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16 rules to live by for young-looking skin
16 simple yet wildly effective rules to live by for dewy, plump, perfectly smooth skin--no matter what your age.
1. Even if you're sitting in the shade, without sunscreen you're being zapped by aging rays. Sunscreen, (at least SPF30, every day) not only prevents aging, it gives your skin time away from defending itself, so it can actually repair and undo existing damage.
2. There's wet, and then there's wet: If you want any antiager to work better, get your skin very wet. For instance, if you want your face scrub to exfoliate more than usual, do it at the very end of a shower.
3. Always pat eye cream in with your ring finger--it's the weakest, so the most gentle.
Perfect Your Skin: The right regimen makes all the difference, whether you're treating breakouts, wrinkles or redness.
4. Retin-A, Tazorac, Renova: These prescription-only retinoic acid formulas de-age skin like no over-the-counter cream. It takes about six weeks to see results, but the difference in most people is truly spectacular.
5. For some, retinoic acid is too skin-sensitizing. The next strongest thing is available over the counter: retinol. The most powerful retinol we know of is Help Me by Philosophy. If that's too much for you, Healthy Skin by Neutrogena is nonirritating but still extremely effective.
6. Too much sugar in your diet causes glycation--an inflammation and a disruption of collagen production. Avoid eating sweets, and use a product designed to prevent (and undo) the reaction.
7. Your skin does most of its repair-and-refresh work at night. Lack of sleep shows up on your face as dullness initially, graduating to wrinkling, sagging, and even breakouts as you continue to lose sleep.
There are no falsities to this beauty sleep business. A Lucky beauty editor was recently inflicted with mono (and a 1,000 hours of sleep) and reemerged with her most luminous skin ever.
8. Supplements: Who knows if they work? They might, and that's why we take them--especially those with omega-3, -6, and -9 oils. Since none of us can eat as much youthifying salmon as the experts say we should.
9. Cold really does bring down puffiness. Throw your eye cream in the fridge, or use these already-frosty versions.
10. Unanimous editors' rave: More Lucky staffers mentioned Kiehl's when they were queried about their antiaging routines than any other brand. They love the avocado eye cream, the pineapple papaya face scrub, the...
11. Peptides stimulate your cells to produce more collagen. They retexturize--so your skin feels silkier and looks brighter--and minimize lines. And they don't irritate at all.
12. Smoking is even better (and faster) at aging your face than the sun.
13. Wind and cold are dehydrating. Moisturizer plumps up your skin, making it look and feel smoother temporarily. We have never met a makeup artist who doesn't apply moisturizer liberally before makeup--it really makes a difference.
14. If you overdo it on skin treatments, anti-inflammatory products like Dr. Brandt's Laser Relief will calm your skin back to normality overnight.
15. Tinted undereye moisturizer is a genius invention. Use it alone if your trouble is not severe, under concealer if it's more major.
16. If all else fails, keep your sunglasses on--and not solely for the obvious reason of camouflage. You also shield the delicate and first-to-wrinkle-and-sag eye area from future damage. Eye cream with SPF helps too.
GENETICS and emotional stress are two factors which contribute to common allergies such as hay fever among children, according to two separate studies by German researchers. In one study of 3,000 school pupils in Munich, geneticists discovered evidence that a genetic deficiency in the protein filaggrin in skin cells contributes to common eczema-like skin allergies.
Variants of the filaggrin gene were also associated with dandruff and contact dermatitis, for example rashes caused by nickel jewellery, according to the study conducted by the Munich Helmholtz Centre and the Technical University of Munich. With certain variants of the gene, a patient was three times as likely to suffer from atopic dermatitis and was also more liable to have hay fever, the study found.
In a separate Helmholtz study, scientists discovered that emotional stress, such as moving to a new town and changing schools or going through parental divorce, is also a risk factor in childhood allergies. The researchers examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year-old children and discovered increased blood concentrations of the stressrelated peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents.
