Alright, so looks aren’t the most important thing in life. Being the kind of person who you can respect obviously comes ahead of looking pretty, and so does maintaining good relationships with your loved ones, being healthy, and having a clear vision of the future combined with self-discipline, in order to drive your life forward in all the ways you want.
But still, looking your best sure doesn’t hurt, and we’d all like to do whatever we possibly could, within reason, to stay as beautiful as possible.
For that reason, the beauty and cosmetic industry is enormous, and seems likely to grow even further in the coming years. With a true mastery of makeup, it’s possible to dazzle when you walk into any room, regardless of whether or not you’re exhausted, annoyed, or otherwise not in the best possible state.
Of course, the more enduring and effective way of keeping your looks as tip-top as possible, is to focus on lifestyle factors, and not just to dress well and do your makeup like a true pro — although, of course, those things do help. Considering the fact that a glowing, attractive physical appearance is often an indicator of good health and internal balance, too, adopting the kind of lifestyle fixes that can boost your looks might also mean you get to enjoy a higher quality of life overall.
And as you can see from reading guides such as the following; https://www.siobeauty.com/blogs/news/lip-lines, a lot of reducing wrinkles and looking your best has to do with lifestyle factors.
Keeping all of that in mind, here are some effective lifestyle tips for staying beautiful.
Get your beauty sleep — it’s a real thing
You know, a lot of the little everyday phrases that we throw around aren’t just empty talk; there’s actually some real wisdom contained within them. That is exactly the case when we talk about “beauty sleep”.
In recent times, researchers have been finding out more and more about the incredible ways sleep benefits us and keeps us healthy, not to mention alive. The sleep researcher Matthew Walker has pointed out, for example, that getting the right amount of sleep each night reduces the risk of blood sugar issues, cancer, hormonal imbalances, and all sorts of other things, too.
On top of that, sleeping enough helps to rejuvenate our skin, and heal any damage it might have accumulated. Sleep also restores that natural “glow” to our skin, prevents dark rings under the eyes, and that sickly look you often get if you haven’t been experiencing enough shut-eye, and may even help inflammation.
When you don’t sleep enough, your body is under significantly more stress than it would otherwise be, and every system in the body gets damaged a lot more easily than it otherwise would. What’s more, infection sets in more easily, meaning that the body’s overall immune defences are not operating properly.
All of these things are likely to contribute to apparent rapid ageing, which is not what people normally have in mind when they think of looking as beautiful as possible.
When people are well rested, on the other hand, they naturally look younger, more clear-eyed, vital and vibrant. Of course, they’re also bound to have more spring in their step and to be more outgoing and charismatic — which are traits closely related to attractiveness — because they’re not fantasising about going to sleep throughout the entire day.
Kick the blatantly bad habits — you probably already know what they are
It’s not always easy to figure out what we should be doing to be as healthy and attractive as possible. Advocates of different diets are, for example, constantly doing battle with one another to push a certain narrative or worldview over another one.
But we all more or less know when we’re doing things that are just blatantly bad for us, and it’s those kinds of “blatantly bad” things that we are likely to cling to in the form of self-destructive habits, even when we should really know better. Smoking, or regular binge drinking, fall into this category.
Of course, if you a smoke a pack a day you are not only at a significantly higher risk of developing all sorts of diseases and issues, you’re also doing some real devastating work to undermine your looks. The skin of long-time smokers is notoriously terrible. Jaundiced, discoloured, dried out and wrinkled.
The same is, of course, true for hard drinkers — as alcohol dehydrates the skin, throws the hormones out of balance, causes prominent and discoloured blood vessels, facial puffiness, and more.
If you know that you’ve got certain vices that you should really kick, but haven’t yet managed to adequately motivate yourself to let them go, then you should add one more item to the list of reasons for giving up: you’ll look a lot better if you do.
Go easy on the long, hot showers — go for shorter, cooler ones when possible
The occasional hot bath is a luxury that it’d be hard to live without. But if you want to stay looking your best, it’d probably be a good idea not to boil yourself too often
The thing about hot water is that, while it’s really relaxing, it also dries out your skin and your hair by removing the protective natural oils that help to keep the elements at bay.
Generally speaking, you’re going to look better if you go for shorter, cooler showers and baths, on a regular basis, and save the real hot soaks for special occasions.
If you can’t let go of the joys of hot water, though, at least be sure to moisturise well after each shower and bath, and to condition your hair too. When you rinse out your conditioner, it should be with cool water.
Stretch and improve your flexibility — there may be more benefits than you think
Various forms of stretching exercises such as yoga and Pilates are extremely popular these days, with classes being found in just about every gym in the land.
There’s some good reason for that, too.
While in the first place, a yoga or Pilates routine might seem positive due to its ability to improve your flexibility and get your heart rate up, there is also the far more significant benefit that stretching out tight, imbalanced muscles, can help to prevent excess strain being placed on joints, on the spine itself, and even on the various organs of the body.
A good stretching routine can significantly improve your health — and many people have reported near-miraculous benefits as a result of stretching out stiff muscles, including sudden boosts in mood, greater overall exercise endurance, and more.
Another benefit of these kinds of stretching routines, is that they can dramatically improve your posture — which is essentially the same as saying that they can dramatically improve your looks. Long story short, the way we carry ourselves physically can have an immense impact on how we look, as well as on how we feel.
Aim for an hour of physical activity each day — and take short activity breaks throughout the day
Everyone knows — or should know — that exercise and physical activity, done within reason, are inarguably good for you. The research is clear that getting regular physical exercise can improve your life expectancy, and the quality of your life, while simultaneously improving your health in the here and now.
Of course, regular exercise also improves your blood flow, keeps your skin looking youthful, develops your cardiovascular health, and just confers a whole range of benefits, along various different dimensions.
Aiming for an hour or physical activity each day might do you a world of good. But in addition to getting in your workouts themselves, you should also try to take short activity breaks throughout the day — ideally at least 5 minutes an hour to walk around.
This is because research has also found that there appear to be various, serious downsides to staying sedentary for too long during the day, and striking benefits for maintaining a certain baseline of activity.
Eat a traditional, whole foods diet — the Mediterranean diet is a good template
There are all kinds of different diets out there that people hold out as being the final answer to the question of health. The thing is, most of these diets are fairly new and the claims they make are pretty bold. Often, you might find that by dabbling in modern diet fads, you do some harm to your health and looks without really thinking about it.
A good, simple alternative might be to just eat a traditional, whole foods diet that’s been around for a good long while, and that is known to be associated with good health outcomes. Ideally, they’ll even taste good, too.
The Mediterranean diet is often held up as a good example here, especially in the form that it exists in, in places like Sardinia.
In any event, avoid eating too much processed food, and be sure to get a good range of different foodstuffs in your diet, too.