Prevent acne

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." That piece of wisdom rings true and clear with acne, which can leave permanent scars once you allow them to get on your skin and face. And why wouldn't you want to prevent getting acne in the first place? Not only do you save the money and effort you would have spent on treatments, you also keep your skin looking young, smooth and clear. All it takes is a few simple steps.

Even if scientists and doctors don't fully understand acne yet, they're sure about one thing: dirt can certainly help acne form. That's why it's important to set a daily hygiene regimen for you to follow.

Find yourself a good astringent, facial wash and, if you often use makeup, a good toner or makeup remover. Before you go to sleep or leave the house, make sure to take a good, thorough bath and then use your facial cleaning products. They clear up the pores and remove any dirt which, if it finds its way into your pores, would speed up the formation of acne. Never go to sleep with any facial products like makeup because even they could act like dirt, clogging up your pores and causing a whole world of problems.

It's not just about cleanliness on your face, either. Regularly changing and cleaning your towel, your pillowcase and just about anything that makes contact with your face is also important. They could be the source of the dirt and germs that will gradually clump to help form acne.

Stress is yet another contributing factor. Do you notice how you tend to have more breakouts when major exams or big deadlines are approaching? That's your stress working against you. It's also partly because your sebaceous glands tend to be more active when you're stressed or working hard. Get enough sleep - preferably around eight hours, when you can - to help reduce your stress levels and consequently reduce your chances of getting acne.

Exercise could also help reduce the likelihood of your getting acne. Exercise improves circulation, develops your immune system and flushes out bad stuff through your sweat. Just make sure to wash properly when you're done with your workout!

Preventing acne isn't just some one-stop solution. It involves some lifestyle changes that, although not very major, can considerably reduce your chances of getting acne.

To me Acne prevention and acne cure or treatment will eventually always come down to the same three basics. I mean yes, of course there is a mountain of material we can read on acne, prevention, cures, treatments and diet but at the end of the day we need to think about 1.diet 2. washing. 3. rest. It's that simple. This article will discuss all three and in this first paragraph let me talk about diet. Those who make a living as doctors and scientists air still arguing about acne and diet but to me it is very easy. Diet is important to acne. If you eat the right food it will definitely support clear skin or repair of skin. So what is the right food? Again easy, keep oil away from people suffering acne. The blander the diet the better your chances of not producing acne so eat bland food. Hey I am not an expert and if you do what I did it may not work, right? But it did for me and my friends, at least those who were able to stick to eating good food, washing and resting. Look I am not going to kid you here. To know what "good" food is right for you and which is wrong for you will take time and study. But there is a quick jump start I used and it worked. When I first started out trying to rid myself of acne there was not near as much information available and I relied a lot on trial and error but I strongly believed in the fact that diet can help acne so I kept trying. Now while it is true that it takes time to learn which foods will make you feel good, fed and not produce an acne attack most of that time is spent on expanding the base to give you a greater range to chose from and enjoy life more. What I mean is that there is a small base of foods that will help you and will increase your chances of having clear skin. It takes just a few minutes to learn these foods. But it is a bit boring and as such hard to stick to a diet made up of them alone. To come up with my first list of good foods for me I sat down and thought what I believe is bad for my pimples. Answer; oil. So I tried to imagine foods without oil I could prepare and get my hands on easily. When I did I came up with beans. Yep, just beans. So I decided to try eating just beans and water for a couple days and my acne calmed down. I added some soups and some lemon and honey hot drinks and kept building my list from there. I expanded to other foods and learnt about washes and cleaners. But beans worked for me to get going. I can tell you they not only worked for me. A good friend of mine came to my place for a holiday and was suffering a zit attack. I asked him if he really wanted to get rid of his acne and he said yes. I asked again, "really, no fooling?" he said yes. Ok so what did we do? We agreed to eat beans for three days. Go for45 minute walks along the beach and get some good sleep. He stayed with the program strictly for 4 days, what harm three days can be so he added one more. It worked. He ate nothing but beans and bean soup for three days, used acne washed I provided from a local drug store, stopped touching his face 100%, went for walks and slept. His acne calmed down incredibly. That was a long time ago. Today he has no acne and has expanded his diet greatly but still stays well clear of oily junk foods.