The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write in the scientific journal ‘Pediatric Allergy and Immunology’. The findings resulted from a longterm study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and the Institut fuer Umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF) in Duesseldorf.
It has been known for some time that emotional stress can have an influence on the development of allergies. But the causative mechanisms long remained unexplained. Now, for the first time, stress events were investigated during early childhood within a large epidemiological study using immune and stress markers. The researchers said they had found definitive proof of a link between stress during childhood and the later development of asthma, allergic skin disorders, or allergic sensitasations.
Dramatic life events like the death of a family member, serious illnesses of a family member or the separation of parents, but also harmless events like for example moving house are suspected of increasing the risk of allergies for the children affected. “The immune system obviously plays a mediator role between stress on the one hand and allergies on the other,” the researchers wrote. “Since these mechanisms had hardly been understood before, researchers attempted to identify stress-related factors showing an influence on the immune system, in the context of an epidemiological study.”
Trans fats linked to pre-cancerous colon growths
AHIGH intake of trans fats could increase colon cancer risk, according to new research published in the ‘American Journal of Epidemiology’. People who ate the most trans fatty acids were more likely to have pre-cancerous growths or polyps in their colons than those who consumed the least, Dr Lisa C Vinikoor of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and colleagues found. “These results provide further support for recommendations to limit consumption of trans-fatty acids,” they conclude.
Activity key to breast cancer patients’ survival
WOMEN who stay active after being diagnosed with breast cancer – and even those who take up exercise for the first time after diagnosis – have a better chance of surviving the disease, a new study shows. “Anything is better than nothing,” Dr Melinda L Irwin of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, one of the researchers on the study, said. “We actually observed benefits with just doing a little bit of exercise.”
Many return to sports after getting a new shoulder
MANY physically-active people will return to recreational sports after having shoulder replacement surgery, research shows. In fact, most of the people who had
the surgery in order to continue to participate in sports reported that their ability had actually improved, Dr Eric C McCarty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver and colleagues found.
Severe stress in pregnancy may affect foetal growth
WOMEN who go through a traumatic event during or soon before pregnancy may be at increased risk of having an underweight baby, a large study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 1mn Danish women who gave birth over 24 years, those who dealt with the death or serious illness of a loved one shortly before or during pregnancy were more likely to have a low-birthweight baby.
Weight loss may cut risk of colorectal growths
OBESITY is associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenomas – growths or polyps that can become cancerous – but weight loss might reduce the risk, a study hints. “Colorectal cancer is known to be associated with obesity,” Dr Yutaka Yamaji from University of Tokyo, Japan said. “Our data, together with previous reports, shows pre-cancerous lesions are also associated with obesity.”
Weight-loss surgery won’t ‘cure’ sleep apnea
IN PEOPLE who are obese, weight-loss surgery will likely lead to an improvement in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but it won’t eliminate the nighttime breathing disorder. Many patients will have residual OSA one year after weight-loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery), results of a study indicate. “There are numerous benefits to weight loss by any means, (including) a reduction in the severity of OSA,” study leader Dr Christopher Lettieri of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, said. “However, patients and their physicians should understand that OSA can occur in the absence of obesity, and losing weight, even if substantial, may not resolve OSA.”
How do you tell whether you have the flu or a cold?
A: When the flu comes knocking, you’ll know it. You’re likely to be on your back and in misery for a good spell. The flu has a sudden onset with symptoms that include high fever and chills, cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, intense
fatigue, severe muscle aches and headache. The common cold is a couple of notches down, with symptoms such as lowgrade fever, cough, runny or congested nose, sneezing and mild sore throat. If it’s a cold, you might show up for work. If it’s the flu, forget it.
Besides bringing its own bag of miseries,the flu makes you more susceptible to bacterial infections such as pneumonia and can worsen asthma, diabetes, heart failure and other chronic conditions. So it’s important to dodge the flu if you can. The best way to do that is to get a flu vaccination. (Once you’ve experienced the flu, you won’t need further convincing.) If you do get the flu, there’s still an option: a prescription antiviral drug such as Tamiflu or Relenza. The drug can cut the illness short, but you can’t dawdle. The antiviral agent needs to be started within 48 hours after symptoms begin, and the sooner the better.
