravity, the pressure of your body on your skin and the friction cause by the bed or pillow will surely add lines to your face.

"Who cares about the lines on my face?" (Photo credit: Jesse Courtemanche)

2) Another way is to do a natural facial mask before you sleep.  Blend ingredients like cucumber or avocado, and apply on face for 20 minutes before rinsing off. Do not overload your skin at night with creams and lotion. Leaving your face skin naked once in a while may be good as it gets to breathe and it can ‘rebalance’.

3) Having a room that is airy, wearing clothes or using bedsheets and pillowcases that are made of natural materials such as cotton, linen or silk are better for the skin. This is especially important if you have sensitive skin or skin allergies.

Bird’s Nest Soup

Bird’s nest soup is a prized luxurious delicacy in Chinese cuisine for centuries. Deemed as a “cooling” food, it is consumed to restore health, repair skin, to keep skin young and supple and even used as an aphrodisiac.

Bird nest, having a high nutritional as well as medicinal value can be taken to strengthen the lungs and used for treating body heatiness and ailments pertaining to respiratory system such as coughs, colds and asthma. Patients who are recovering from illness or surgery have also been recommended to take bird nest to complement with other treatments as it promotes cell growth, tissue repair and provides resistance to diseases.

Other than health benefits, it is mostly valued by women for improving skin texture. Pregnant ladies consumed bird nest believing that their babies will be born with smooth and beautiful complexion.

Bird’s nests are made of long thin strands of saliva from the Swifts (small fast birds found in Southeast Asia), which wove their nest using their spit and built them high on cave walls. The spittle is known to contain proteins, minerals and vitamins such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

It used to be expensive as the tasks of retrieving the nests from immense heights are both dangerous and laborious. However, nowadays with the increase in safety standards and bird nests being farmed in commercial apiaries, such delicacy has become more affordable and easily available.

Beautiful Eyes

We have delicate skin around our eyes and it is known to be several times thinner than the rest of our face. In fact, our blood vessels are just a fraction of an inch away from the skin’s surface.  Since it is more vulnerable, this is why wrinkles appear here first.

Some consumers may think eye care products are unnecessary and is just another marketing gimmick by companies to sell them more products but the truth is, a separate cosmetic product should be used for the eyes. The normal day or night moisturizer for the face is too heavy for our eyes.

To get best results on eye care, use an eye cream with SPF factor for day use. As you use, pat gently on the eye contour beneath the eyes to stimulate blood circulation. At night, use another eye cream to moisturize.

Dark circles

Dark circles can happen at any age, it is true. My three year old kid gets dark circles whenever he sleeps late or goes without his afternoon nap.  The most common reason for this is lack of sleep although there are many other reasons such as genetics, stress and food intolerance such as cow’s milk. One common belief is that dark circles formed because of waste accumulation around the eye area.

According to experts, the capillaries under our skin at the eye area are so narrow that red blood cells lined up (in a single file) to pass through. Sometimes, these red blood cells break the walls of capillaries and leak into the surrounding skin. Special enzymes then break down the red blood cells, changing it to blue-black colour. It is the same mechanism that produces bruises when we knock our body into something.

Factors that cause dark circles such as thickness of skin under the eyes, genes that caused the weakened capillaries, our skin tone (the lighter it is, the more apparent the dark circles) and whether you have deep set eyes (the shadows contribute to the dark circles, making them more visible) are hereditary.

Puffy eyes

Caused by trapped fluid in the tissues under your eyes, it is usually more obvious in the morning due to accumulation of fluid overnight.  Other than fluid retention, factors such as stress and allergies can result in puffy eyes. More often than not, it is usually caused by too much crying (due to over production tears in our eyes) or too much intake of alcohol.

If it happens regularly when you eat certain things, it could be a food intolerance problem. Common culprits are dairy products like milk and cheese. Or you could be sensitive to a certain brand. Try switching brands to see if your condition can improve.

Some researches shown that lymph flow (flow of bodily fluid i.e. mainly white blood cells) has an important part to play in reducing puffy eyes.  Therefore doing some simple exercises daily can keep puffy eyes at bay!

Remedies for dark circles and puffiness

1)      Wrap an ice cube using a hanky and place over your eye area for a few minutes to stimulate blood vessels and improve flow of toxins. Cold stainless steel spoon kept in fridge may also do the trick.

2)      Tannic acid in tea is good for reducing swelling. Soak two teabags in cold water and squeezed out the water. Place them over your eyes for 10 minutes.

3)      Put slices of cold fresh cucumber or raw potato on eyes for 15 minutes - cucumber has a soothing and cooling effect while raw potato contains Catecholase, an enzyme that works as a skin lightener and is also used for removing dyes of staining fruits.

