The holiday season is one of the merriest times of the year — but it's also one of the most stressful. While there's plenty of gift-giving and celebrating going on, there's also a lot of planning and prep work, oftentimes happening behind the scenes. This can lead to all kinds of emotions and stress, which can impact skin health.
Five Ways the Holidays Can Affect Your Skin
If you're getting ready to start planning for the holidays or are already in the midst of all the activities, it's time to start paying attention to your health if you want to keep your skin looking radiant all season long.
Here are five ways the holidays can affect your skin:
1. Lack of Sleep and Skin Health
With all the shopping and festivities going on, your days are likely full from beginning to end. All of these evening activities and events, though, can cause you to miss out on getting a full night's sleep. Sure, it can be fun to cram in all kinds of holiday events into your schedule, but your skin still requires a good night's sleep in order to repair itself and look its best.
Getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night gives your skin enough time to repair. If you skip out on a good night's sleep, you may start noticing dark circles or bags beneath your eyes, and your skin may start to show more visible signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles.
2. Stress
The holidays are a great time to catch up with friends and family and spend some quality time together. Going back and forth from different events — as well as hosting your own parties — can start to increase your stress levels. When you are frazzled and stressed out, your body starts to produce stress hormones, like cortisol, which can start to negatively impact your skin's health.
Cortisol will cause your skin to produce more oil, which can clog your skin and cause issues ranging from acne to eczema. When there is more inflammation in your body, all kinds of skin issues tend to flare up.
3. Drinking
While many holiday parties will likely include some alcohol, it's important to not overindulge in the festivities. Drinking too much alcohol dehydrates your body and your skin. Along with dealing with dry skin, you may notice that your face, especially around your eyes, looks more puffy. Alcohol can also dilate the blood vessels, which can cause your complexion to look reddish.
If you want to indulge in a few holiday drinks, you still can. Just be mindful of the amount and opt for healthier options like red wine so you don't have to deal with negative drinking side effects on the skin, like a lackluster complexion, this holiday season.
4. Sugar and Treats
It's hard to have a holiday party without an abundance of sweet treats. From neighborhood cookie swaps to office parties with coworkers to family gatherings, you'll have your fair share of candies, cookies and baked goods to choose from. Just like with alcohol, overconsuming all of these sugary treats can increase inflammation.
This means if you're having trouble controlling your sweet tooth, you may start to notice that your skin looks more reddish and dull. You may also have a flareup of acne, eczema or psoriasis. Because sugar and treats can negatively impact your skin's health, balance those sweet treats with healthy snacks and supplements.
5. Cooler Temperatures
While the cooler temperatures allow you to enjoy all kinds of fun outdoor activities ranging from roasting marshmallows around the fire to ice skating and skiing, the chilly temperatures and low humidity can be rough on your skin. When exposed to these harsher weather conditions, you'll likely find it's much harder to keep your skin moisturized.
You're probably also drinking less water than you would during the hot summer months, which can dehydrate your body and skin even more. From dealing with chapped lips to flaky skin, the chilly temperatures can be harsh on your skin.
How to Keep Your Skin Merry and Bright
No matter how you plan to celebrate this holiday season, there are a couple of simple changes you can make to keep your skin merry and bright.
Sleep
Getting your beauty sleep is crucial if you want to make sure your skin stays looking healthy and glowy all season long. Even with all the preparing, shopping and hosting parties, you want to make an effort to set aside enough time each day to get a full night's rest so your skin can repair itself.
Lack of sleep affects skin health, so set boundaries on how much time and effort you'll spend staying up or going out late. When your body has enough time to rest, your skin will not only look better, but you'll also feel better and have more energy to celebrate all the season has to offer.
Stick to a Skincare Routine
Especially with everything going on, it can be hard to stick to a routine during the holidays. Having a winter skincare routine is more important now than ever before. You don't want to slack on cleansing, moisturizing and caring for your complexion with all of the other seasonal factors that could potentially impact your skin's health.
Using a cleanser for your skin type, applying a moisturizer and the right serums, peels or exfoliants can make a big difference in how your skin looks and feels. Because everyone's skin is unique, it's important to tailor your regime to your specific needs to ensure the best results.
Book With SkinSpirit
If your skin needs a little extra boost during the holidays, visiting a medspa can provide you with the premium aesthetic services you need to improve your skin's health and achieve natural-looking results.
Here at SkinSpirit, you'll have access to safe, effective, medically-proven treatments that you can feel good about. Whether you've been dealing with dry, flaky skin or fine lines and wrinkles are starting to make an appearance, our multi-location medspa can deliver injectables, skincare and body treatments that are tailored to you.
If you're interested in learning more about how you can make your holiday brighter with premium skincare treatments and services that are custom-made, like you, we invite you to book a free consultation today.
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