If you’ve started reading the back of moisturizers and skin creams every time you shop, you’ve probably noticed a lot of talk about collagen and elastin. There’s a good reason for that. Both collagen and elastin are proteins that exist within the human body, each playing their own role in keeping you healthy.
Collagen is a protein that provides the foundation for your skin, muscles, and bones. Collagen helps keep your body firmly connected and provides the framework for cellular health. As we age, collagen production slows down. That means the regeneration process that takes place in the body starts to wane. This leads to the appearance of sagging skin and wrinkles. But that isn’t a reason to give into the process; there are many things you can do.
The most important is to protect yourself from the sun’s harsh rays. Ultraviolet light damages proteins in your skin, like collagen. While this damage isn’t always noticeable when you’re young, sagging and wrinkles are a direct response over time.
Avoiding the harsh rays of the sun is one of the best steps to take throughout your life, it isn’t the only one. There are several other steps you should take to protect your skin:
Eat a healthy diet - choose foods rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and lean protein
Avoid sugar - sugar damages the body and breaks down proteins like collagen
Reduce stress - stress produces hormones that wreak havoc on collagen
Moisturize - look for skin care products that are gentle on skin and are formulated to enhance collagen
Elastin is also an important part of the process to maintain a healthy glow. Elastin provides the elasticity in the skin. It gives the tissues their ability to expand and contract. While you’ll find elastin throughout the body, in the skin, it helps create pliability. When you pinch your skin, it’s the elastin that makes it move back into place.
Like collagen, the growth of elastin slows over time due to age and lifestyle choices. Your diet, exercise, stress levels, sleep patterns, and other lifestyle choices such as smoking and alcohol all play a role in how much elasticity you lose as you age.
Like collagen, you can help preserve or even boost levels of elastin by changing the way you live. Include in your diet things like:
White or green teas
Brazil nuts
Grapeseed oil
Zinc
Salmon
What do you do to protect the collagen and elastin in your body?