Successful businesses understand the value of a good image. Marketers spend endless hours developing a brand and promoting it. Healthy skin is your brand promotion for good health. It is your wellness image-maker.

First Impressions

Estimates are it only takes three seconds to create a first impression. In building a business relationship, that time is critical to success. From your outward appearance to your handshake, your skin is your image of health – inside and out. Good skin care propels your image of vitality and health. It partners with good nutrition, fitness, and brain health to become the wrapping on overall health. 

Take Care of the Wrapping

Most people do not think about their skin as an organ, but it is the largest organ in the body. It is the body’s protection against the environment and the wrapping on the amazing sense of touch. To keep this vital organ functioning at its best, here are a few tips for taking care of your skin.

Be sun-smart: Sunlight is important for the production of Vitamin D, which occurs when sunlight touches your skin. Vitamin D helps prevent osteoporosis and other diseases, as shown in recent studies. One, reported in Harvard Health Publications, revealed researchers found evidence that Vitamin D could help reduce the risk of breast cancer. Another study described in the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed individuals with low levels of Vitamin D have an increased risk for heart attacks. Like most things in life, too much of a good thing eliminates the benefit. Wear protective clothing and sunscreen, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and be sun-smart.

Be smoke-free: We all know about the risk of cancer from smoking. Like the lungs, smoking chokes the life out of your skin. It narrows blood vessels, depleting the skin of oxygen and nutrients. Smoking also damages the skin through its negative effect on collagen and elastin, which often results in wrinkles.

Be stress-free: Although stress-free is an elusive target for most businesswomen, you owe it to your overall health to find ways to reduce stress. Your skin will thank you for it. Stress aggravates skin conditions, such as acne, psoriasis and rosacea. The American Academy of Dermatology reported that stress can even impair skin barrier function, which allows infection and other irritants to enter the skin.  

Be gentle: Your skin can be a fragile wrapping. Use mild soaps, take care when shaving, and refrain from long showers that wash away too much of the good oils from your skin.

Let your healthy skin glow and see how your image sparkles.

Sources
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Higher-vitamin-D-may-help-prevent-breast-cancer.htm
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/168/11/1174
http://www.aad.org/media/background/factsheets/fact_stressandskin.html

Harriet Diamond