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By HealthWatch, January 26, 2010

Wondering how to keep skin young looking? Maybe you feel 25 but your skin gives away your real age. Well, you can work to keep skin looking young and it does not have to be that hard either. The right skin care has a lot to do with how young you look, so you need to start taking good care of your skin.

Even if you are getting older, it is not too late for you. You can work on your skin and get it looking younger than ever. Here is a look at some great skin tips that you can use to stay looking 25 – we won’t tell your real birthday.

Cleanse the Right Way

If you want to know how to keep skin young looking, you need to know how to cleanse the right way. Dirt is the enemy so get rid of it. You need to keep skin cleansed on a regular basis, but be gentle. You do not want to irritate the skin. Ensure you go with a nice cleanser with natural ingredients that will not aggravate or be harsh on skin too.

Learn What to Avoid

When you want skin that looks young, you need to learn what to avoid. There are many enemies of skin that looks young and healthy. The sun can be a huge enemy to your skin. Combat that by avoiding the sun and by wearing sunscreen when you are in the sun. Smoking is bad for the skin as well. While it can be tough to quit, you need to quite if you want skin to look young. Stress is another thing to avoid. Stress can really wreck havoc on skin, so work on relaxing and try to cut down on that stress.

Work on Your Diet

Another great idea to use if you want to know how to keep skin young looking is to work on your diet. The things you eat can affect your skin. If you want clear, beautiful, and young skin, you need to eat a diet that includes veggies, fruits, omega 3′s, and whole grains. Foods that include vitamins and antioxidants are important for keeping skin in great shape.

Change Your Skin Care Products

Chances are that you are using the wrong products for skin care. Sure, they may say they will help you keep skin looking young by the ingredients will tell the real story. If those products have various chemicals in them, you are using the wrong products. It may be time for a change.

Instead of using skin care products that include chemicals, it is time that you switch to a healthier option – natural skin care. If you want to know how to keep skin young, your skin care products are important. You need natural ingredients that actually provide results, making skin look younger instead of older. The right products will go a long way towards keeping skin looking young.

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By HealthWatch, September 11, 2009

Between natural growth spurts and hormonal spikes, a tween’s skin will take on a mountain of abuse. Problems with acne or other skin blemishes are so common that there’s a billion dollar industry dedicated to treating the symptoms. With so many products on the market these days, its hard to find a reputable source for reviewing which treatments actually work, and which are just marketing campaigns. One of the most commonly overlooked resources to fight teen acne actually can already be found in most homes. There are many home remedies that work just as well without the expense found using any of the commercial products advertised on TV. Now while your grandmother might have her own opinions as to which home remedies you should try, here are a list of proven do-it-yourself acne treatments. Most can be accomplished for under $3 (and in some cases for free).

1. Wash your skin regularly. This also means using the correct type of soap/product for your particular skin type. Wash your face after you wake up in the morning, after any sports practice or strenuous exercise and then once more before you go to bed at night. This is the most important step to fighting acne, though you don’t want to over-wash. Your best bet is to just stick to the morning, post-exercise and night washing routine. If you don’t break a sweat then you should wait to wash your face until bedtime.

2. Learn what type of skin you have. Blot your face with a Kleenex/tissue-paper. If you see oily residue, your skin is oily. No residue, you have dry skin. Little of both? You have combination skin.

3. Use a facial scrub at least once a week to rid your skin of blackheads. Pay attention to the active ingredients, you don’t want to use anything that uses bleach.

4. Aloe Vera has been used all over the globe as a topical ointment for the treatment of burns, rashes and many other skin ‘ailments.’ When applied to the skin, it helps by preventing scaring and stretch marks. It’s also been proven to help speed along the healing process.

5. Eat a healthy diet complete with daily vitamins and minerals to keep your skin looking good from the inside out. A simple ‘one-a-day’ multi-vitamin can take care of this step.

6. Warm Salt Water. This works best for those of you who have really oily skin. Use warm (not hot) salt water to wash your face. The mixture of warm salt & water works well to remove any excess oil. You don’t need to spend a lot of money for this one, in fact regular table salt works just fine (but if you happen to have some sea salt in the pantry, that will work even better).

7. Drink plenty of water. Take soda out of your daily diet, you’ll be patting yourself on the back for doing this when you start to notice less skin blemishes.

