Can you guess which organ is the largest organ in the human body? It’s the skin, which is also the fastest growing organ. Your skin covers your entire body and is constantly renewing itself. You skin is also always at least partially on display. Your face, neck, and hands, especially, and in the summer, the feet are exposed to the weather and the critique of other people.
If you want to present a fresh, radiant appearance, start by taking care of your skin by:
- Staying Well Hydrated: We generally don’t drink adequate amounts of water. Drinking plenty of water is essential for all of your organs, including the skin. Drinking lots of water helps to remove toxins from the body, helps your body to shed and replace dead skin more quickly.
- Maintaining a Healthy Diet: Eating a healthy diet rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein will ensure that your body has the fuel it needs for peak performance.
- Getting Adequate Amounts of Sleep: Sleep enables the body, and brain to renew and repair itself. Get at least 7 to 8 hours sleep to give new skin cells time to develop and replace the older skin cells.
- Avoiding Excessive Exposure to Sunlight: Overexposure to the sun can cause problems that include premature aging of the skin and cancer.
It’s also helpful to follow a simple, yet effective daily beauty routine of cleansing away the dirt and oils and moisturizing the body to protect and repair the damage from the sun, pollution, teeth staining foods and liquids, and other causes.
The loss of collagen is a major contributor to the appearance of aging on the skin. Collagen is produced by the body and found in your connective tissues. It gives elasticity and resilience to your body, and is much more abundant when you’re young. Unfortunately, collagen production decreases as you age, leading to thinning of the skin, sagging, and wrinkles. Many skin creams are designed specifically to address collagen loss. Antioxidants are natural ingredients are especially effective at stopping and reversing the signs of aging. Antioxidants are effective at stopping free radicals that destroy collagen and can even aid the body in increasing collagen production.
Beauty creams that are rich in antioxidants address collagen repair and production, and have other properties that can slow the signs of aging. The health and beauty industry has responded by creating products that combine other effective creams with natural ingredients. The most effective, based on numerous studies are skin creams that contain oils like jojoba, which is rich in Vitamin E, Vitamin B complex, in combination with other antioxidants like Green Tea Extract or Vitamin C.
Fitness Magazine recommends that you look for creams that contain Vitamin A (Retinol) or Retin-A. These products are well known for reducing fine lines and preventing wrinkles. Retinols cause the skin to peel off the top layer, to expose healthier, younger looking skin beneath.
In addition to cleansing and moisturizing, don’t forget that an ounce of prevention is always worth more than a pound of cure. Protect yourself from the sun’s damaging rays by wearing sunscreen every day. Fitness Magazine recommends wearing a broad-spectrum sunblock daily to protect against UVA and UVB rays. Not only will you protect your body from premature aging, but you will also reduce your risk of cancer.
Once you have improved the look and feel of your skin, you will probably want to address your teeth which may not be as pearly white as they once were. A moderately effective solution is to rinse a few times a week with a solution of hydrogen peroxide. Dilute the hydrogen peroxide with up to 50% water, depending on how naturally sensitive your teeth are. The hydrogen peroxide kills harmful bacteria and is a natural teeth whitener. Make sure you don’t swallow the solution as it can cause you to become sick. You can also brush your teeth about once a week with a little baking soda.
These simple and all natural solutions will whiten your teeth, but if you want that celebrity smile, you will have to invest in a trip to the dentist for professional whitening or use some of the new products that have sprung up on the market to meet the growing demand. The dentist’s office provides the fastest and most effective whitening as it can be accomplished in one sitting. It is also the costliest solution. A great compromise between the low cost and modest success of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide treatments and the high cost of the dentist’s office are the teeth whitening kits readily available today.
As Dr. Oz has pointed out, the first thing people notice about your face is your teeth, and the standards for whiter teeth have increased as options for improving our smiles increased. The Dr. Oz show also pointed out that generally, closed systems using a tray and gels are more effective at keeping the whitening gel on the teeth and keeping the bleaching agent away from sensitive gums.
You can purchase teeth whitening kits from a dentist or from sources over the internet. The kits provide a teeth tray that looks like a mouth guard which you fill with a gel that contains a peroxide based product. You wear the tray for a specified amount of time, from a few minutes to an hour or more for a couple of weeks or more. After treatment you will have less discoloration and staining on the teeth and a visibly whiter smile.
Alta White, a new teeth whitener available online states that it achieves the same or better results than traditional whitening kits without the use of harsh bleaches or damage to tooth enamel. Since the product doesn’t use whitening strips or trays it’s a lot less messy. It uses a disposable two swab system for the upper and lower teeth. It whitens your teeth in less time than most whitening kits and also removes plaque.