The condition of your skin, complexion, and hair significantly impacts your appearance. Wrinkles around your eyes and lines on your cheeks can make you look older. Traditional Chinese medicine teaches you three steps to fight aging and rejuvenate your skin. Practice these steps daily to reduce wrinkles and give your skin a more youthful appearance.
3 steps for youthful skin
Step 1: Sleep at the right time
Dull skin, fine lines, spots, and gray hair can make you look several years older. In addition to maintaining good hydration and sun protection, it’s important to prioritize sleep. Go to bed before 11 p.m. to allow your body to rest. From 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., the gallbladder detoxifies, while from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., the liver detoxifies. These periods are the best for sleeping and resting.
Step 2: Eat the right foods
Having enough qi and blood in the body allows nutrients to reach every part of the body, maintaining normal skin metabolism and nourishing glowing skin. A healthy spleen and stomach are essential for sufficient qi and blood, so a good diet and regular meals are crucial. First, avoid bad eating habits such as consuming spicy or processed foods, desserts, and cold drinks. Additionally, eat more yellow, black, and red foods, which benefit the spleen, stomach, kidneys, and cardiovascular system.
- Yellow foods for the spleen and stomach: Rice, lotus seeds, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, corn, etc.
- Black foods for kidneys: Black sesame, black beans, black rice, black dates, black fungus, and foods high in anthocyanins (blueberries and other berries).
- Red foods for the heart: Tomatoes, red apples, carrots, red beans, goji berries, red dates, hawthorn, strawberries, cherries, roselle flowers, etc.
As for meal times, eat normally according to your biological clock and avoid skipping breakfast.
- Breakfast: Eating breakfast between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. activates the stomach’s energy and increases metabolism.
- Lunch: Eating lunch between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. supports the heart, and between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. supports the small intestine.
- Dinner: Eating dinner between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. supports the kidneys and is an ideal time for rest.
Step 3: Massage facial acupoints
Massaging specific acupoints can unblock meridians, promote blood circulation, maintain normal skin function, and delay aging, achieving beauty and skincare effects.
Massage each acupoint with your fingers 10 times, applying enough pressure to feel slight soreness or swelling.
Acupoints on the hands and feet: Improve complexion
Massage the Hegu acupoint on the Large Intestine Meridian (in the hollow between the thumb and index finger) and the Zusanli acupoint on the Stomach Meridian (four finger widths below the outer knee), to invigorate qi and blood.
Acupoints around the eyes: Improve eye wrinkles
Acupoints around the eyes include Jingming, Zanzhu, Yuyao, Sizhukong, Tongziliao, Sibai, and Taiyang. These acupoints can be pressed in any order to improve eye brightness and skin laxity around the eyes, particularly important for your appearance.
Secret technique to slim your face and reduce swelling
In addition, traditional Chinese medicine teaches the following secret technique to slim your face and reduce swelling:
Drink red bean water
Drinking red bean water can help reduce facial swelling. It is a drink that can be consumed all year round.
Method: Soak red beans in water overnight. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 30 minutes, allowing the potassium ions in the red bean skins to be released.
Translated by cecilia
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