The depressing fact is that cell renewal slows down with age. The cells that make up the skin divide more slowly as a person gets older – let’s say older than 50. After that age or perhaps even before, the top layer of the skin, the epidermis, starts to get thinner. A thinner skin is subject to all kinds insults – bruises, changing skin tone, fine lines, dark spots, and the list goes on.
What can be done?
Of course nutrient-rich food is important. Eating foods loaded with the trace minerals like sulfur, copper, and zinc is important. I list these foods on my Nutrition page, but once again – avocados, eggs, fish (sardines), red grapes or grape juice, and a rich variety of vegetables, raw and steamed – these are all skin-healthy foods.
But beyond nutritious foods, perhaps the right skin-care products might be useful. I don’t use any skin-care products except for the CeraVe moisturizing lotion I use after I shave. But after reading Paula Begoun’s The Beauty Bible I know that there are probably great products, and not necessarily expensive products, that can improve the look of the skin. If I were a woman I’d get some of these products and experiment with them. Topical Vitamin C serums, moisturizers, anti-oxidant lotions, sun screens – the list is unending – I’d try them out. But being a guy, I just want to keep fit and stay healthy. However, it’s hard not to pay attention to a woman with radiant skin working out on the treadmill.
