anti aging

If you’ve ever tried to find a skin care product to deal with the skin care concerns of aging skin, you’re probably as confused as the average person. There are so many products and ingredients that tout ‘increase in this’, ‘decrease in that’ , ‘revitalized this and revitalized that’ and on and on and on. Many empty promises or over-hyped formulations.

In order to understand what anti-aging skin care products are intended to do, you have to first understand about what the aging process is for skin. Aging skin has the condition where the structural proteins that bind and support the skin, collagen and elastin, lose their resiliency and cohesion, causing the skin to wrinkle and/or sag. The body's ability to produce new collagen and elastin also diminishes with age while the cells in the various layers of our skin decline and thin, loosing the ability to adequately maintain moisture. Without proper hydration, the healing mechanisms of the skin cease to function, adversely affecting the skin's ability to receive nutrients and repair itself. The result is rough, lose, wrinkled skin.

Of course, we all want to have the best skin possible at any age and are searching for solutions to maintain our skin’s youthfulness. In our quest and with the constant marketing and advancements in skin care, it can sometimes be difficult to find an affordable and effective solution for great skin care.

However, what you need to know is that it doesn’t have to be that complex (as many of the product name suggest!). What you should consider is that what any skin care program should be is simple. That’s it, just simple. The results that we all want are simple: soft, smooth, clear, radiant, younger-looking skin.

Too much of the time now days, skin care marketers are trying to convenience consumers that they need formulations that no average consumer can understand, or day and night products, or formulations that highly successful, well-known personalities would use. If you think about it, how many products do you currently have in your storage that were purchased because of these marketing strategies?

With these types of advertising, there are so many re-touches and questionable representation of the product effectiveness because the personality also receives so many other types of services and procedures that impact the condition of skin that you really cannot know the true results that the highly marketed products will bring.

The positive side of the situation is that there are constant and ever evolving advances in skin care and we all have the option for our skin condition improving with age.

If you are looking for a skin care program, there are some guidelines you may want to consider when making your skin care choices:

 Protect your skin while you are in the sun and extreme weather. Use proper protection.

 Drink lots of water. It’s so important for proper skin hydration and keeping your body clean from toxins and other chemicals that could cause adverse reactions in your skin.

 You should know what you are using on your skin. If you can’t pronounce the majority of the ingredients or there are more than 5 or 6 ingredients, then it may be too complex for what your skin actually needs. Skin care that uses these types of formulations are full of fillers, coloring, preservatives, and chemicals that are not beneficial for your skin and come with a high price where the consumer is paying for the filler more so than the active ingredients. These types of ingredients are only needed to fill up the bottle and make it appealing to smell or touch. Sometimes products will contain multiple active ingredients but in order to formulate these ingredients, it requires that other ingredients be added. You end up paying for something your skin cannot use. The cheaper ingredients are filling up the bottle. Try a similar approach to how you would choose your food (skin is ‘live cells’ and needs nourishment). Watch the labels and choose products with skin healthy formulations where the active ingredients are 80% of the ingredients.

 You should use a good and effective cleanser. This is the most important step in your skin care process. Many cleansing products do not leave your skin feeling smooth and deeply cleansed. Find a product that goes deep into the pores, provides light exfoliation and conditioning, and does not leave any residue. Applying moisturizers and treatments on top of skin that is not completely clean will just make the problem worse by clogging pores and showing a rough, uneven skin texture.

 You should be able to adjust your program to meet your skin’s daily needs. If you can’t adjust the use of the products to match what your skin needs on a particular day, are you really getting what you need? Your program should be able to hydrate, heal, and renew your skin. You should see this gradual improvement everyday and not have to wait 30 to 60 days for results. It’s like watering a plant. A plant that needs water as a critical nutrient will respond immediately to the water being absorbed through its roots and perk up within a few hours. Watch your skin for a week or so and you’ll know how effective the program can ultimately be for your skin care needs.

