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Tag: healthy aging

  • 3 Natural Ways To Fade Dark Spots At Home According To The Pros

    3 Natural Ways To Fade Dark Spots At Home According To The Pros

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    When treating any skin condition or concern, your most effective route is to tend to it through many avenues—topical, technical, lifestyle, and internal. In terms of internal support, certain antioxidants have actually been shown to help reduce age marks.

    For example, a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial found that taking pomegranate whole fruit extract orally could help with common sun-induced pigmentation (aka sun spots). 

    “There’s actually clinical trials showing that if you drink pomegranate juice or take a certain dose of pomegranate extract, it actually has a UV protective effect against the sun—essentially it can help your skin repair from sun damage—which we know is the leading cause of brown spots,” says board-certified dermatologist Whitney Bowe, M.D., in an episode of Clean Beauty School. “There’s another that shows that it can actually help brighten dark spots from the past and help with hyperpigmentation.” 

    Another popular antioxidant, astaxanthin has been shown to help reduce the size of age spots1, as well as ease the appearance of fine lines and dullness. You can add these nutrients to your diet or look for them in beauty supplements for an extra boost.

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    Alexandra Engler

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  • 7 Expert-Approved Ways To Tighten The Skin On Your Face Naturally

    7 Expert-Approved Ways To Tighten The Skin On Your Face Naturally

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    “When thinking about the skin in layers and what causes skin aging over time, we examine from the bottom up what levels of the face get affected by aging,” board-certified dermatologist and Director of Cosmetic Dermatology at Montefiore Einstein Advanced Care Kseniya Kobets, M.D. tells mbg.

    As you age, the volume in your face may slowly lose volume around the bones of the cheek, forehead, temples, and jawline. “This is our infrastructure or scaffolding that holds up the fat, collagen, and skin,” Kobets says. 

    “When this diminishes, it causes hollowness of cheeks, under eye, and temples but also the lower part of the face begins to sag and droop in the jowls or marionette lines,” she explains. The latter marionette lines refer to the vertical lines around the mouth. 

    As you begin to age, sagging skin is inevitable, board-certified dermatologist and founder of MMSkincare Ellen Marmur, M.D. tells mbg. “But other factors such as diet, sun exposure, and sleep deprivation can contribute to it,” she adds. 

    All of this to say: Aging skin is a natural process that cannot (nor should be) avoided. However, there are external factors that contribute to accelerated skin aging. What’s more, these factors like lack of sleep, smoking, chronic stress, etc. aren’t good for the health of your skin nor your body. 

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    Hannah Frye

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  • 3 Expert Tips To Avoid Wrinkles & Fine Lines While You Sleep

    3 Expert Tips To Avoid Wrinkles & Fine Lines While You Sleep

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    You may choose to skip a morning cleanse, especially if your skin runs dry—but a nightly wash is nonnegotiable. “If you only want to [cleanse] once a day, do it at night so you can take all the pollution off before you go to sleep,” board-certified dermatologist Jeanine Downie, M.D., says regarding how often you should wash your face.

    You see, pollutants and daily grime build up on your skin as the day goes on, which can contribute to oxidative stress, dull, crepey skin, and fine lines if you don’t cleanse before bed. “Pollution can subject the skin to free radicals, which can contribute to the breakdown of collagen and elastin and lead to aging of the skin, so it’s important to cleanse the skin to avoid these effects,” adds board-certified dermatologist Hadley King, M.D.

    And if you wear makeup, that makes it even more important to give your skin a good scrub. Frequently sleeping in your makeup can not only cause clogged pores but even lead to premature skin aging.

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    Jamie Schneider

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  • Muscle Strength Loss Increases 70% If You’re Deficient In This Vitamin

    Muscle Strength Loss Increases 70% If You’re Deficient In This Vitamin

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    Researchers found that the risk of incidence of dynapenia increased by 70% for individuals with vitamin D levels under 12 ng/ml. They also found that great vitamin D deficiency (under 12 ng/ml) and deficiency (under 20 ng/ml) were risk factors for muscle strength loss for older adults without osteoporosis who also didn’t take a vitamin D supplement. This indicates that deficient vitamin D levels could compromise muscle strength. 

