EP 13 | Your Lifestyle Dictates 85% of How You Age

Aging isn’t all about your genes; 85% of it comes down to daily choices! UV rays, sugar, and stress all speed up the process, but you can fight back.

Zinc oxide beats chemical sunscreens, some supplements help from within, and simple changes in your diet can protect your skin. It’s never too late to start, small habits today can make a big difference in how your skin ages!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Listen to your Skin by Moon and Skin, the
podcast where science meetsnature to celebrate the story of
your skin.
Your skin is a living canvas,ever evolving, deeply personal
and uniquely yours.
Each week, we'll dive into thescience of healthy skin, share
empowering stories and uncovertransformative self-care rituals
.
We're here to help you embraceevery phase of your journey with

(00:22):
confidence and care.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey everyone, welcome to this week's episode of
Listen to your Skin by Moon andSkin confidence and care.
Hey everyone, welcome to thisweek's episode of Listen to your
Skin by Moon and Skin, and I'myour host, dr Jen Haley,
board-certified dermatologist,and happy to be here to share
all things epigenetics and howyou can control the rate at
which you age during thisepisode.
So it's pretty mind-blowingbecause only about 15% of how

(00:49):
quickly you age is determined byyour genetics.
The other 85% is determined byyour lifestyle choices.
And this is so much differentthan what I learned in medical
school.
We always used to just chalkeverything up to genetics and
your genes this, your genes that.
And now, in this beautiful fieldof epigenetics, we're
discovering that most of thedetermining factors of how

(01:14):
quickly we age, how our bodyfeels every day, how our skin
shows up in the world, isdetermined by our lifestyle
choices.
And it's never too late tostart, which is really, really
cool.
So small daily changes can havea huge impact on how quickly
your skin ages, whether youstart at 20, 30, 40, 50, or even

(01:34):
60.
And I want to break down todaywhat extrinsic factors are
versus intrinsic factors arewhen it comes to aging.
Let's talk about intrinsicfactors.
So intrinsic factors of agingare your genes.
They're what you're born withand this is about 15% of how we
age.
So we may age in a certain waythat is similar to our parents,

(01:58):
but the rate at which we agewill vary depending on the
extrinsic factors or theexternal factors, the things
that we get to choose to doevery single day, and these
things are what you eat, howmuch sun exposure you have,
other exposure to environmentaltoxins, sleep, stress and all
sorts of things that play amassive role in basically how

(02:23):
youthful you are and how healthyyou are and how you feel, more
importantly, over time.
So the goal of me sharing allof this is with you is so that
you understand that you have thepower.
The power is in your hands.
You have the agency todetermine how quickly you age

(02:43):
and, even if you made badchoices in the past, starting
today, you can decide to makebetter choices, and this will
have a huge impact on what genesget turned on in your body and
what genes don't get turned onin your body or get turned off.
So it's really pretty cool andyou can make make smart,
consistent choices every day andit can lead you in a positive

(03:09):
direction or a negativedirection, and it's not really
black or white.
It's a cumulative, compoundeffect over time.
So let's dive into a little bitmore details on this.
I'm a dermatologist, so you knowwhat I'm going to talk about as
the biggest external culprit indetermining how quickly your
skin ages, and this is UVradiation.

(03:31):
So UV radiation is differentfrom sunlight, our natural vital
energy force.
We need sunlight.
Sunlight is important.
We need to get sunlight in oureyes every day in the morning so
that our photoreceptors in oureyes and the photoreceptors in
our skin turn on our circadianclock to be in its daytime

(03:52):
activities.
So sunlight is important andthere is UV radiation that is
coming out, these ultravioletrays it is radiation.
So this radiation that comesout, it is contributing to 90%
of skin aging.
Basically, a study in theJournal of Clinical, cosmetic

(04:14):
and Investigational Dermatologyshowed that 90% of visible skin
aging is caused by UV exposure.
There's a couple different typesof UV rays.
So we have our UVA rays and Ialways think of the UVA rays as
the aging rays A for aging.
They are very, very deeplypenetrating.
They will go through windows.

