External Lifestyle Factors That Can Affect Your Skin

As the largest organ in the human body, your skin works incredibly hard to protect us from all sorts of nasties (or free radicals, if you will) that can be found in our external environments, everything from chemicals and bacteria to temperature changes.

The melanin it produces helps protect us against UV light which, as we all know, can cause damage to skin cells. And it works wonders with temperature regulation, our immune defence, vitamin production and a whole lot more. In short, our skin is amazing!

Given all that our skin does for us, it’s nice to repay the favour and establishing a solid skincare regime can really help keep it looking healthy and glowing, ensuring that it can continue acting as our own personal bodyguard.

There are lots of internal factors that affect the quality of our skin, everything from genetics (which will determine whether you have oily, dry, normal or combination skin) and hormone levels to our predisposition to certain skin conditions, such as dermatitis and psoriasis.

While you may not be able to do much about your genetics, you can really do your skin an awful lot of good by working to reduce the external stressors it faces on a regular basis.

Sunlight, for example, is one of the biggest culprits and too much sun can certainly damage our skin. In moderation, we need sunlight for our health and wellbeing but overdoing it can cause sunburn, skin cancer, premature ageing, sun allergies, age spots, hyperpigmentation and melasma.

Extreme temperatures, meanwhile, can also cause problems for our skin. Exposure to sustained cold temperatures can slow secretion from the sebaceous glands, which is why our skin can feel dry in winter. But heat and humidity can over-excite our sweat glands, so skin is left damp and shiny, potentially increasing the risk of acne breakouts.

Something else to look out for is whether your skincare products are having an adverse effect. Anything that’s too aggressive can lead to drier and more sensitive skin, which makes it more susceptible to flare-ups of conditions like rosacea and dermatitis, as well as other skin infections.

If you’re worried that a product you’re using is causing problems, perhaps try phasing them out one by one so you can see which ones are up to no good.

And diet is something that can have a huge impact on the health and quality of our skin. If you follow a balanced diet (they say that a Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest you can adopt) with lots of fruit and veggies, as well as lean protein, your skin will surely thank you.

Anything rich in antioxidants would make a great dietary addition – and, apparently, the brighter and more colourful your plate is, the healthier it is… so that’s a good rule of thumb to bear in mind!

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