    This finding becomes even more salient when considering the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the growing aging population: You see, 29% 3of U.S. adults are already vitamin D deficient, and one in six people will be over 60 by 2030, according to the World Health Organization4.

    The results of this study suggest that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for the loss of muscle strength in older adults. In order to avoid the worst effects of vitamin D deficiency, it’s crucial to check your vitamin D levels, either at home or at your doctor’s office. In fact, you may want to recommend anyone in your life over 50 to do the same. To get ahead of it, consider taking a vitamin D supplement. You can find our favorites here.

    Keeping your muscles strong becomes even more important as you age, as muscle mass and strength are massively beneficial in preventing falls and injuries. (It’s so important that mindbodygreen even flagged strength training for longevity as a 2023 wellness trend.) 

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    Josey Murray

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  • How A Beauty Editor Supports Her Collagen In Her 30s

    How A Beauty Editor Supports Her Collagen In Her 30s

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    Obviously topical skin care products play a huge role in collagen production and preservation. The most important thing you can do is wear sunscreen regularly to protect your collagen from UV damage. It’s the leading cause of skin aging—accounting for some 80% of damage3.

    From there, you’ll want to use topical ingredients that are shown to promote collagen production such as vitamin C, retinol, peptides, and AHAs. Vitamin C is vital for the collagen synthesis process—plus as an antioxidant it can protect your collagen layer from free radicals. Retinol works with your skin’s retinoid receptors to upregulate collagen production over time. And glycolic acid has been shown to spur collagen4 by engaging your skin’s wound response. There’s less research on peptides, but a growing body of evidence shows that some select options can encourage collagen production5 in the skin too.

    But here’s the catch: Only use these if you can tolerate them. If you use them at concentrations that overwhelm your skin, they’ll end up causing more damage to your collagen layer rather than helping. Vitamin C, for example, is a sensitizing ingredient for many skin types—especially when using potent versions at potent doses: If you find that a 20% vitamin C makes your skin flush or irritated, you’re better off finding a lower percentage or a more mild version. Retinol, too, is notoriously hard for folks to handle: Stick to encapsulated versions, or only use it a few times a week, max.

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    Alexandra Engler

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  • The Mental Age Test: Find Out Yours In Just 15 Quick Questions

    The Mental Age Test: Find Out Yours In Just 15 Quick Questions

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    A lot of factors can make someone’s mental age older than they actually are. For one thing, you may have just always been an old soul since you were young, or certain experiences may have caused you to mature faster than you would have liked. Health factors can also influence an aging brain, making it (and subsequently you) age more quickly, which will certainly influence how you think and feel.

    In general, minding your health (especially brain health) is sure to make you feel younger. There are brain exercises you can do as you age to keep the mind sharp, for example. Milstein also recommends brain-healthy habits like like walking with friends (which research2 says can help ward off dementia, BTW), getting enough exercise, eating a nutritious diet, and getting adequate rest.

    Additionally, whether your mental age is young or old, we should always strive to keep learning for the sake of our brains and personal development. As Milstein writes in his book, “Think of your brain like a bank account; the more deposits we make, the less our net worth is affected by withdrawals. We make deposits (new connections) by learning new things; As we age and naturally lose some of those connections, there are simply more remaining.”

    Ultimately, though, an older mental age often translates to wisdom, and Nuñez notes there can be benefits to your mature mindset. “No matter what age you are, it’s so important to keep a healthy mindset and reframe any negative thinking around what makes you, you,” she tells mbg.

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    Sarah Regan

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  • 6 Ways To Exfoliate Your Legs Naturally + Which Is Best For You

    6 Ways To Exfoliate Your Legs Naturally + Which Is Best For You

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    Alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids (commonly referred to as AHAs and BHAs) are two superstar ingredients for exfoliation. While you may be more familiar with them in facial skin care serums, there are plenty of chemical exfoliation body products out there, too. 

    You should know that chemical body exfoliators are often way more potent: The skin on the body is thicker than the skin on the face, which is why exfoliating serums generally have a higher percentage of AHAs or BHAs. 