Photo credit: Andrea

4)      Gentle massage using middle finger to tap the puffy area from inwards to outwards and repeat for few minutes to improve blood circulation.

Face Workout!

Our skin needs pampering in some ways or another. Having a face massage occasionally helps you achieve beautiful skin. Just like exercising, a quick weekly session on the face will eliminate eye bags and puffiness in your skin. Massages have their benefits:   it helps us to relax, detoxify our body and improve our blood circulation.

Massage maybe deemed as personal luxury by some and by others, necessity. If you do not want to do in a salon, you can always DIY. In fact, DIY is one of the best ways because it can be done wherever and whenever you want and it’s free.

To begin with, we know that our body has toxins, caused by the foods we ingested, pollutants in our surroundings and stress in our lives. Our lymphatic system consists of a network of vessels that move fluid in our body.  Essential functions of these vessels include removal of toxins from our cells through lymph drainage where toxins are directed to the nearest lymph node for dispersal.   Through massage, we are promoting drainage by improving the flow of fluid through our body, getting rid of unwanted waste products, reducing toxins accumulation.

Here’s one short section of Diana Moran’s book entitled Fresh Face that gave tips on how to do that Lymphatic Drainage Massage.

” 1. Applied oil to hands. With sweeping movements, slide your hands from your chest to your chin upwards from the left side of your neck, lightly over your windpipe and then to the right.

2. Place your first fingers horizontally above your lips with your middle fingers below. Apply slight pressure and slide fingers backwards to your ears.

3. Place ring fingers by the side of each nostril and apply pressure. Release the pressure as you sweep fingers across cheeks to your ears, then reapply the pressure.

4. Place your first fingers in the centre of your forehead. Pressing firmly, slide your fingers as you trace along your eyebrows and out to your ears.

5. Now from your ears, continue sliding your fingertips lightly, tracing inwards under the eyes to your nose.

6. Close your eyes and cover your entire face, from chin to forehead (leave your nose protruding) with open hands. Press your whole face firmly, hold for 5 seconds and release.”

Ageing Foods to Avoid

In one of my previous post entitled Key Foods for Healthy Skin, I wrote about foods that are good for our skin. Now I added this post on foods that age people, so that you would think twice before reaching for that favourite snack.

Trans-Fat

The word trans-fat will send alarm bells ringing for many health food junkies. Yes, we all know it is bad for our health as it increases the bad cholesterol, reduces the good cholesterol in our bloodstream and put our heart and liver at risk. What exactly is trans-fat?  It is produced when hydrogen is added to liquid oils to process into more stable semi-solid or solid fats.  Hydrogenated oils are often used as they can increase the shelf life of processed foods.

Food such as French fries, deep fried chicken, cookies, pastries and margarine contain trans-fat. Not only it is bad news to our body as this increases our risk to diseases, it also produced more free radicals that cause us to age more quickly.

Source: B.Heliker

Nitrates/ Nitrites

Speaking of nitrates or nitrites, foods like luncheon meat, sausages, hotdogs and bacon come to our mind. Nitrites have been used as preservatives for processed meat and it is supposed to make the meat taste and look better. However, when such preservatives are added, Nitrosamines are formed and they are proven to be carcinogenic, causing normal body cells to turn into cancer cells. It doesn’t help us to know that sausages and hotdogs consist of mainly fatty meat. Besides, additives in these foods will only make our liver work harder to detoxify them. In fact, one European study found that sausages increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

Carbonated drinks

Another culprit that is commonly found in our daily life is carbonated drinks. Carbonated drinks are drinks containing dissolved carbon dioxide, usually added to improve the taste or texture. High in sugar and low in nutrients, it makes you fat, weakens your bones and contributes to tooth decay. Research revealed that a carbonated can drink per day can make you pile on 7 kg in a year! Other than obesity, regular intake of such drinks increases your chances of diabetes, hypertension and stroke.

Remember that your skin reflect your state of health. It is not just about the waistline when you eat. Think about the lines on your face as well.

Key foods to healthy skin

So the old adage goes: You are what you eat.  True enough, what we eat is reflected through our complexion. Without a healthy diet, it is impossible achieve healthy skin.

Therefore, we need to choose our foods carefully. Although a balanced diet is great for the skin, certain foods can give your complexion a boost as these foods contain nutrients like Vitamins A & C and anti-oxidants that can protect and enrich the skin. Too much of fatty and processed foods can damage your skin.

Since beauty is synonymous with health, it would not be wrong to say the majority of us desire healthy skin. To achieve that, Read more »