5 Holistic Anti-Aging Treatments for Inner and Outer Beauty

Social media filters have a way of setting the bar for beauty impossibly high. But you don’t need a celebrity gossip piece to show you the difference between editing and reality. You can’t apply the teenage filter every time you look into the mirror, after all.

Fortunately, you can reduce the visible signs of aging without resorting to digital trickery by taking a holistic approach. A holistic beauty routine incorporates skincare, lifestyle, and nutrition to improve your skin’s overall health and appearance. Those who take a holistic approach can see improvements in skin appearance, elasticity, and resilience over time.

1. Deploy the Power of Vitamins to Restore Skin from the Inside Out

Vitamins are widely recognized as essential for one’s nutrition, supporting overall good health and resistance to illnesses. However, deploying the power of certain vitamins in higher concentrations than those found in food can yield major skin benefits.

Retinoids are a powerful anti-aging treatment where vitamin A is the star. Available in varying concentrations, this topical treatment exfoliates the skin and increases cell turnover. With consistent usage, lines and wrinkles diminish, and skin can bounce back faster from blemishes and environmental damage.

Choose vitamin-rich foods to further boost the benefits of your topically applied treatments. Snack on bell peppers, which boast over two times the daily requirement of vitamin C in just one cup. Add deep green broccoli and Brussels sprouts to your plate and get the benefits of tissue repair and increased immune function. Unleash the power of vitamins inside and out to improve your body’s ability to repair itself and appear more youthful.

2. Incorporate Rich Antioxidants Into Your Routine

Antioxidants combat the effects of naturally occurring and lifestyle-related free radicals brought on by environmental factors, stress, and toxins. While exposure to these free radicals is unavoidable, incorporating antioxidants through your nutrition and product lineup can help reduce the damage they cause.

The long-reigning, anti-illness champion of the fruit universe, the orange is full of powerful vitamin C. When ingested, it supports good health, but when applied to the skin, it multiplies its effectiveness.

Topical vitamin C can repair damage, reduce lines and wrinkles, even skin tone, and brighten skin’s appearance. You can find this antioxidant in standalone formulations or incorporated into multi-use products.

3. Do Light Right

Everyone loves a beautiful, sunny day, but protecting your skin from harmful ultraviolet light is more important than a tan. Avoid unprotected exposure to the sun by applying sunscreen of 30 SPF or better daily. Upgrade your morning moisturizer to a non-comedogenic formulation containing sunscreen before applying cosmetics.

Make it a habit to wear hats, sunglasses, and sun-protecting shirts when you’ll be outside for extended periods. By protecting your skin from sunlight, you’ll reduce the risk of burns and early aging.

While avoiding harmful sun exposure will yield lifelong benefits, using red light therapy can reduce the signs of aging. Available through in-office treatments and from consumer devices, red light delivers energy to skin cells, encouraging faster cell turnover. This non-invasive treatment can be used in addition to other topical applications and result in smoother skin and less noticeable scars.

4. Improve Skin’s Appearance Through Stress Reduction

Holistic anti-aging requires more than just nourishing, powerful products. The foundation for a holistic approach to beauty and aging depends on managing both exposure and your response to stress. While some stress is unavoidable, you can make lifestyle shifts to minimize it and improve your resiliency to stressful environments.

Studies have shown that people with stress-filled lives have more visible signs of aging. Lack of sleep, financial pressures, and lifestyle-related factors like work, family, or relationships show up on your face. Deep wrinkles, sagging skin, and dull complexions tell the truth about your anxiety-inducing experiences.

Assess your current lifestyle for stressors you can reduce. Poor habits like smoking and drinking to excess reduce your ability to get quality sleep, aside from other health risks. Trade poor habits for positive ones like walking, which provides low-impact movement that boosts your heart rate and endorphins. Consistent movement can reduce stress and promote better sleep, which can result in improved skin condition and overall health.

5. Ancient Tools and Practices Boost Skin Condition

One of the most storied skincare practices, gua sha, comes from Eastern medicine. Gua sha involves using special stones to move lymph fluid along its path to improve health. While traditionally used across the body, when the practice is applied to the face, users can see improved skin condition.

Before beginning gua sha, apply a non-comedogenic oil to clean skin. Following safe protocols, use a light touch and pressure, beginning at the area of the neck above the collarbone. Glide stones downward along the neck, moving to the jaw from the center of the chin toward the ears. Continue this motion from the center out, avoiding delicate eye areas. The result can be visible lift, more defined features, and reduced puffiness.

Complement your gua sha efforts with facial exercises designed to build up critical facial muscles. Many key muscles in the face can weaken with age or misuse, resulting in a more aged appearance. Target sagging cheeks and marionette lines by making exaggerated “O” shapes with your mouth and adjusting your jaw placement. When practiced consistently, you can rebuild atrophied muscles, resulting in a firmer foundation for your skin.

Holistic Beauty Isn’t Just a Category, It’s a Lifestyle

Adopting a holistic beauty routine doesn’t need to be complex or expensive. A holistic beauty routine practically creates itself when you incorporate skin-loving products, practices, and nutrition into your day. Keep the visible signs of aging at bay by nourishing your skin inside and out. When you do, you’ll create lifelong, skin-loving habits that will have you feeling and looking your best, no matter your age.