Franklin Spa Massage

When we were 16, it was easy to look into the mirror and be happy with our reflection, but now that we’ve reached our 40’s and 50’s, it can be a little more on the depressing side to find a new wrinkle.

We all long for youthful skin, but for many of us, this is an elusive dream. While you can resort to tons of expensive face creams and Botox injections, nothing beats keeping to a healthy lifestyle and Skin Care regimen.

1. Eat Your Way to Healthy Skin

What goes inside your body has a lot to do with how your skin will feel and appear from the outside. Youthful glowing skin starts internally, and by getting a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals daily, you’ll help delay the signs of aging on your skin. Nutritionists advise a healthy diet of food sources rich in omega 3, antioxidants, and monounsaturated fats that are known to help the skin’s renewal and regeneration process. Salmon, halibut, avocado, broccoli, tomatoes, and olives are just a few of the staples that you should have on your grocery list.

2. Drink Up

Hydration plays a key role in keeping your skin nourished and moisturized. By loading up on 8 glasses of water each day, you can help delay wrinkling while keeping your skin smooth to the touch. Additionally, taking in lots of fluids aids in your body’s digestion as it flushes out harmful toxins from your body.

3. Cleanse, Tone, and Moisturize

As you age, your skin loses its original elasticity and radiance, which is why you need to take better care of it. Ask any dermatologist and they will readily tell you that an essential practice for ageless skin lies in the Cleanse, Tone, and Moisturize routine. It may take you 5 – 10 minutes daily to finish the entire process, but its age-defying results are bound to make every minute worth it.

Begin by using a mild facial cleanser to wash off any impurities or debris that may have clung onto your skin. Follow this up by saturating a cotton ball with a toner and apply it carefully on your face. Doing this helps restore your skin’s natural ph levels. Lastly, apply a good amount of moisturizer on your face and neck to fight against rough, dry skin.

4. Protection from the Sun

Constant exposure to the sun’s harmful rays hastens your skin’s natural aging process, causing dark spots, wrinkles, and dryness. Shield your skin from these harmful elements by wearing hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen that are at least SPF 15 or higher.

5. Drive Stress Away

Living a highly stressful lifestyle also takes its toll on your skin. The fact is that anxieties and stress can make your skin age faster. If work drives you crazy, get involved in meditation or breathing exercises to calm your nerves and helps avoid frown lines.

Although aging is an inevitable part of life, creating a healthy lifestyle and a happy atmosphere can help you look younger for longer.

When not writing about maintaining health and agelessness, Julia writes about orthotics for plantar fasciitis and the underlying causes of heel pain for IdealFeet.com.

I had no idea what I was getting into when my wife walked into the house one day with a look of confusing on her face. I should have known better and casually continued to play World of War Craft but instead I asked her what was wrong.  Without taking a breath for no less than 4 minutes my lovely wife told me about a new fitness program that her co-worker started and how quickly she was getting into shape.  She seemed angry and again I did not learn my lesson and asked her what the big deal was.

Apparently, this fitness program would mean she needed to spend Tuesday night at the local gym from 6 to 8:30 and this is the time of her favorite TV show. After reminding her of this lovely thing called DVR her annoyance suddenly turned into excitement. I also became excited to know my Tuesday nights would be just me and my Xbox.

I did not think much of it for several weeks. Tuesdays had come and gone without incident. I was enjoying myself and she seemed to be having a good time as well. There were even other nights were she would escape into the bedroom for a half hour here and there. I figured she was just doing jumping jacks, or sit-ups. 

It was not until about 8 weeks later I heard her come in with a jingle echoing every step. It is not every day a man hears bells every time his wife walks so I went to check what was going on. As I turned the corner I see her removing the bottom to a belly dancing skirt and placing it into her bag. Surprised I asked her what that tiny skirt was. She explained the fitness program was a belly dance class. After seeing what she had learned over the 2 months I found it funny to think that a belly dance class was a recipe for happiness for both her and me.

There’s a strange trend that’s been emerging in the last couple of years, and it seems as if it’s about to go critical: dip dye hair.

I remember my old grunge days in the mid nineties, a time when I rocked a long, unkempt mess of dip dye hair around the dirty streets of New York.  My hair colour changed more often than my underwear, and my parents despaired (understandably).  It was a rough time, fashion wise, and for several years I persisted with dip dye hair in every shade of the rainbow.  

I thought I’d left this unfortunate trend behind in the mists of my twenties, but it seems a new generation of youngsters has adopted the style – front and foremost the celebrities on the cutting edge of fashion (if only they knew).  For a couple of years we’ve seen the likes of Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Kelly Osborne et al rocking the dip dye look, and while I hoped this would be a fly by night trend it seems as if it’s here to stay. 

Anyway… as it seems as if we’re not gonna get rid of dip dye hair any time in the near future I just have one piece of advice.  Ladies: for the love of all that is holy, get your hair dyed by a professional.  I’ve seen too many beautiful heads of hair destroyed by at-home experiments.  

I will be going to my cousin’s wedding next week and I wanted to look my best.  I had already bought the dress and the shoes and now the only thing left to do was my hair.  I was thinking about going to the hair salon so I called up the local salon to see how much it would cost to style my hair.  They told me it would cost 150 dollars.  I was taken aback by the cost and I knew that I would not be able to afford it.  I currently work at a minimum wage job so it is hard for me to save any money. 

I decided the best thing to do would be to buy my own flat iron and style my own hair.  I figured flat irons would be much cheaper and I could use it any time that I wanted.  I first went to the mall to see if I could find the hair straightener.  The mall was selling the CHI hair straightener but the price was pretty expensive.  I wasn’t willing to spend that much money.  So I started checking online for good deals and I was finally able to find the HSI flat iron.  This flat iron had many great reviews and the best thing about it was that it was not expensive at all.  It cost less than 50 dollars which was something that I could easily afford.  With all these good things going for the HSI 1″ Ceramic Tourmaline Ionic Flat Iron Hair I went ahead and bought it.

Anyone who has ever suffered from Fibromyalgia will know it is very unpleasant and painful, hard to trea,t and in many ways a mystery to the medical world. To date no cure has been found for Fibromyaligia and no-one is able to explain why the sufferers feel the pains they do when there is no obvious physical reason for it. X-rays show nothing as a cause for the pains, a cause of great frustration to those enduring them. I know someone close to me who suffers from Fibromyalgia, and she asked me to do some research to see if I could find out more about this terrible condition, and to see if there was anything she could do to at least alleviate the many symptoms she was experiencing. Naturally I was more than happy to help out in any way I could, so I began trawling the Internet looking for useful information that would answer my first question ‘What is Fibromyalgia?’ I was very lucky, as one of the first sites I managed to discover answered many of my questions, as well as offering some super ideas for how to alleviate some of the symptoms, and potential drugs that may help the problem. This site opened my eyes I can tell you, and if you know someone suffering from Fibromyalgia I strongly suggest you get them to have a read of it.  The site can be found here: What is Fibromyalgia?