How effective is the flu vaccine in preventing the flu?
A: Not perfect, but pretty good. Flu vaccine works by triggering your immune system to recognise and attack specific strains of flu viruses. Because these viruses change fast, a yearly vaccination is required. The current vaccine is based on these changes. Each year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks flu virus strains worldwide in an attempt to reasonably predict which new strains will be circulating during the coming flu season. Based on this information, the agency recommends the makeup of that year’s flu vaccine. When virus strains in the vaccine are well-matched to actual virus strains circulating about, the flu vaccine appears to be 70-90% effective in preventing the flu among healthy adults younger than 65.
How is the flu virus spread?
A: The virus can be transmitted via respiratory droplets (from sneezing or coughing) through the air or on contaminated surfaces (anything people have touched) such as door knobs, self-service gas nozzles, and currency. People commonly become infected by touching their eyes, nose, or mouth after their hands have picked up the flu virus. You can stall the spread of the flu by covering your mouth with a disposable tissue (or shirt sleeve) when you cough or sneeze. The best way to avoid the flu, besides getting vaccinated, is to wash your hands frequently. Handwashing also prevents the spread of other communicable diseases. Those who remain flu-free won’t be sick and won’t be part of the chain spreading the disease to others. Please do your part this flu season.
(Richard Harkness is a consultant pharmacist, natural medicines specialist, and author of eight published books.) – MCT
TAKING a simple once-daily capsule of fish oil improves survival prospects for patients with heart failure, results of a major clinical study showed earlier this week. The positive finding boosts the healthgiving reputation of fish oil and is particularly encouraging because heart failure – a chronic condition in which the heart
struggles to pump blood effectively – is notoriously difficult to treat.
It is a major plus for Norway’s Pronova BioPharma, which makes the medicine used in the test, although doctors said cheap over-the-counter products should work just as well. Pronova is a world leader in producing pharmaceuticals from fish oil, a rich
source of omega-3 fatty acids. The news also vindicates GlaxoSmithKline’s decision to snap up US rights to Pronova’s product Lovaza last November, by
acquiring Reliant Pharmaceuticals for $1.65bn.
Omega-3 fatty acids have in the past been linked to a range of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
Luigi Tavazzi of the ANMCO Research Centre in Florence, Italy, told the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting that patients on Lovaza, followed up for an average 3.9 years, were 9% less likely to die than those given a placebo, or dummy capsule. They were also less likely to be admitted to hospital with cardiovascular problems.Patients on active treatment received a daily Lovaza capsule containing 1g of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Of the 7,000 people tracked in the study, 955 patients in the Lovaza group died, compared with 1,014 in the placebo group. That difference may be modest but Jose Ramon Gonzalez Juanatey, a cardiologist at Santiago University Hospital in Spain, who was not involved in the test, said it was clinically meaningful, since the patients were already receiving the best available treatment, leaving little room for improvement. “This is important because heart failure is a major public health problem.
Even in well-treated patients, the mortality rate is 10% a year, so new therapies and strategies are needed,” he said. Current European and US treatment guidelines focus on the role of omega-3 in preventing heart disease but Juanatey said wider guidance to include treating heart failure could be warranted. The findings should also be taken as a message to the public to eat more fish to keep their hearts healthy, Juanatey said. Robert Bonow, a cardiologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, said fish oil capsules were cheap, welltolerated and did not interfere with other medications, making them an attractive option, even if the benefits were moderate.
“I think it makes sense for doctors and their patients to consider using them,” he said. Omega-3 is thought to help by stabilising the electrical signals of the heart, as well as reducing blood fat levels. Industry analysts said the latest results should fuel sales growth of Lovaza, also known as Omacor, which is the only EU and US-approved omega-3 prescription drug. The findings from the so-called GISSI-HF study were also published online by the Lancet medical journal.
