The Regimen

7 Smart Strategies For Boosting Collagen

7 Smart Strategies For Boosting Collagen

 

You know that favorite swimsuit, the one that hugs your curves and snugs your rolls into submission? After a season or two in the sun and chlorine and hot spa water, it’s going to lose its elasticity. It’s going to get stretched and faded and sadly slack. And you’re going to throw it out and get a bright, tight new one.

 

Too bad you can’t do that with your skin. When skin starts to sag, get dull and wrinkle, there’s no replacing, only repairing and trying to renew it. Keeping your 'forever suit' in peak condition is all about protecting and strengthening the protein fibers that provide the firm, taught, elastic structure of a youthful complexion.

 

We’re talking about collagen. The only thing your body has more of is water. At age 20, your skin is 80% collagen. After that, it decreases at the rate of 1% a year as skin is exposed to UV, pollution, chemicals, inflammation, irritants and just the slow march of time. As all that’s happening, the body’s ability to produce replacement collagen is slowing. It’s an insidious, two-pronged assault on vibrancy that requires a strategic defense.

 

Here is your take-no-prisoners plan for preserving and promoting collagen production.

 

Cut Out The Sugar. Sugar elevates glucose, which binds to and degrades protein. The degradation of collagen protein causes fibroblasts to collapse and skin to sag. When cutting down on sugar consumption, remember that sugar is not just in the obvious places like sweets. It’s in simple carbs like pasta and rice, alcohol and fruit. Juices and smoothies pack a wallop of concentrated sugar, so that healthy drink may not be so healthy after all. Try replacing fruit smoothies with a veggie one.

 

Massage your face. Reviving up circulation stimulates blood and oxygen flow, which in turn help stimulate collagen production, cell regeneration, and also improve facial muscle strength to give skin a fresh, revived appearance. Keep this in mind when applying serums or lotions and remember to use an upward, gentle circular motion.

 

Get your heart pumping. Similar to a massage, only a bit more work, exercise boosts blood flow and oxygenation and helps deliver nutrients to the skin and boost secretion of beneficial hormones like dopamine and serotonin to improve skin condition, activate cell renewal and stimulate collagen production. The benefits for skin are significant. In one study, volunteers aged 20 to 84 were given a workout regimen of jogging or cycling twice a week for thirty minutes at a moderately strenuous pace. At the end of three months, scientists found the skin of the older participants was similar to the thickness of the 20-to-40 year olds’ skin.  

 

Drink water. There’s almost nothing a glass of water won’t help. Anxiety, hiccups, digestion, flushing toxins, strengthening the lymphatic system, avoiding a hangover. But best of all, keeping hydrated creates a pliant, nourishing environment for the ongoing synthesis of collagen and elastin.

 

Employ an antioxidant defense. Sun, smoking, and pollution catalyze free radicals in the skin. Those free radicals increase the protein-eating enzyme collegenase. Limit your exposure to UV and other environmental irritants and don’t even think about smoking. Antioxidants guard against free radical damage. Protect skin with Vivant’s Spin Trap® Antioxidant Serum combines two antioxidant heroes in one highly effective formula to neutralize free radicals, protect from damaging UV and environmental stressors, aid in cell repair and protect collagen from degradation.

 

Jumpstart repair with vitamin A therapy

Nothing rejuvenates aging skin like gently exfoliating vitamin A therapy. Clearing away dull skin accelerates cell turnover and boosts collagen and elastin production. Try Vivant’s Derm-A-Renew™ serum to leverage the transformative strength of vitamin A with the added boost of peptides.

 

Plump With Peptides

Peptides are short molecular chains of amino acids that are the building blocks of protein. As such, they are essential to the production and synthesis of collagen and may be the ultimate collagen booster. Use Vivant’s Rejuv Rx peptide concentrate with oligopeptides, lactic acid and niacinamide to enhance firmness, smooth fine lines, reduce redness, and promote younger, fuller and more resilient-looking skin.

Related Articles

What’s Really the Best Way to Boost Collagen?

Peptides: Your Power Play for Reducing Redness and Building Collagen

Subscribe to get our latest newsletter on email