What Is Cellular Turnover and How Does It Help Aging?
Did you know that your body manufactures up to 3.8 million cells every second? The production of new cells makes possible the process of cellular turnover.
So, what is cellular turnover? It is the process by which your body replaces the dead and worn out skin cells with new ones. People with a faster rate of cellular turnover, for instance, children, usually have a firm, youthful, and glowing skin. Cell turnover is responsible for your skin health, elasticity, and firmness.
The rate of cell turnover depends on the part of the body. For instance, on your face, the turnover rate is a bit slow, and it can take 40 to 56 days. For the other parts of the body, the cell turnover takes 28 to 40 days.
But … the body maintains its ability to replicate cells in the given timelines when you are young, and even then, you must be committed to keeping to a healthy lifestyle. With age, the cell replication rate reduces a lot.
Your skin has several layers. When the outer layer of the skin wears out, it is replaced by the next layer of cells, and so on. This is what is referred to as cellular turnover.
But age slows the turnover rate, and so as you age, your top layer of the skin (the epidermis), takes too long to be replaced. The more it is exposed to elements like the sun, wind, snow, and others, the thinner it becomes. It sags, and becomes wrinkly.
Luckily, retinoids, which are derived from vitamin A, can help with this. For instance, The Welcome Back Youth Encapsulated Retinol Serum is a good exfoliant that removes the dead skin cells, bacteria, grime, and other things that clog up the pores and cause skin aging.
1. How cell turnover impacts collagen production
Age does not only reduce the replication of cells in the skin. It also lowers the collagen and elastin production. The two proteins are very important.
Collagen gives your skin the firmness, or the structure, while elastin gives it the suppleness, and the elasticity. When the body stops producing these two proteins in the required quantities, the skin starts to sag and form wrinkles.
Because collagen and elastin hold the skin together, over time, they start to weaken and this starts to make the skin saggy, and loose. The presence of dead cells on the skin makes it look darker and more wrinkly. The dead cells also clog up the skin pores and this further affects the health of your skin.
The best thing is that irrespective of your age, all is not lost. You can reclaim the former youthful glory of your skin, by using a product such as the Power Peptide Wrinkle Remover Serum. It clears wrinkles, fine lines, and boosts the skin firmness, tone, and texture.
It is made of a combination of hyaluronic acid, and 6 peptide complexes to overcome the effects of aging.
2. Three superb ways to boost the rate of cellular turnover
The skin care experts say that boosting your skin cell turnover rate should be your biggest goal in skin care.
There are different ways to do this, and they even include things you can do at home daily, and some in the form of skincare products and supplements.
Here are more details:
Regular exfoliation
The removal of dead skin cells speeds up the process of cellular turnover, as the body feels there is a need to fill up the missing cells fast. Once again, this is where the vitamin A based retinol skin care products shine.
Using AHA or BHA chemical exfoliants helps a lot. A skincare product such as the Twinkle, Twinkle, You’re A Star Exfoliator can reactivate the cellular DNA, repair DNA damage caused by environmental factors, and brighten the skin. This can also repair the pre-cancerous cell damage and help to keep skin cancer away.
Exfoliation can cause skin damage, especially when you overdo it, as it can affect the skin barrier. Follow the instructions on the exfoliant of your choice.
Use skin hydrators and nourishers
Moisturizers and skin hydrators can boost the growth of new skin cells. These products contain antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and vitamins.
The antioxidants remove the free radicals that cause skin, and other organ damage. Combined with chemical exfoliants, these products are going to enhance the elasticity, tone, texture, and firmness of the skin.
Use sunscreen
The sun’s UV rays are notorious for damaging the skin, making it age too fast, and causing skin cancer. Also, using retinoids, AHA and BHA skincare products makes it more sensitive to the UV rays. Therefore, wear your sunscreen after applying the product of your choice.
The Fierce 50 Moisturizer & Sunscreen (SPF 50) can protect your skin from the UV rays of the sun, and keep it hydrated throughout the day.