 You should be able to quickly go through your regime. It should not take more than 5 minutes. A skin care program should include the steps to cleanse, exfoliate, treat and/or moisturize. You should be able to pick and choose what you need based on you skin’s current condition for that day.

 You should not be able to feel the product on your skin. In order for skin care to really be effective, it must penetrate the skin cells. Product sitting on top of your skin is product that is not penetrating the skin layers. Products with fillers and other unnecessary, complex formulations will may not get deep or directly enough to provide the treatment and results you are looking for. You should not know that you are wearing your skin care.

 You should feel comfortable with makeup optional skin. If your skin care is really working, your skin will improve and you will not want to put makeup on it if you don’t have to. Most skin problems are correctable to a large degree. You should be able to go out feeling confident that your skin is at its best (with minimal makeup) no matter what your age is. Also, by using makeup less, you are giving your skin more time to repair and restore itself without the interruption of other product chemicals on your skin.

Most people are familiar with Botox. Many of us have seen the footage on television showing a doctor injecting this clear wonder solution into the facial skin of some patient searching for the lost fountain of youth. But did you know that Botox has also moved into the arena of helping people solve some more mainstream problems such as strokes, cerebral palsy and migraines? In the past year or so, much research and experimentation has shown that this wrinkle cure is also useful in helping people with more serious medical problems.

Botox is derived from the same botulin toxin that is found in spoiled foods. A sterile and purified version of this toxin, known as Botulinum toxin type A, is what doctors use to reduce wrinkles. It is injected just under the skin. The toxin simply blocks the nerves in the muscles from receiving the signal to contract, thereby causing them to relax more. The net result is that the process of wrinkle formation is reduced. The process must be repeated every 3 to 6 months because the effect wears off.

This same muscle relaxing effect has been found to be beneficial in treating other ailments where the muscles are known to spasm or freeze up causing pain and discomfort. At the neurology clinic at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary Canada, Dr. Oksana Suchowersky has been using Botox for years to treat facial spasms and more recently, migraine headaches.

In addition, Montreal urologist Dr. Jacques Corcos, has been using Botox to treat patients with poor bladder control. By injecting Botox into the bladder of patients, they are able to live a more comfortable life, relieving them from the mercy of numerous bathroom visits.

At the University Medical Center in Texas, Dr. Gabor Racz has been using a combination of Botox and phenol injections to relieve crippling pain in patients suffering from chronic neurological syndrome. This is a condition where patients experience severe pain, burning, sensitivity and sometimes swelling, often in their hands.

At Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Botox is also helping stroke patients. Dr. Allison Brashear has been using Botox to help stroke victims get back to helping themselves live a more pain free life. With repeated injections, he has helped patients recover so that they can perform everyday activities without much pain. It has been estimated that perhaps 10% of stroke survivors could benefit from Botox treatments.

Since its initial approval for medical use in 1998, more and more, doctors have found important and life changing uses for Botox. The current estimate is that within 3 years, the FDA will grant approval to Botox for the treatment of migraines. So, if you simply want to take a few years off your face or stop crippling pain or correct an overactive bladder, your next trip to the doctor may very likely contain a conversation about Botox and how it can help you.

Who Wants to Live Forever?

As far as anybody knows, humans are the only animals that have a sense of mortality. For a very long time - presumably ever since we gained this awareness of impending death - we have speculated about the prospect of immortality. Not all cultures wish for immortality. Some religions, perhaps most religions, would regard any search for immortality as undesirable. With the greatest respect to those who do not want immortality or do not agree with it, we must surely admit that many of us - including many of religious faith - would welcome immortality, or at the very least, a prolonged life.

Civilisation Produced Old Age

Before we look at the ways in which this could be achieved, let us consider where we are now. Humans have evolved into the dominant species on earth. Fewer and fewer predators have threatened us as we have gained in strength, cunning and inventiveness. As a society we have learned to harness nature to the extent that food can be stored and packaged and eaten without the need for all of us to hunt and gather. Medicines have been developed to counter disease. We have found ways of keeping our water clean for drinking. Many of us can heat our homes (or even cool them) when necessary, and to a greater or lesser extent look after our old as we look after our young. We have become civilised.