(04:36):
So if you're sitting at anoffice or if you're driving in a
car, you will get UVA raysdamaging your skin.
There's very, very famousphotos you can find online of a
secretary that worked next to anoffice all day and a truck
driver that drove next to thewindow, and the rate at which

(04:56):
the left side of the face agedmuch more rapidly than the right
side of the face.
And as a board-certifieddermatologist for over 20 years
now, I see way more wrinkles onthe left side of the face and,
as a board-certifieddermatologist for over 20 years
now, I see way more wrinkles onthe left side of the face and
more skin cancers on the leftside of the face from that
cumulative damage of UVA rayspenetrating windows.
So basically, if you don't needa flashlight, you're getting

(05:19):
sunlight and UV radiation comingthrough windows.
So don't underestimate thedamage that it happens over time
through cumulative exposure.
And likewise, small littlethings we do over time can make
a big effect in our favor.
So we want to be smart about itand realize the power of the
compound effect.

(05:40):
Now, uvb rays are the rays thatare responsible for burning, so
UVA is aging, uvb is burning.
Uvb rays also help us to makevitamin D in our body.
So we do want to get some UVBrays, and UVB rays are great
because they help to createvitamin D in the body.
And what happens with tanningsalons?

(06:04):
This is why I'm not a fan oftanning salons is that the UVB
rays are often removed, soyou're not getting that warning
of a burn.
You're just getting the deeplypenetrating UVA or aging rays
that are going to cause coarsewrinkles, a lot of sagging in
the skin, a lot of damage andtearing of the elastic fibers
and the collagen fibers in theskin.

(06:25):
So the UVB rays are the onesthat help produce vitamin D.
They also also cause burning.
Now, a cool fact is you canproduce as much vitamin D as you
need without ever getting aburn.
So, depending on where you live,your skin type and the amount
of surface area exposed willdetermine how much vitamin D you

(06:48):
make.
So for me, I'm part Spanish andI live in Arizona, and if I
expose my torso, my chest backand my legs for 10 to 15 minutes
three times a week, I'm gettingsufficient amounts of vitamin D
.
The only way to know is to geta blood test to have it checked,
but that's what UVB rays do.
So basically, you have the UVA,uvb, uvc rays don't really

(07:10):
penetrate so much.
They're blocked by the ozonelayer, but they do exist, and
both of these UVA, uvb and UVCrays they lead to premature
aging and they increase skincancer.
They increase your risk of skincancer by forming DNA mutations
.
So I think of how do you look atyour body to determine what

(07:37):
kind of aging is contributed tosun exposure compared to the
natural aging of our skin?
Right, because we're aging fromthe inside out, but what amount
is determined by sun exposure?
If you look at your face, yourneck, your chest, the back of
your hands, your forearms, theseareas are chronically exposed
to UV radiation, whereaspossibly the upper inner part of

(08:01):
your arm if you could see me onYouTube, the upper inner part
of your arm it looks like maybeme on YouTube the upper inner
part of your arm, it looks likemaybe a three or a four-year-old
.
It hardly has any aging at all.
And that is how your skinnaturally ages.
Without UV radiation, withoutsunlight, without chronic damage
.
You might lose a littleelasticity over time, but you're
not seeing wrinkles or finelines or pigmentation.

(08:24):
So what happens is UV radiation.
It leads to what we call photoaging from the Sun photo and
this breaks down the collagen inthe skin and the collagen is
the supportive matrix in theskin, along with the elastic
tissue and these get broken downand that's what leads to
wrinkles and sagging.
It's more from the UV and lessfrom actual time or

(08:47):
chronological aging.
The second thing that happenswith chronic photo damage is
hyperpigmentation.
So when you're young and you'reexposed to the sun, you get a
nice, even brown tan Most peopledo.
Some people burn and never tan.
Typically you'll get a nice,even brown tan.
Most people do.
Some people burn and never tan.
Typically you'll get a nice,even brown tan.

(09:08):
And what happens over time is wehave these melanocytes, these
pigment cells in our skin, andthe melanocytes produce
pigmentation and that pigmentdistributes to about 32
keratinocytes, which is the toplayer of your skin.
So the pigment gets evenlydispersed throughout your skin.
And then what happens is is,over time, these melanocytes get

(09:29):
burnt out and they're not aseffective at dispersing
pigmentation to thekeratinocytes.
So you end up getting a mottledpigmentation Areas that get
hyperpigmented or brown spots,liver spots, age spots,
typically on the back of thehands people will see them and
then there'll be areas ofpigment dropout where there's no

(09:50):
pigmentation at all because themelanocytes burnt out and they
can't produce pigment anymore.
So what happens in chronicallysun damaged skin is you get a
mottled discoloration where yousee brown, white, brown white,
brown white and it looks veryscattered and haphazard and not
evenly brown anymore.
And that's just what happens.