When it comes to sleep we know as a fact from research that when we have rugged or irregular sleep patterns our body s hormone levels ramp up as a defense mechanism. When the hormones ramp up sebum is produced and this can as we know block pores. Blocked pores lead to acne. So try as best you can to get regular sleep. Next what are you sleeping on? You pillow is very important to you. You face is lying against you pillow all night and inside that pillow is what? My used to say that inside my pillow lived germs. These days we have loads of technical names for these little gremlins but they are all still germs to me. Keep you pillow case clean. Change it often. Don't wash it in heavy detergents. Do add a mild disinfectant to the washing machine. Try to get an open weave pillow. Silk is a big no, no. With an open weave any thing that does happen to drop or be squeezed out of your face may well be absorbed deep into the fabric and stay away from your skin. I am not sure if you can still find the Greek open weave one hundred percent cotton pillow cases around but I have several in my home stock. Not enough to share around I am sorry but enough to probably last me till I am not here any more. I am like that when I find something that works for me I buy heaps of it and squirrel it away. For example I still have bottles of my favorite face wash which is no longer on the market. I am going to take a look around and see if I can't find some of this open weave fabric I speak of and if I can find it I will report back here. Meanwhile if you want more information just email me. Oh man, where was I? Oh yes, be sure you only buy natural products to sleep on. No nylon, no polyester at all. Once again this is why I like those Greek pillow cases. Anyway that's about enough for today. Let me finish by saying go get some beans. All my best. Mon.

There sure is a lot of confusing information regarding the connection between stress and acne. Many people, including professionals, will argue that stress doesn't affect acne in any way, shape, or form. Well, according to many research reports done over the year, stress does indeed influence acne outbreaks.

How does stress relate to acne? That's a really good question because stress itself doesn't cause the acne. Instead, stress indirectly influences your acne by increasing hormone production by stimulating the adrenal glands, and by slowing down your healing process. As for hormonal balance, it is an unchallenged fact that hormones play a big part in whether or not you will suffer from acne. During puberty, the hormones are out of whack, and this imbalance is what brings on acne during our teenage years. If you're feeling particularly stressed out, this will wreak havoc with your adrenal glands by either causing acne to appear, or by making it worse. An interesting thing to note here is that adrenal glands are responsible for stimulating the sebaceous glands. For anyone who has been tormented by acne as much as I have, you'll no doubt link the sebaceous glands with the sebum that is produced as a result. People suffering from an overload of stress will probably notice that their skin is oilier than usual due to the overactive glands, and the condition of their acne has worsened.

I'll bet that you're maybe thinking that if you cut down on the negative stress, you'll also eliminate the threat of acne. Unfortunately, worrying about things like your mortgage, financing on your car, or a possible demotion at work aren't the only causes of acne. Believe it or not, positive stress is also a culprit in making your acne much worse. Getting excited over a new house, a promotion, or a tropical vacation also counts as being acne-causing stress. Stress, regardless of whether it is negative or positive, has the same affect on the adrenal glands, and later on the sebaceous glands.

As for the healing process, you can probably imagine how this connects to your acne. With a slowed healing process, it takes a much longer time for your skin to recover from blackheads and whiteheads, resulting in blemishes that remain on your face for much longer than necessary. It becomes much more difficult for your skin to renew itself, resulting in more dead skin cells which aren't being replaced. If you aren't able to get rid of those dead skin cells to make way for new ones, or if new ones aren't being produced in a timely fashion, your skin will become bogged down with pore clogging bacteria. It's necessary for you to keep your pores clean and fresh in order to eliminate acne triggers but is much more difficult to do without your natural healing ability on your side.

So now you can see how stress is a big factor in how your acne is being produced! One way to combat stress would be with a proper diet and exercise so that you remain balanced eternally as well as externally. Keep the tips that I mentioned in mind regarding the overall balance and you'll realize that you have a lot more control over your acne than you think. Good luck!