Wear Out

The phenomenon of old age that civilisation has brought to us sets us apart from other animals. It is virtually unheard of to see old age amongst wild animals. As we have become civilised our bodies have not caught up yet. They were never designed to last for centuries because uncivilised man could never have lasted that long in its wild environment. We die because we wear out - not because we can't feed or look after ourselves. The good news is that we are catching up. Each generation (usually) lives longer then the one that went before. Many of us are choosing healthier lifestyles that helps to prolong life. But we are still wearing out.

Body Part Replacement

Scientists and surgeons have become increasingly knowledgeable about transplants of human body parts. The problem of rejection is not the barrier it once was. With the advent of DNA technology it is possible, in theory at least, the "grow" a human body part using the DNA blueprint found in just a small sample. Putting these two facts together, there is a real chance that we will soon have the means to transplant most body parts. In time we could replace all body parts. Once transplantation is perfected we would then have the means to replace worn-out body parts at will. We could all have a scan where a DNA profile of our bodies was compiled. The information in our personal database would be used in order to grow our replacement parts. Using micro-surgery techniques, new parts could be fitted every 5 years! Can you imagine it?

What About the Brain?

Change as many bits as you like, but take the brain away and then surely the person no longer exists. Even if it were possible to grow a replacement brain, how would the information from the old one - including our very state of existence and self-image - be transferred to the new one? Well, the brain is indeed a special case as it holds not only our thoughts and memories but also our sense of being. Because of this, swapping one brain for another and disposing of the old one would be tantamount to murder and defeat the point of the whole exercise. On the other hand, if the brain could not be rejuvenated just like the rest of the body, it will die from old age anyway.

Brains Rarely Fail

There are various ways of dealing with this issue. It must be remembered that thousands of our brain cells are dying every day. It is possible for new cells to be created, but the rate of cell death is far greater than cell creation. Whatever the reason, the rate of aggregate brain cell death seems to grow as we age. That said, it is very common for the brain to remain in a good state whilst the rest of the body fails. When people die of old age, it usually a part of the body - such as the heart - that fails and rarely the brain itself.

Apoptosis

Why do brain cells (or neurons) die? There are various causes. They are certain illnesses, accidents and the use of certain drugs (e.g. alcohol) or other environmental toxins. These factors only play a minor part in brain cell death. A more common cause is apoptosis. This is where cells effectively commit suicide. This process is not fully understood but is thought to be necessary for the long term health of the brain. It is thought that cells that are in some way damaged (for instance their DNA might have become scrambled) die before they can cause damage to the rest of the body. It is also thought, however, that apoptosis occurs to cells virtually at random. One idea is that, as our body fails certain neurons are no longer required and simply expire rather than use resources. This may be a significant theory: our bodies wear out: we slow down: less stimuli reach the brain: the brain doesn't need as many neurons: apoptosis results.

Introducing New Cells

Perhaps apoptosis is the key to the fact that our brains generally outlive the rest of our body. The brain simply gets leaner but stays meaner compared to other body parts that simply cannot shed unwanted or bad cells. So why even think of transplanting the brain? There is no reason to replace parts of the brain because unwanted cells die out voluntarily. One idea is simply to add new cells, prepared with the correct DNA structure. With nano technology it would be possible for microscopic robots to enter the body (perhaps through the gut, if taken regularly as a drug) and carry the new cells with them to the brain. It may be possible for a one-off procedure to deposit a culture in the body that will act as a brain cell reservoir. Nano robots would release new cells at an appropriate rate. In addition, if limbs were being regularly replaced, the body as a whole would be quicker and this would undoubtedly result in a lower rate of apoptosis. Oh, and easy on the alcohol!