    For general exfoliation, AHAs like glycolic, lactic, and mandelic acid will help to gently dissolve dead skin and brighten tone. Salicylic acid, on the other hand (which is oil-soluble), may help manage body breakouts while exfoliating. 

    Even though ingredients like glycolic acid and lactic acid may sound intimidating, they can actually be a more gentle form of exfoliation than some body scrubs. In fact, for those with keratosis pilaris (KP) or “strawberry legs,” this form is preferred. “In general, mechanical exfoliation is not the best for KP and can even make it worse,” board-certified dermatologist and founder of MaeiMD Rebecca Marcus, M.D.,FAAD tells mbg. More on KP in a bit. 

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    Hannah Frye

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  • The 3 Best Iron Deficiency Tests Of 2022 To Check Your Levels At Home

    The 3 Best Iron Deficiency Tests Of 2022 To Check Your Levels At Home

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    If you haven’t given your iron levels a second thought until now, you’re not alone. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, with 30 percent of the worldwide population1 being iron-deficient. Factors like food availability contribute to this number being larger in developing countries than in first-world countries, but a staggering 10 million people in the U.S. are iron deficient1. So, even if you eat a diet rich in iron, it’s still a good idea to keep an eye on your levels with an at-home iron deficiency test or (preferably) a trip to the doctor, as this nutrient is actually among the most difficult to absorb—especially if you’re relying on plant-based food sources.

    You may have heard the term anemia, and refer to it simultaneously as iron deficiency—but the two conditions have clinical differences. Iron deficiency (ID) is defined as the decrease in the total content of iron2 in the body. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) occurs when iron deficiency is severe enough to reduce the production of red blood cells. And while, yes, they are clinically different, iron deficiency can be a precursor to iron-deficient anemia. 

    ID may be the result of either excessive blood loss or decreased absorption and storage of iron. This fine balance of iron input and output is easily disturbed by either excessive output such as bleeding or decreased intake through a diet low in iron-rich foods.

    A simple blood test can determine the levels of iron and ferritin (iron stored in your body). However, asking your healthcare provider to order iron tests can be time-consuming and expensive, as you’ll often need to travel to a costly lab to have your blood drawn, and then wait for your doctor to relay your results. As a remedy to this often costly, lengthy process, at-home lab testing is becoming more and more commonplace. People can now order tests from the comfort of their homes, mail in the samples, and receive results within days—all for a flat rate. 

    Keep reading to find out the best at-home iron deficiency tests we’ve found, and to learn more about why iron is an important nutrient.

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    Amanda Lundberg, RN

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  • 7 Brain Exercises & Activities To Do Through The Decades

    7 Brain Exercises & Activities To Do Through The Decades

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    So what do brain exercises actually do, and how do they impact your mental fitness? “Brain exercises keep your brain flexible and changing—this is neuroplasticity,” says neuroscientist Tara Swart, M.D., Ph.D.

    “When we learn something new, then we get the direct benefit of that new learning but also global benefits in the brain in our executive functioning such as emotional regulation, complex problem solving, creative thinking, etc.,” Swart adds.

    Elane O’Brien Ph.D., psychologist and co-author of The Power of Play: Optimize Your Joy Potential, cites what’s known as the “theory of multiple intelligences” to further explain how brain games work.

    When we use strategy to solve puzzles or play thinking games, we engage our linguistic-verbal intelligence and put thoughts and feelings into words. This helps develop our cognition and creativity. “Intellectual play and games involving problem-solving, thinking, and practicing new mental skills can teach us how things work in the world. There is an activation of concentration, strategy, and active thinking during playtime,” says O’Brien.

    Swart adds that it’s important to play brain games throughout your life1—not just when you’re in school or when you reach older age. “Brain cells can start to shrink or die in your twenties2, so the age to start challenging your brain is when you are not naturally learning [as many new things],” she says.

    For a general rule of thumb on when to prioritize different types of brain exercise, neurologists Dean Sherzai, M.D., and Ayesha Sherzai, M.D., directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University, previously told mindbodygreen that it may be helpful to focus on attention in your 20s, memory in your 30s, and executive function in your 40s and beyond. 

