The NAA's Top 7 Wellness Habits for Glowing Skin

After the typical round of parties that surround the holidays, most of us are looking for ways to get a little healthier. All those cocktails, heavy food, and sleepless nights start catching up to us, and we’re in serious need of rejuvenation to get our skin and health back on track. Fortunately, now’s the perfect time to make a few self-care upgrades.

Here are seven of our favorite wellness habits to add back into your lifestyle anytime you’ve gotten off track.

1. Introduce more veggie-based meals

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables has been linked to a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases, and all of us could stand to eat more greens. To make this habit truly beneficial, start making veggie-only meals and incorporating them into your daily diet. A nice stir-fry dish for dinner is a great idea, but you can also eat salads made of leafy greens, or munch on baby carrots as a perfect little snack in between meals. If vibrant skin, more energy, and a trimmer waistline are your goals, this is something that can definitely help.

2. Embrace the power of aromatherapy

The power of scents on our psyche is incredible. They have the ability to stimulate serotonin production and make us feel happy and relaxed. If you’re looking for a way to boost your mental energy you should look into aromatherapy. Essential oils, naturally-scented candles, and incense all work well for this purpose. If you start feeling tense, light some sandalwood incense, or diffuse some lavender essential oil, and let the stress drift away.

3. If you can, exercise every day

You don’t have to have a full-on hardcore workout or fitness class every day (unless that’s already your thing), but it’s good to stay as physically active as possible. Our body heals through activity rather than constant stagnation. Getting it used to moving around will make it easier to build up strength and stamina, help manage stress, help the body rid itself of toxins, and even help with weight loss resolutions. To make this into a consistent habit, practice yoga several times a week, set your phone alarm for periodic dance breaks throughout the day, and on your days off, simply go for long walks and enjoy the fresh air.

4. Book that spa visit

You have to stop seeing spas as a mere treat. These are the homes of comfort, mending, and happiness, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting to indulge in what they have to offer. Get into the habit of booking spa treatments more often even if you travel a lot, and enjoy deep tissue massages, steam rooms, facials, mud baths, clay masks, and many other healing remedies that are aimed at rejuvenation. Both your body and mind deserve to feel pampered, and you deserve to have all that pent-up tension released from your system as professionals work their magic. Many of these head-to-toe spa treatments can completely restore your confidence and boost your mood, so make this a part of your life and you’ll be a lot healthier.

5. Focus on mindfulness

Every day, spend at least five to ten minutes on mindfulness. The best way to go about it is through meditation, and if you’re a beginner and aren’t completely sure what you’re doing, try using a guided meditation track. Instead of trying to focus all on your own and feeling frustrated when you catch yourself in a distracting thought, something like this can jumpstart your mindfulness journey. Guided meditations and visualizations are great because they involve someone telling you exactly what to do and how to do it, and generally helping you through the ups and downs. Meditation can help relieve not just mental, but physical discomforts as well, and it teaches you how to achieve that psychological stability and become the kind of person who knows how to live in the moment and who’s happy to be in their own skin.

6. Try natural carrier oils

To care for your skin, it’s often best to look at what nature has to offer us. Natural carrier oils such as rosehip, jojoba, hempseed, grape seed, and evening primrose are all incredibly nourishing. Even people who have oily skin can use many oils, because the right ones can actually help balance out sebum production. An extra lipid layer is especially helpful during the cold season, especially with the drier indoor air. The best thing about natural oils is that they have no harmful chemicals or artificial preservatives added in — they are simple, effective, and can easily be used instead of expensive moisturizers and creams.

7. Whip up a face mask

Another way to care for your skin is through frequent use of masks, and if you’re feeling crafty you can whip them up yourself from ingredients you have lying around your home.

Here’s a little recipe that you’re bound to love:

Mix a tablespoon of Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of rosehip oil. Apply this mixture to a clean face, and leave on for 20 minutes. If you like, you can steam your face before applying the mask to soften your pores a bit. This mask is perfect for wintertime because it nourishes dry skin and helps promote the appearance of youthful elasticity and radiance. It’s generally recommended that you use face masks at least once a week — if you make this into a habit, it can truly heal your skin.

Change your habits, and you’ll change your life. If you commit to doing good things, your skin and your body will look spectacular, and you’ll feel gorgeous every day of your life.