(10:10):
And you won't see it on thebutt and you won't see it on the
upper inner part of the arm,because this is not photo
damaged areas.
Now, the last thing that UVdamage does is it causes DNA
breaks breaks in your DNA andmutations in your DNA, and this
can lead to skin cancer.
So every minute, our bodies aremaking little cancers and if we

(10:32):
give our body the tools that itneeds, we support it by
minimizing environmental toxinsand minimize how much radiation
it's getting.
Our body has the ability tocorrect these little mutations
before they turn into skincancer.
So minimizing the amount ofradiation you're getting is
going to lower your risk of skincancer, but also staying

(10:54):
healthy from the inside out isgoing to minimize your risk of
skin cancer by having a healthyimmune system that can correct
things as quickly as they form.
One study actually found thatpeople who apply sunscreen daily
have 24% less skin aging thanthose people who don't, and this
comes from the annals ofinternal medicine.

(11:16):
So the UV damage is cumulativeover our lifetime.
I personally did not even startwearing sunscreen until the age
of 30 and I'm doing pretty well,considering I've lived in
Arizona, san Diego, the highelevated areas of Colorado and

(11:36):
Utah and Hawaii by wearingsunscreen every single day to
the high value areas of yourface your neck, your chest and
then the back of your hands.
This will reduce your risk ofdeveloping skin cancer and photo

(11:59):
damage.
And it's really interesting tome because, after living in so
many different places, I havenoticed how the sun affects skin
differently, skin differently.
So I notice in coastal areaslike Hawaii or California, I
tend to see more pigmentation,abnormalities in the skin like
brown spots, uneven pigmentation, whereas in the elevated areas,
where you're maybe six, seven,eight thousand feet above sea

(12:22):
sea level, I tend to see a lotof really coarse wrinkles in the
skin and I just think the uvaradiation is penetrating more
deeply at elevation.
So in those cases, you know,especially if you're dealing
with winter and you're havinghardly any area of your body
exposed to the outside elements,your skin's really taking a big

(12:43):
toll.
So in those cases, reallyreally in all cases, if you do
just one thing for your skin,just one thing, it has to be
sunscreen to the high valueareas.
I'm not saying to put iteverywhere.
I want you to put it to yourhigh value areas, areas that we
are exposing day in and day outfor 80, 90, 100, hopefully 120

(13:05):
years of our life.
So what do you look for?
Spf 30 or higher containingzinc oxide.
I've never been a fan ofchemical sunscreens.
When light hits them, when UVrays hit them, they dissipate
and they become less effective.
And how they work in the lab isnot necessarily how they're

(13:25):
going to work in our bodies.
So I like zinc oxide.
So it only works as well as youapply it, as thickly as you
apply it, and I also like peopleto wear wide brim hats.
If you're going to be outsidefor a significant period of time
, use your sunscreen as a backupplan for reflective rays off
the snow, off the sand, off thepavement.
And the other thing is that'sreally really cool is you can

(13:47):
protect your skin from theinside out with foods that are
high in carotenoids basicallyorange, yellow, colorful fruits
and vegetables and polyphenolsand fish oil.
It can increase the natural SPFof your skin and the natural
protection from the inside out.
And you could look atsupplements as well.
So some of the supplements thatI like that are science-backed

(14:11):
include polypodium leucotomus.
It's a fern extract.
That's from Caligula.
It's a natural fern extractshown in multiple scientific
studies to improve theprotection of your skin from UV
damage from the inside out.
You can look at astaxanthin.
I love astaxanthin, four to 12milligrams a day.

