Clean Up Your Act

When dentists say that good oral hygiene protects your teeth and gums, you know exactly what they mean. Extending the metaphor, practicing good skin hygiene can help protect skin from premature wrinkling. The tips below can help you clean up youth stealing skin habits.

Don't be a smoke face. Here's another good reason to quit. Current smokers are two to three times more likely to develop premature wrinkling than nonsmokers, according to research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco. That's because smoking causes the fibers of the skin to lose their elasticity sooner and become more susceptible to wrinkling. It also literally strangles skin. The nicotine in cigarettes narrows blood vessels, preventing oxygen rich blood from reaching the tiny capillaries in the top layers of the skin. This oxygen deprivation makes skin dull, gray, and leathery a condition so wellknown that it has a name: smoker's face.

The good news is that smokers will see an improvement in the appearance of their skin in just 60 smoke free days, says Dr. Franks, the time it takes for skin to replace itself twice.

Get enough Zzzs. As obvious as it sounds, try to sleep at least 8 hours a night. "Like any other organ, your skin needs time to repair itself, and sleeping is excellent downtime," says Dr. Franks.

Sleep on your back. If you can't, learn. Scrunching your face into your pillow for 30 to 40 years will eventually press wrinkles into your skin, says Dr. jaliman.