Beauty editor, Kate Shapland gives her top tips for anti-ageing skincare this winter, including diet, exercise and product advice.
BY Kate Shapland | 23 November 2011
If you find that when temperatures dip and central heating goes on your skin seems to fall apart you are not alone. Long-term exposure to stresses like changing humidity and dropping temperatures can affect the skin's barrier function, leaving skin thirsty and dull.
This is why winter is the prime time of the year when we experience dry skin - fluctuations in atmospheric conditions can cause dry skin, which is why you often read advice on using richer moisturisers over the winter months to counteract this.
Although skin has a built-in ability to preserve moisture - it's barrier function acts as an occlusive film, stopping cells' precious water supply from escaping into the atmosphere - it benefits greatly from extra support, and there are ways you can prepare your skin for defense against winter's 'dry skin cycle' and create an effective buffer.
The most important way to help your skin is to maintain a regime. Skin likes a routine. It responds well to regular exfoliation - I advocate this once a week with a fine-grained buffer - to help the surface skin cell renewal process so the complexion remains pink and fresh.
Skin also needs regular moisture and protection, and if your skin dehydrates when it's cold it can be a good idea to get into the habit of using specific day and night-time products.
Olay Professional Age Defying Day Moisturiser SPF 30 hydrates skin all day without clogging pores; while Olay Professional Wrinkle Smoothing Cream moisturises skin at night, replenishing it at a time when its natural repair mechanisms peak, so helping to combat the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Apart from making skin look dull, prolonged dryness can compromise it enough to contribute to premature ageing, and while topicals offer a buffer, a healthy diet can also play a role in nurturing skin from within.
The best skin-friendly seasonal diet includes antioxidant-rich dark, leafy vegetables, protein - especially oily fish like tuna and salmon which are rich in omega 3 oils, eggs, vitamin C-rich fruit, lentils and wholegrains which contain B vitamins.
Exercise helps keep skin looking rosy and fresh too by promoting your circulation, so allow yourself time for the gym or walk one bus stop further than your usual one every-day.
Caring for your skin in a holistic way throughout the season - by tweaking your skin regime and lifestyle - will help you feel more energetic and enhance your skin's moisture barrier so it is able to withstand the environmental changes and everyday stresses that deplete it.