3. Speeding cell turnover rate is the secret to eternal youth
Babies have the smoothest, firmest and most supple skin. The reason for this is the fast skin cell replication rate.
Before you hit 30 years of age, your body will be doing a great job of replicating the skin cells, to replace the old ones with the new ones. In this age, the turnover rate is 28 days.
After 30 years, the cell replication rate starts to slow down, to about 45 days. As you approach 50 years of age, it slows further down to 60 days. After that, the cellular turnover rate reduces to once every 90 days.
Many people feel flustered when their skin starts giving up on them. They don’t know whether to swallow vitamin C or collagen supplements, or just leave it like that. Mostly, they don’t know what is happening, and they take it as the natural process of aging.
However, dermatologists have let the secret out – the key to smooth, firm, healthily toned and supple skin after 30 years is to boost the cellular turnover rate. Today, if you check your skincare products, you will see cell turnover mentioned on the label.
If the cellular turnover rate is too low, it means that the skin does not shed the dead cells fast enough. In return, this causes serious buildup of dead skin cells, creating wrinkles, outbreaks, and uneven skin tone and texture. The skin starts sagging and it loses its youthful glow.
Today, you can retain your youthful glow by using skincare products that contain well-researched hydrants, exfoliants and nourishers.
4. How cell turnover improves skin health
If your cellular turnover rate could be once every 30 days, you would be having a new lease of life for your skin every 30 days. This is how babies get a new skin for almost all of their childhood, because their cells replicate fast.
But sagging, wrinkling, and loss of firmness are not the only skin issues you have to deal with. You also have to contend with breakouts, excess pigmentation, large, open pores, and looseness. All of these happen because the old, or dead skin cells are not replaced fast enough.
By kick-starting the process of cell turnover using the right skincare products in the market, you will enjoy a more nourished, moisturized, and healthy skin. For example, try using the Vita-Boost Vitamin Infusion Serum, which is absorbed fast, starts working on the skin internally and boosts the removal of dead cells.
By giving your skin the important vitamin therapy, you boost the health of the cells, and repair the worn out ones. This brings back the elasticity, firmness, and the glow of your skin.
A good home skincare routine can do the following things for you:
- Clear the skin tone
- Improve your texture
- Close the pores
- Reduce oiliness or dryness of the skin
- Exfoliate by removing grease, dead cells, bacteria, viruses and more
5. How do you increase skin cell turnover naturally?
Embarking on a skincare regimen is an everyday thing. In addition to using the store-bought exfoliants, vitamin therapy, and other products, you must also do certain things at home, to enhance the health of your skin.
Here are some things you should do routinely:
Physical exfoliation – Get a good natural scrub from the online marketplaces and then scrub your skin weekly or fortnightly. It is going to exfoliate the skin, removing the dead skin cells. By physical, we mean using a scrubbing product that does not contain chemicals.
Change your diet and lifestyle – Poor lifestyle choices cause skin breakouts, cracking, and early wrinkling. Try to eat nutrient-rich foods only, drink a lot of water and take more fruits and vegetables for the vitamins and minerals. Stop smoking and limit your alcohol intake.
Eat olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, avocados and other natural oils and fats. These foods are proven to boost the skin cell turnover.
Don’t stay in the sun too long – The sun feels wonderfully hot in summer. However, do not step out of the house without your sunscreen.
Wrapping it up
It is hard to ramp up cellular turnover rate if you neglect your skin too long. However, don’t give up yet, as there are so many products to help you.
Besides using chemical exfoliants and vitamin therapy products, you should also change your lifestyle. Habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking, and eating junk foods deteriorate the cell turnover rate.
Because every cell in your body has a lifecycle, once it is dead, it should be replaced. But since the body loses its ability to replace these cells fast enough, you need a little boost, in the best skincare products.
The skincare products for boosting cell turnover do not only boost cell production, but they also prevent acne, open pores, uneven pigmentation, and other skin problems.
