Eyes: Take Care of them to look young

In the anti-aging series till now, I have talked about the importance of sunscreen to fight early aging and the notion of aging prevalent among us. Today, I would like to talk about Eyes. As we all know, they are among the first parts of our body to betray our age, if not given proper attention. Eyes give us a lot of trouble like dark circles, puffy eyes, wrinkles, crows feet and what not and make our life miserable. So, we will discuss about how to go on tackling them and achieve beautiful and bright eyes. You may have tried products on products to get rid of these problems but I am sure not many of you might have really found anything satisfying.

Dark Circles. The skin around the eyes is very thin. And, it has lots of blood vessels underneath which gives the skin around the eyes a naturally darker look. This darkness can be enhanced by factors like improper sleep or sleeping positions, dryness in the skin, heredity and many more. 

• I have stressed so much on the importance of drinking water or proper sleep. Start doing it today and experience some betterment in a week. 
• While sleeping, keep your head at a higher elevation so that the blood circulation is less in the face. This way, there may be a color lightening around the eyes.
• Always splash your eyes nicely with cold water before sleeping and after waking up. This relaxes your eyes.
• For those people who have dark circles due to hereditary factors, you can follow these steps but a permanent solution is not guaranteed.

Puffy Eyes. They are caused by excess water content around the eye areas. To reduce that, again I would advise you to sleep with head at a higher elevation. Now, you can reduce puffy eyes by taking care of your diet too.

• Do not take excess of fluids at night, even water. Keep it to bare minimum.
• Reduce the salt intake. Excess of salt in the body means increased capacity of retaining water. So, try to keep your salt intake to a minimum and try to reduce it everyday. Do not worry about the taste of food. It takes your taste buds only 15 days to get adapted to the new taste.
• Reduce intake of sugar too.

Wrinkles. These are caused by dryness around the eyes or due to excess exposure to sun. They can also be taken care of through diet. You need a lot anti-oxidants in your body to fight the wrinkle causing free radicals. 

• Eat lots of green leafy vegetables, beans, olive oil, nuts and whole-grain bread.
• Reduce the intake of meat and processed foods.
• Also, reduce the intake of sugar. It is one of the causes of puffy eyes and pimples too.
• Always go in sun wearing a sunscreen with an SPF of 15-30. Reapply every 2 hours.
• Sleep on your back to avoid wrinkles. Sleeping on your sides puts pressure on your skin and creates wrinkles. Try a conscious effort to sleep on your back. I know it can be difficult for people who are used to curling up. But, its worth an effort.
• If you do not wear glasses, get a pair of sun glasses with UV protection. They should have side covering too. This would prevent the entry of UV radiation anywhere near your eyes.
• Do not squint. They are also causes of wrinkles.
• Apply moisturizer on sunscreen on your eye area with your ring finger in a quick gentle sweep. Do not massage.
• If you feel that having wrinkles is not bad, try stretching your skin to make them wrinkle free and have a look at your face. You do look younger. This would be your motivation to follow all the above mentioned points.