5 All-Natural & Healthy Ways to Improve Your Skin

We would all love to wake up with clear, healthy looking skin. But for many of us, it just feels like that kind of luxury is not in our genes.

Some people spend their entire lives trying to banish blemishes, moisturize dryness, or find a makeup that doesn’t turn their skin into an oil spill.

It doesn’t help that we all know at least one woman who never even washes her face, but still manages to look like she just had a $300 facial done.

While you can’t change the skin you were born with, you can make sure you’re treating it the right way—so you never feel like you have to hide behind a layer of makeup again.

Here are 5 all-natural, healthy ways to improve your skin—for any skin type:

1. Hit the Gym: Many health experts will agree that the benefits of vigorous exercise extend well beyond weight loss. Working up a good sweat on a regular basis is practically the equivalent of going in for a mini facial a few times a week. When your pores dilate, your sweat pushes out all the excess dirt and oils that have been trapped inside your skin. Just make sure you wash your face immediately after working out! To avoid clogging those open pores, try not to wear any makeup to the gym and wash your face afterward for about three weeks. You’ll be surprised by how clear and radiant your skin will look!
2. Eat Healthier: If you’ve always had a tough time sticking to a diet to lose weight, now might be the perfect time to change your mindset. Don’t just eat healthy to drop a few pounds—do it to improve your skin and overall wellbeing. Swapping out carbs, sugar, and processed foods for lean protein, fruits, and veggies will give you the glowing complexion you’ve always wanted in no time! Leafy greens, like spinach, arugula, and kale, oxygenate your body from the inside out in a way that expensive topical creams just can’t compete with. Combined with regular exercise, your new routine will banish those blemishes and blackheads. But the real beauty will come when you start feeling more confident and less stressed out over your appearance.
3. Get Enough Sleep: Most adults don’t get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep every night, and it can affect a lot more than just your performance at work. Your skin goes into repair-mode each time you fall asleep—including the production of collagen and elastin—which keeps your skin feeling toned, tight, and even. Without an adequate amount of sleep, you may wake up with more than just unsightly bags underneath your eyes. If you’re fighting to sustain your energy the day after a bad night of sleep, your metabolism will start slowing and you’ll start craving sugar and carbs for a short-term rush. These unhealthy foods may come back to haunt you in the form of acne.
4. Ice Acne: You can easily spend more than $100 on a skincare regime that doesn’t even work like you thought it would. In reality, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to fight a blemish. In fact, you shouldn’t even pick up a $10 tube of spot treatment for a surprise pimple. Instead, treat your painful blemish like you would any other injury—with ice. Think about how often you ice your muscles whenever a part of your body feels sore or inflamed. Just like with a sports injury, ice can help reduce the redness and inflammation of an uncomfortable breakout. Just make sure to move the ice around, so it doesn’t end up sticking to your skin.
5. Wash Everything: Sometimes, your skin may breakout in response to the dirt and oils on your bed sheets, pillowcases, or clothing. You should always make sure that nothing dirty ever touches your skin—including your own hands! Of course, it’s also extremely important to remove your makeup, cleanse, exfoliate, and moisture your skin.

What's are your best tips for healthy skin? Tell us in the comments!

Photo Copyright © 2015 Helga Weber/Flickr