The connection between health and beauty is intuitive. On some level, we all understand that living a healthy lifestyle improves our appearance and general wellness. But, many of us do not realize that the connection between beauty, wellness, and health is as strong.
First: The Obvious
Food, water, stress management, and sleep are more important than cosmetics and skincare products. Properly managing these four key ingredients will have us looking and feeling our best and improving our health in ways we can’t see. Now, you probably already know all of this, but let’s take a quick refresher before jumping into the not-so-obvious:
Food
Sugar, processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and even dairy can cause inflammation of our body’s tissues. Breakouts in our skin are just one symptom of the destructive nature of these substances in our bodies. In addition, they can often wreak havoc in our digestive tract and other body systems.
The best solution is to eat more fresh whole foods such as fruits and vegetables, especially green vegetables that contain nutrients and antioxidants that fight systemic inflammation.
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Water
This is perhaps the most prominent ingredient to being our most beautiful. After all, our bodies are composed of somewhere around 60% water! So staying hydrated allows nutrients to reach our cells. It also reduces our skin’s natural defense mechanism – oil production – which helps clear our skin.
How much water should we drink? The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that, for people living in a temperate environment, an adequate daily fluid intake is about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters, or 125 oz) of water for men and about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters, or 91 oz) of water a day for women.
Stress Management and Exercise
When we’re stressed, our endocrine system releases cortisol, a hormone that causes inflammation, which can manifest in our skin as acne, eczema, and other disorders. Everyone manages stress differently. Exercise is one good way to do it.
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Regularly exercising improves our vascular system and blood circulation, increasing cell turnover (replacing dead cells with new ones) and improving skin tone by delivering more oxygen to our cells.
Sleep
Sleep gives our bodies a chance to heal. But, according to the National Sleep Foundation’s guidelines, adults should get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. And just one night of fewer than seven hours of sleep can increase dark circles, puffiness, and wrinkles. Check out this article for more information about that.
The Not-So-Obvious
So, we know being healthy helps us look our best. But guess what… looking our best also helps us be healthier. As it turns out, taking a few moments to put on make-up, get our hair and nails done, or care for our skin may add years to our lives.
Looking Our Best = Living Healthier and Longer
When we look good, we feel good. That’s a no-brainer. But there’s a growing body of scientific evidence that we’re not just feeling healthier because we look good; we are healthier.
The psychological experience of feeling good about ourselves is known as subjective well-being (SWB) and has been shown to have significant long- and short-term health benefits. For example, when we have SWB, we tend to eat and sleep better, go to doctors more often, have increased immunity, and generally take better care of ourselves.