In our throw-away society we may have lost the habit of replacing parts. The thing about us humans is that we can't simply be replaced by a new model. We need to be renovated and renewed occasionally. Perhaps a few of the things we buy could get the same treatment. When I am not thinking about immortality, I am promoting Insectocutor Fly Killers. We are always happy to sell you a new model. We also, however, carry a range of spare parts. There are some Insectocutor models out there that are over 30 years old. We are proud to have supplied the odd spare part when it has been needed. Immortality indeed!

Sagging faces and wrinkles concern just about everyone over the age of thirty. In fact, the search for the “fountain” has reached an all-time frenzy as consumers pay more and more money chasing after new, better and improved creams, toners and potions just hoping for a miracle in a jar that will erase, and then stop the wrinkles and sagging.

Sagging muscles in the face drag down the skin; you see the result of that when you witness nasal labia folds, jowls and pouches on the jaw and eyebrows that seem lower than usual. It has been reported that our facial muscles can elongate as much as one-half inch by age fifty-five. We certainly witness elongation in our arms, legs and buttocks; arms become flabby, inner thighs lose their firmness and the once firm derriere begins to slide into our upper thigh. The face loses its firmness, too. Aging isn't what it used to be but even when we slow the process with good nutrition and exercise, our faces show stress - and our age.

Here are five areas of the face that can make us look older than our years when muscles begin to lose their tone and the skin loses its resiliency:

Forehead and Eyes

The forehead muscle, the frontalis, runs vertically from the hair line to the eyebrows. When this muscle atrophies, it elongates and adversely affects the eyebrows by adding gravitational weight causing the brows to lower and that’s when horizontal lines develop on the forehead. This downward action also distresses the eyelids and they begin to show lines or folds and eyelids can become “hooded.” Hooded eyes are very common; these heavy lids can impair your vision and make one look angry or tired.

The eyebrows sit on the top of the obicularis occuli muscle that encircles each eye. The obicularis occuli and frontalis muscles are muscles we use to “raise our eyebrows.” When the forehead muscle atrophies, there is a noticeable reduction in the distance between the eyebrows and eyelashes. If you can’t see your eye shadow, it’s probably because the eyelid is sagging, wrinkling or folding.

Neck:

The platysma muscle in the neck is very large compared with the other muscles of the face; it runs from the upper chest area through the neck to the lower cheek area. When this large muscle atrophies, it sags quite noticeably, resulting in the dreaded turkey wattle, double chin and horizontal neck lines. The good news is that these muscles can easily be conditioned using resistance and the tongue.

Upper Cheeks and Lower Cheeks:

The upper cheek muscles, zygomaticus and levitors, anchor into the hairline but the other end of this 12-part muscle group inserts under the mouth muscle. When these heavy muscles lose their battle with gravity, the elongated muscles begin to “pool” into the muscles near the mouth and lower mouth areas, resulting in folds alongside the mouth, pouches and jowls, down-turned mouth corners and a less than refined jaw.

Aging faces have three choices:

1. Do nothing
2. Invasive procedure
3. Facial exercise

Just as exercise shapes and contours the body, exercise for the face can shape and contour the face. What happens when specific exercises are used for the face? The muscles become stronger and the skin becomes resilient; after a few weeks the facial muscles rehabilitate and the user looks refreshed because the droopy skin has been revitalized with oxygenated blood flowing to the tissues.

How does one choose a facial exercise program that will produce the best results? Resistance and isometric contractions reshape the body and these same principles will rehabilitate the face.

There has been controversy regarding the efficacy of facial exercises; the biggest misconception is thinking contorted grimaces produce the type of contraction that will lift, tighten and shorten the facial muscles. They don’t. Excessive squinting and scrunching the face will contribute to further wrinkles and stretching of the skin.

In the face, the muscles are attached to bone on only one end; the other end inserts into another muscle or the skin. To achieve resistance the muscle and skin must be anchored. Only when the muscle is anchored can a resistance contraction occur and when this happens, the muscle responds by tightening and repositioning; the face looks younger because the muscles, just below the skin, are in much better physical condition.