8. Use a masque on your face once a month. Try these recipes for your skin type:

For Dry Skin: Mash a banana, mix with a tablespoon of honey and apply it directly to your face. Rinse with cool water after five to ten minutes and you should be able to see how soft your skin has become.
For Oily Skin: Mix oatmeal, lemon juice and one egg white until slightly wet. Apply directly to your face and leave on until dry. Rinse with cool water.
For Combination Skin: Grind a potato and collect its juice. Apply the juice directly on your face and leave to dry. Wash it after 10-15 minutes. This method helps removes ugly acne marks from the skin as well.

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By HealthWatch, July 14, 2009

A drink a day may keep dementia away it seems.

In a study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers followed 3,069 people 75 and older for six years. At the start of the study, 482 of them had all been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

The study showed that people who drank one to two alcoholic drinks a day were 37% less likely to develop dementia than those who abstained from it. Also to note: it didn’t matter whether the patient chose beer, wine or hard liquor, the results were still the same.

Now before you rush out to find the nearest bottle of wine, the reduction in risk is very similar to that associated with exercising three times a week or more, Sink says. So think twice before changing your drinking habits.

Among people who had mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study, those who drank more than two drinks a day were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia, compared with nondrinkers.

The Scientists took into account the test patient’s education, history of depression and smoking as well as other factors that can affect the risk of forming dementia.

Sink says no one should start imbibing in an effort to ward off dementia. “But older adults who are already drinking moderately don’t necessarily need to cut back if they’re cognitively normal,” she says.

The study doesn’t prove cause and effect. It could be alcohol itself or some other lifestyle factor shared by moderate drinkers that is responsible for the protective effect, Sink says.

But other research has suggested moderate drinking might protect against dementia by increasing levels of good cholesterol and preventing blood platelets from sticking together. It may also stimulate the release of acetylcholine, a chemical that’s important for memory, Sink says.

So why didn’t it help people with mild cognitive impairment? Sink says any benefits from alcohol may not have been strong enough to slow the degenerative disease process that’s already kicked in with people who have mild cognitive impairment.

“Moderate drinking may be protective for healthy adults, but once there are memory problems, it may be very important to curtail that,” says Maria Carrillo, PhD, director of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association.

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By HealthWatch, May 26, 2009

The American College of Sports Medicine just released a new list of the most healthy cities in the United States. At the top of the list is, and I couldn’t believe it either, our capital city Washington, D.C.

Using a variety of data comprised from sources including The U.S. Department of Agricuture, the Trust for the Public Land (non-profit), The U.S. Census Bureau and the CDC, the ranking was based on various personal traits. These ranged from the percentage of residents who are obsese, are smokers, eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables per day and on the resources local to the cities inhabitants, such as the number of parks, farmer’s markets and health facilities. They also took into account larger issues like crime and poverty rate. To learn more about the actual metrics involved in this study, checkout the American Fitness Index.

Here’s the list:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul
3. Denver
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Seattle
7. Portland, Ore.
8. San Diego
9. Austin
10. Virginia Beach
11. Hartford, Conn.
12. Sacramento
13. San Jose
14. Cincinnati
15.Atlanta
16. Pittsburgh
17. Milwaukee
18. Buffalo 1
19. Baltimore
20. Raleigh, N.C.
21. Kansas City, Mo., Ks.
22. New York City
23. Tampa
24. Cleveland
25. Chicago
26. Nashville
27. Philadelphia
28. Jacksonville
29. Columbus, Ohio
30. Los Angeles
31. Miami
32. Phoenix
33. St. Louis
34. Charlotte
35. Dallas
36. Indianapolis
37. Memphis
38. Louisville
39. San Antonio
40. Riverside, Calif.
41. Houston
42. Las Vegas
43. Birmingham, Ala.
44. Detroit
45. Oklahoma City

Some cities that were not ranked because community/environmental data were not available: Orlando; Providence; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Salt Lake City.

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By HealthWatch, May 22, 2009

Antioxidants are substances found naturally in some foods which can prevent or even slow the oxidative damage that our bodies are put through every single day. When our body cells use oxygen they naturally produce free radicals as a by-product. These free radicals damage our body over time, resulting in part of the aging process. Antioxidants act as free radical bouncers and prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals. Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage. Here is a list of the top 15 antioxidant-rich foods, each healthy ad you’ll look healthy.