(14:31):
It is what makes salmon turnpink or shrimp turn pink or
flamingos turn pink and it'sfrom krill, basically, and what
happens is the fish will consumekrill and it turns into the
beautiful pink color in theirbody and then we eat it and it
is up to, it's taken up by ourcells in our body and provides

(14:56):
natural protection for us aswell.
Epa, dha, as I mentioned withfish oil, niacinamide, vitamin
b3, very anti-inflammatory andit helps protect from some of
those dna mutations and calmthings down.
And then I also love spirulinaand chlorella.
They're powerful and fromnature types of algae and really

(15:17):
colorful natural foods.
They get imparted into our ownskin cells and protect us
naturally from uv radiation.
So I notice, when I eat veryhealthy and I do some of these
supplements, I can be outsideand I will always have SPF 30 or
higher to my face and neck andchest, but the other areas that
I'm exposing for my vitamin Dproduction I will not be burning

(15:40):
nearly as quickly as some of myfriends who are eating a
standard American processed fooddiet filled with seed oils.
So what you eat will definitely100%, more than anything else,
play a part in how healthy yourskin shows up in the world.
Okay, so that's number one onwhat you can do as far as

(16:03):
extrinsic factors for aging.
Let's talk about number two.
We're turning our attentioninward.
One of the main main internalfactors affecting skin aging is
glycation, so I want you to getused to this word called
glycation.
It's a process that occurs whenexcess sugar circulating in our

(16:23):
body attaches to protein, socollagen and elastin in our body
are two of the major proteinsin our body attaches to protein,
so collagen and elastin in ourbody are two of the major
proteins in our body.
Excess sugar molecules bind tothe elastin and the collagen and
they form really harmfulcompounds called AGEs, which
stand for advanced glycation endproducts.

(16:45):
And there's a study in theirdermatoendocrinology that found
that excessive sugar intakeleads to this process called
glycation and that acceleratesskin aging by breaking down
collagen and elastin.
And as a dermatologist, I seepatients with all sorts of
medical conditions because I ama trained medical dermatologist.

(17:07):
There's over 3,000 diagnoses inthe skin, and I fell in love
with dermatology because it'spretty amazing how you can look
at the skin and have a clue asto what's going on inside the
body.
And now we know that we cancontrol what we put in our body
and have an effect on the skin.
Right, and unfortunately,there's many people with
diabetes, whether it's the typethat they're born with or the

(17:30):
type that happens adult onsetdiabetes and what happens is
their skin just doesn't lookgood, and that's the only way I
could ever phrase it before Iunderstood about AGEs.
Like anyone that has highcirculating glucose levels
uncontrolled for a long periodof time, their skin does not

(17:51):
look good.
It also plays a part in causingproblems with blood vessels,
visual changes, all sorts ofother changes to all the organs,
because we know our skin isrepresenting the health of all
the other organs, right?
So that's an extreme example ofhaving diabetes, but honestly,
if we're eating a processed fooddiet, we're having high glucose

(18:13):
bursts all the time and this isleading to significant damage
to our skin and all of ourorgans over time.
So what happens is that sugarbinds to these proteins the
collagen and the elastinprimarily in the skin, and they
form the advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs.
And then the AGEs make thecollagen that normally would

(18:36):
bounce back and makes it really,really stiff, and this results.
This stiffness results inwrinkles, loss of skin
elasticity, sagging of the skin,and the result is accelerated
skin aging.
So the other thing is theseAGEs they bind to receptors for
AGEs and this causes a wholeinflammation, cascade, lots and

(19:01):
lots of inflammation, which canpresent as pain in the joints,
inflammation in the skin likerosacea or sensitive skin, or
low-level inflammation, andlow-level inflammation can
worsen acne, it can causerosacea and it can also cause
increased MMP production, whichis matrix metalloproteinases,

(19:21):
which break down collagen in theskin.
So there's both direct andindirect causes of aging with
sugar consumption, and the proofis really in the science.
People with high sugar dietstend to have skin that appears
biologically older than theiractual age, and this is
according to a 2013 study in theBritish Journal of Dermatology.

(19:42):
And our bodies are smart andthey break down processed
carbohydrates like bread, rice,pasta, chips, crackers any
processed food.
Our body converts prettyquickly from a carbohydrate into
a glucose molecule, so you maythink that you're not consuming
sugar, but if you're eating alot of processed foods.