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    Josey Murray

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  • Red Light Therapy: The Science Behind The Light + Benefits

    Red Light Therapy: The Science Behind The Light + Benefits

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    Red light works via a phenomenon called photobiomodulation. “This is where different components of our cells are activated or respond to different wavelengths of light,” board-certified dermatoligist Erum Ilyas, M.D., MBE, FAAD tells mbg. 

    The exact mechanisms of photobiomodulation are not completely understood, but the effects have been clinically studied1. “Studies seem to show that light acts on the mitochondria of cells which leads to increased production of different factors that increase the proteins and factors that allow cells to communicate,” Ilyas explains. 

    By allowing the cells to communicate, red light therapy essentially helps your skin work more effectively. “This may help stimulate collagen production and other factors that help with skin remodeling,” Illyas says. 

    And one of the easiest ways to explain how red light (RLT) and other low-level light therapies work is to compare it to other traditional skin care devices like lasers and intense pulsed light (IPL). 

    “Lasers traditionally work by causing controlled damage in the skin in an attempt to trigger an inflammatory reaction,” she notes. This can result in positive changes such as wrinkle reduction, improved hyperpigmentation, or reduced redness, Ilyas says. 

    “Red light therapies and other LLLTs are different in that they are atraumatic to the skin,” she says. Meaning that instead of creating microtraumas that trigger healing, they start to positively impact the skin right away. Pretty cool, right?

    The best part? “The effects are seen without the discomfort, healing time, and possible reactive swelling that are seen with traditional laser and IPL platforms,” she notes. Translation: You’re tending to the skin on a cellular level without a bunch of negative side effects—more on that in a bit. 

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    Hannah Frye

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  • 12 Signs Of Cognitive Decline That Shouldn’t Be Ignored

    12 Signs Of Cognitive Decline That Shouldn’t Be Ignored

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    Some aspects of getting older are inevitable, and brain aging is one of them. No matter how diligently you care for your brain, a certain amount of change in cognitive function (e.g., struggling to multitask or recall someone’s name) is normal and expected.

    However, the line between typical “senior moments” and signs of serious cognitive decline can be somewhat subjective and difficult to define. This intermediate zone between normal brain aging and dementia is called mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and it can be a cause for concern—once signs of MCI begin to crop up, they can progress into dementia (typically in the form of Alzheimer’s disease) at an annual rate of 8% to 15%.

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    Morgan Chamberlain

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  • The 8 Best Hair, Skin & Nail Vitamins From A Ph.D. Scientist

    The 8 Best Hair, Skin & Nail Vitamins From A Ph.D. Scientist

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    Collagen peptides can have several long-term beauty benefits: they can support skin hydration, elasticity, and overall appearance when used consistently. This collagen also contains amino acids, which are the building blocks of nails and hair. (For more intel on the science behind those claims, check out our guide to collagen supplements which thoroughly explains what we know given the current research.) But the powder doesn’t stop there, as it contains seven additional beauty-enhancing ingredients such as vitamin C, E, hyaluronic acid, biotin, L-glutamine, turmeric, and sulforaphane glucosinolate. (A few of those rank among the best vitamins and nutrients for both hair and nails individually.) Thanks to the robust nutritional profile of this innovative, multi-ingredient formula, you can consider a scoop of this power your one-step, inside-out beauty routine. *

    What users say: 

    As one user noted, it helps her look more radiant naturally: “I’ve caught myself in the mirror recently, and now my eyes aren’t at all puffy and my lips and cheeks have a blush to them. My skin is firm yet supple to the touch, and my nails are stronger. I love the high dose of vitamins C and E, and biotin, too. I imagine I’m still getting some serious support from the vitamins.” And another user noted, she sees the difference in her nails and hair: “I put the powder in my ginger tea when it’s cold out, and otherwise. I definitely notice the difference in my hair and nails. My nails are stronger, and my hair seems thicker and shinier. Also, it is nice to have that extra nutrient boost. I think it has been good for my gut, too. Clearly a premium product. 100% worth it — now I’m hooked!” Who else recommends it? Bobbi Brown called it her “latest obsession.”*

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    Alexandra Engler

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