Wrinkles and aging skin are for many the greatest unavoidable enemies they will face during their lifetime. Skin starts it's aging process from the moment of you're birth, because of this if your serious about having more control over the aging process and wrinkling in general, it is best to start taking preventive measure early on in life. Even though there is only so much one can do to prevent the natural signs of aging, there are many ways to slow the onset and delay their appearance.

What are the causes of skin aging and wrinkles?

As time passes, many of the important components of our skin such as collagen and elastin begin to break down which then causes our skin to start to lose it's natural elasticity. The effect of this is our skins normal structure and it's inherent ability to spring back into form are diminished. Our cells reproductivity then starts to slow as we get older with age. This in turn causes fat cells and our oil glands to begin to atrophy. When this occurs,the production of emulsions which are designed to help keep the skin moist begin to slow; this results in the skin becoming dry. To add to the fact, the effects of gravity are an unavoidable contributor to the process and soon our arms, jowls and eyelids start to sag as well.

We also can not forget the other environmental factors that add to the onset of aging and wrinkling. Things such as cigarette smoking, laughing, air pollution, and frowning, as well as being in the sun unprotected for long periods can all play a role in adding aditional stresses to our skin. The important thing to note about these different environmental factors is that they are within most peoples ability to control if they are willing to put the effort in. As of now there is no way to completely stop the aging process, but we sure can control some of the factors that contribute to its acceleration.

Smoking cigarettes helps to promote the release of oxidants. Oxidants cause our body to slow down the production of new elastin and collagen. Oxidants are more commonly known as free radicals. Our best defense against them is to protect ourselves of their negative effects by making sure our diet is rich in anti oxidants, and high in minerals and vitamins. Smoking also causes restrictions in the blood flow of the epidermis layer of our skin. This can cause us not to get the necessary quantity of nutrients we need for it to stay healthy.

Cigarette smoking also has a natural repetitive motion that contributes to the formation of wrinkles. Specifically with the contraction of the muscles around the mouth area. This routine stress helps to accelerate wrinkling and skin aging as you are causing the same muscle contractions that occur when frowning and laughing. Air pollution is another factor that causes us to wrinkle by depriving our skin of the much needed Vitamin E which is a very important antioxidant in preventing aging.

Another sure fire way to slow down wrinkling and aging is to always protect your skin from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. These rays have the potential to penetrate any unprotected layers of our skin. The sun's ray's can produce a form of radiation that can seriously and potentially cause permanent damage to the cells that form our skins tissue. It is believed that UVA rays are capable of releasing oxidants (free radicals), which are unstable particles known to cause extensive cell damage.

Basic Skin care for anti-aging and wrinkle prevention.

First and foremost don't over look the obvious, like keeping your skin clean and moist. This is one of the best and simplest skin care regimes for preventing aging and wrinkling. Many times this is a better solution than those high priced products that make big promise to end your wrinkle worries forever. Simply wash with warm (not hot) water and use a gentle quality cleanser. When finished, towel pat your skin dry to make sure some of the moisture still remains.

Using hot water and harsh soaps or detergents cause depletion of the skins essential oils thus creating additional dryness. It is probably also wise to avoid products with commercial dyes or perfumes since they may cause skin irritation. When removing any eye makeup from the skin surrounding the eyes, be gentle as this is a very delicate area and is very prone to wrinkling on the whole. So there it is - an inexpensive and simple skin care regimen to reduce wrinkles and slow down aging.

Getting old is something we all must go through and aging is one of those unstoppable processes we will all have to deal with, and as such so is the development of wrinkles. But we can help to protect ourselves and our skin by living an overall healthy lifestyle. So eat right, make sure you get adequate exercise, and avoid smoking and excess alcohol.