(20:04):
It's converting and it'sidentified as sugar in your body
and the sugar causes all thesame effects that I just talked
about.
So it's really, really importantto take a look at what you eat.
There's a lot of differenttricks that you can do.
If you have a higher glycemicload in your diet, adding some

(20:29):
fiber or some fats or someprotein can mitigate how quickly
the glucose goes into yourbloodstream, so you don't get
those big spikes that are goingto cause a lot of AGEs in the
skin.
We'll dive deeper into that inthe future.
In the meantime, choose realfoods, whole foods.
Things like fruit can bedamaging in large consumptions,
but small consumptions.
They usually have fiber in themthat naturally abates how

(20:50):
quickly your blood glucosespikes.
So it's about quantity as wellas quality of food that you eat.
So let's look further into whatwe eat and what we can do to
improve our skin health by whatwe put in our mouth, and I
studied nutrition undergrad atCornell University and I'm going

(21:12):
to say like that sounds like aprestigious university and it is
.
We all respect the Ivy Leagues,although this was in the 90s and
everything that I learned is nolonger true.
This was the low fat, high carbcraze time.
So things change, informationchanges, and as information
changes, I'm going to share withyou.
And one thing we know for sure,though, and that I've always

(21:33):
liked to play around with, isthe fact that, like, what we put
in our mouth affects our skin.
So when I was in medical school, I was taught that diet played
no role in how our health isbasically, especially with our
skin, and it just didn't makeany sense to me, because how
could we give someone amedication and the medication

(21:56):
magically works for whatevercondition we were treating?
Yet food didn't play any role.
It did not make any sense to me, because everything, every
single thing, we decide to putin our mouth is going to lead us
in a healthy direction or anunhealthy direction with our
bodies and our skin.
So food, or water, even, ordrinks that you choose to drink

(22:20):
are you drinking soda?
Are you drinking sugary food?
Are you drinking unfilteredwater that is loaded with toxins
and all sorts of things?
This is going to have adifferent impact than if you
have filtered water and wholefoods, and I want you to start
looking at food as messages.

(22:41):
So the food that we bring intoour body gives messages to our
cells to be healthier or beunhealthy.
That's the basics of it.
So start looking at food asmessages.
They will determine whether thegood genes get turned on, the
bad genes get turned off.
Food will determine whetheryour body is supporting

(23:04):
regeneration and renewal orcausing inflammation and
inflammaging.
Okay, that's a lot ofinflammation for your skin that
leads to aging.
So what are some of thescience-backed skin-loving
nutrients that we want toembrace?
We have omega-3 fatty acidsfound in salmon, flax, seeds,

(23:25):
walnuts Okay, omega-3 fattyacids are our friend.
Our diet is too rich in omega-6fatty acids and we want to add
more omega-3 fatty acids fromthese food items.
This reduces inflammation andit keeps the skin barrier strong
.
So healthy fats balanceactually oil and they improve
your skin barrier.

(23:46):
Our skin barrier is composed ofa bilipid membrane, so we need
plenty of hydration frompurified water and we also want
to have healthy fats to supportour skin barrier, and one of the
big things that I see whenpeople are on low fat diets is
their skin gets really parchedand dry and dehydrated and then
often they'll get dermatitis andirritation of the skin.

(24:07):
So we want healthy fats asopposed to seed oils, which can
be very inflammatory and lead toacne and cause other problems
with the skin, so we're lookingat adding more omega-3 fatty
acids.
The second is vitamin c,preferably from food.
Supplements are fine, too, whensmall doses spread throughout

(24:28):
the day, but vitamin c fromcitrus fruits bell peppers,
strawberries.
This helps boost collagenproduction, so vitamin c is a
necessary cofactor in producingcollagen in the body.
I also love vitamin C topicallybecause it helps fade
pigmentation and it fights freeradicals both inside and out and

(24:49):
outside in.
So vitamin C is our friend.
It's unstable in a topical form, so you really need to look at
the right formulation.
The third type of food that wewant to incorporate into our
diet consistently, every day, inthe morning before we get out
in the sun, are polyphenols andantioxidants.
So where are these found?
Green tea Green tea iswonderful.

(25:11):
Dark chocolate Chocolate is notgoing to cause acne.
Now the sugar in chocolate willcause acne, so you want to look
for a dark chocolate.
Now, the sugar in chocolatewill cause acne, so you want to
look for a dark chocolate.
A dark chocolate that'spreferably tested for cadmium
levels, so it's low in cadmium.
Organic is always going to beyour best bet.
Dark chocolate, green tea,blueberries these are high in
polyphenols, so is olive oil,and this protects against UV

(25:33):
damage and oxidative stress.
So we're attacking things atall levels.
So we're coming into contactwith different types of
environmental toxins everysingle day and we're basically
giving our body the tools to besupported from the inside out,
at all levels and all angles.
Okay, here's a good fact thereis a study in the American

(25:56):
Journal of Clinical Nutritionthat found that people who
consumed high amounts of vitaminC and healthy fats such as
olive oil, fish oil and avocadooil had fewer wrinkles and
better skin hydration than thosewho didn't.
And I've seen a couple studies,actually with almonds and
mangoes, showing reducedwrinkles, showing reduced

(26:19):
wrinkles.
The one with mangoes wasparticularly interesting to me
because they showed that a smallamount of mangoes I don't
remember exactly how many grams,but it was a small amount of
mangoes reduced wrinkles.
But too many mangoes increasedwrinkles.
And that's where the sweet spotis, where you're getting enough
polyphenols, enoughantioxidants from the food, but
too much, especially if a fruitis going to now have sugar and

(26:41):
go to AGEs.
So we're really walking theGoldilocks line all the time,
using multiple tools to get uswhere we want to be.
So next time you're at thegrocery store.
Just think of your skin.
What do I choose here that isgoing to give me maximum
nutrition and maximum benefits?
We want to think ofnutrient-dense foods.

(27:04):
How much nutrition am I goingto get for the amount of
calories I'm consuming?
Think about it that wayNutrient-dense whole foods.
You're rarely going to go wrongif you have an actual food that
has one ingredient that natureprovided it's.
When you go to the center areaof the grocery store and you
start getting packaged foodsthat our body does not identify

(27:26):
as actually food, our body hasto clean out all of those toxins
, all of those preservatives,all of those chemicals just to
get any nutrients.
And guess what happens?
Our liver gets exhausted, ourkidney gets exhausted and we're
now no longer able to correctDNA mutations and metabolize our
own hormones.
Think about your skin if youdon't want to think about
anything else.

(27:46):
Okay.
So the next thing I want tocover, beyond UV radiation and
diet, are other hiddenenvironmental factors, things
that we come into contact withevery single day that we may not
even realize are playing a hugerole in causing accelerated
skin aging.
So let's take a closer look atsome of these.
The first is air pollution.

(28:08):
We can't always choose where welive.
Right, we can control the airquality inside of your house.
So I do like air filters.
There's a few really good onesout there.
The one that I personally useis called Molecule with a K, and
I like air filters.
There's a few really good onesout there.
The one that I personally useis called Molecule with a K, and
I like that one.
There's plenty of good ones outthere.
But you may not be able tocontrol, if you live in New York

(28:28):
City, the amount of airpollution.
But you can control inside ofyour house, because inside of
our house we're getting a lot ofoff-gassing and fresh air is
always best.
But if you don't have access toclean, fresh air, get a good
air purifier, because airpollution speeds up wrinkle
formation.
It actually causes morehyperpigmentation by producing
free radicals that break downthe skin cells, so often

(28:51):
overlooked and easy to control.
So there was a study in theJournal of Investigative
Dermatology and it found thatpeople that were exposed to high
pollution had 22% morehyperpigmentation and wrinkles
than those who were in cleanerenvironments.
So something to keep in mindbecause there's science behind

(29:13):
it, and it's interesting becauseI was mentioning earlier about
how UV radiation affects theskin differently depending on
whether you're at sea level orelevation.
I often notice that people thatare exposed to a lot of
pollution in New York City,where I've lived, and other
cities where I've lived theytend to have a lot of congestion

(29:33):
of their pores as well, and ourskin is this amazing detox
organ.
That's why saunas are sowonderful, because when we sweat
, we're removing heavy metalsand other toxins through our
sweat, which is why it's soimportant to shower off right
away.
And I feel as though in theseenvironments where the air
quality isn't that good, wherethere's high air pollution, it's

(29:57):
really congesting the pores alot.
So, something that control asmuch as you can, right, that's
all we're doing here.
We're not adding stress to ourlife.
We're realizing what is outthere that is affecting us, and
what can we control versus whatwe can't control.
Okay, the second is blue light.
It's all around us.
It's around me right now.
So while blue light does notcause sunburn, studies suggest

(30:21):
that it can tip, contributes tooxidative stress and leads to
premature aging andhyperpigmentation, and I
struggle with melasma.
I'm half Spanish and I tend toget a lot of pigmentation on my
face, so if you are someone whois exposed to blue light, even
if you're not outside and youhave issues with
hyperpigmentation.
What you want to look for withif you're not outside and you
have issues withhyperpigmentation, what you want
to look for with a sunscreen isnot just an spf 30 or higher.

(30:45):
You want to look for a tintedsunscreen.
So tinted sunscreens have ironoxide in them and the iron oxide
can protect your skin from thisblue light.
So even if you're not leavingthe house, I'd still recommend
putting tinted sunscreen to yourface, neck and chest and then
sweeping the back of your handsevery single day, and it will

(31:05):
pay off over time.
Okay, and then the next one isnot sexy.
It's something I struggle withand it's so important, and this
is sleep.
Sleep and rest is when yourbody repairs and it rejuvenates,
and there really is such athing as beauty sleep.
There definitely is.

(31:25):
There's such a thing as beautysleep, and what happens is when
the lights go out and our bodyis in darkness.
All of the clock genes, the,the, the metabolic processes are
all the circuits that run arein the renewal and regeneration
phase, whether it's our liverdetoxifying or our skin starting

(31:47):
to turn over and renew itselfand clean out all the stuff we
came into contact with duringthe day.
So we need those hours of sleepand darkness in order to renew
and regenerate, and if we're notgiving our body consistent time
to rest, we're not gonna berenewing and regenerating.
And chronic sleep deprivationalso increases cortisol levels

(32:08):
and cortisol the stress hormone.
During short periods of time,it helps us get stuff done, it
helps us run from the animalchasing us in the caveman age,
but chronic, low-grade stressbreaks down collagen in the skin
.
It's a really, really big issue.
So anything that we can do toreduce stress and get more sleep

(32:28):
is going to be key for renewaland regeneration.
There's research that's beenpublished in the Clinical and
Experimental Dermatologypublication that showed that
poor sleepers had increasedsigns of aging, slower skin
recovery from stressors andlower overall skin health scores
.
So if you are getting four orfive hours of sleep during the

(32:52):
weekdays and then you'rethinking you can make it up on
the weekend, you can't.
It's much more important to getconsistent sleep between the
hours of 10 pm and 6 am everysingle day.
Okay and lastly, I want to talkabout chronic stress.
I touched on it and the stresschronic stress produces cortisol
and chronically high levels ofcortisol will break down your

(33:15):
collagen.
It tears up that collagen likenothing else.
It also reduces your skinbarrier.
So when our skin barrier is notmaintained, our skin will look
dry and it will become moreirritated and it will become
scaly and inflamed.
So we don't want that and wedon't want accelerated aging as
well.
So if your skin barrier isn'thealthy, you're going to be even

(33:38):
more prone to all of theenvironmental toxins as well.
Just think about our president,right?
Our president in the UnitedStates during four years, how
quickly they age.
That's a high stress job.
Nobody could argue with thatsuper high stress job.
So you can see in four yearstime how quickly they age and
this is a great example of achronic stress and sleep

(34:01):
deprivation does in four yearstime.
So taking time for yourself andwe may not be able to change
what happens in our life, yet wehave the ability to decide how
it affects us.
Okay, so take a pause.
I love the 478 breath.
Look it up on YouTube.

(34:21):
Dr Andrew Weil, the father ofintegrative medicine, has a 478
breath.
You do four cycles of it in themorning, four cycles in the
evening.
I do it while I'm at thestoplight in the grocery line,
doesn't interrupt my day,doesn't take away from me
spending time with my kids orworking or doing any other
things that I need to get done.

(34:42):
So four, seven, eight, breathand breath work.
It's not expensive, it's notsexy, it's, you know, not
something you're going to findon TikTok, but it makes a huge
difference just doing breathwork.
So we really, really want tofind whatever works for you to
manage your stress.
We do need short bursts ofstress.

(35:04):
Stress is like a bell curve.
A little bit of stress gets usout of bed in the morning, it
gets us motivated, it gets us tothe gym, it gets those work
to-do lists done, it gets usdoing all the things we want to
do to live a full life.
But chronic, low-grade stresswhere you're not able to live in
the moment, prevents you fromhaving a happy life and also

(35:24):
harms your skin.
Okay, so what are some of thethings that you could be doing
After this discussion aboutextrinsic aging versus intrinsic
aging?
What are the takeaways?
What should you be doing athome as much as you can, without
stressing about it, to putyourself in the more positive

(35:45):
direction of aging gracefullyand in line with how you feel?
That contains vitamin C.
Apply antioxidants to your skinlike vitamin C, and this will
help protect against pollutionand blue light.

(36:05):
Wearing a tinted sunscreen or atleast an SPF of 30 or higher
with zinc oxide.
Avoid those chemical sunscreensand do it every single day
before leaving the house, evenif you think you're not going to
be in the sun, because if youdon't think you're going to be
in the sun and you're, you don'tthink you're going to be in the
sun and you're in a dark room,you're still getting exposure to
blue light.
And there's not a person outthere who can't tell me that

(36:26):
they are not spending at least10 minutes per day walking to
and from the building, to theircar, to their home, to their
mailbox, walking their dog,doing all sorts of incidental
things that add up to 10 minutesper day.
If you look at the compoundeffect, 10 minutes per day adds
up to over 50 hours per year ofincidental sun exposure to your

(36:49):
face, neck, chest, back of yourhands.
Would anyone go to the beachfor 50 hours and not wear
sunscreen?
No, so that's what's happeningwhen you're getting 10 minutes a
day.
So just make it a habit ofputting your SPF 30 or higher on
these chronically exposed, highvalue areas before leaving the
house every single day, and itwill make a huge difference at

(37:11):
the end of the year.
The second thing I want you todo is double cleanse at night,
especially if you have a lot ofmakeup on or you live in an area
that's highly polluted, becausewe want to remove those
particles of pollution andtoxins so they don't sit on your
skin overnight.
So we really want to get thoseoff so that the actives in your
skincare can be absorbed andsupport regeneration and renewal

(37:34):
Things like retinol, thingslike a good moisturizer, so that
you can rehydrate and improveyour skin barrier and help
support regeneration and renewalovernight.
The third thing I want you todo is to prioritize your sleep.
So sleep, it's not negotiable.
Your sleep needs to be apriority.

(37:54):
This is how you respectyourself.
Sleep, so have a routine, taketime for yourself to wind down
and honor that beauty sleep,because it's going to be a big
mover over time and our bodyreally wants to have that
consistent circadian rhythm.

(38:15):
Then we're going to want toavoid the sugar and the
processed carbohydrates.
Look at food as messages.
Is this going to turn the rightgenes on?
Make me feel better, make melook better.
Avoid sugar.
Avoid processed food.
Eat real foods that contain oneingredient.
Start cooking yourselfpolyphenol-rich, nutrient-dense,
colorful, natural foods so thatyou can import that beautiful

(38:38):
color into your own skin andstay hydrated, because we need
water to work.
Our lymphatics make a healthyinterstitium so everything can
be cleansed and flow beautifully.
So just remember thatconsistency is everything when
it comes to skin health.
Small daily habits lead tosignificant improvements over

(39:01):
time, and the best part the bestbest best part is it's just
never too late.
I've seen people in their 50sand in their 60s change their
lifestyle.
They drank less alcohol, theyate healthier food and within
six months, they started lookingso much younger, much better,
their vitality and their energyimproved.
So this is what I want for you,right?

(39:23):
Don't beat yourself up likeenjoy that ice cream sundae.
If you decide to eat one everyonce in a while.
It's just a matter of what wedo every single day, day in and
day out.
It's not an absolute world.
It's not an all or nothing.
In a year, an ice cream sundaemeans nothing, right?
It means absolutely nothing, sonothing.
So enjoy it.
Do it with friends.
Enjoy it because that addsoxytocin, which is going to be

(39:45):
more beneficial for your healththan anything that's shamed or
guilt-ridden or basically notdone with joy.
So this is how I want you tostart looking at your life, now
that you're becoming welleducated and achieving the best
skin that you deserve.
So I'm going to leave it atthat and, basically, if you

(40:07):
enjoy this episode, please shareit with someone and leave a
review, and follow me onInstagram at Dr Jen Haley,
follow Official Moon and Skinand keep sending us your
questions.
We are receiving so manyquestions and I love the
engagement, and our next episodeis going to be a question and

(40:28):
answer episode.
So send them this way, becauseif you're thinking about it,
someone else is thinking aboutit.
So thanks for tuning in andremember, listen to your skin.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
Thank you for joining us on Listen to your skin by
moon and skin.
It's an honor to be part ofyour skincare journey and if you
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