Have you ever felt like your skin’s aging too fast? Or perhaps it’s more puffy, dull, or irritated than you’d like?
I’ve been there, and it led me to explore inflamm-aging. It’s a trendy name to describe the impact inflammation has on aging.
Chronic inflammation is a steady, low-level immune reaction where your body keeps releasing chemicals like cytokines that cause irritation. It’s sparked by stress, processed foods, lack of sleep, and pollutants that throw your system out of balance. This speeds up aging by damaging cells—breaking down skin’s collagen and elastin, wearing out joint cartilage, and slowing energy production—faster than your body can repair. You’ll notice it as wrinkles, loose skin, stiff joints, and feeling tired or mentally sluggish too early.
I take two approaches to dealing with inflamm-aging:
- Address the aesthetic aging head-on, and
- Deal with the underlying causes of inflammation.
To combat the visual signs of aging, I use gua sha and cupping—two amazing practices that help calm my skin and bring back its glow. Here’s how they work for me:
- Gua Sha: I use a smooth rose-quartz tool to gently scrape my face in upward strokes, like a soothing massage. It gets my blood moving, drains puffiness around my eyes and jaw, and loosens tight spots—like that forehead tension from stress. After just 5 minutes with a bit of mooring-rose oil, my skin looks brighter and feels alive, like it’s breathing again!
- Cupping: I place small silicone cups on my cheeks and forehead and around my lips and eyes, letting them softly pull my skin upward. This suction boosts circulation, lifts away that heavy, inflamed feeling, and smooths out fine lines. It’s like giving my face a mini workout—10 minutes leaves it refreshed and less red, especially around my chin where irritation loves to hide.
Now let’s look at how to deal with the underlying causes of aging.
To calm inflammation from the inside, I focus on an anti-inflammatory diet—loading up on foods like blueberries, spinach, avocado, and salmon to give my body the nutrients it needs to stay balanced. I steer clear of processed snacks and sugary drinks that can spark more irritation. Here’s a simple graphic that outlines the diet.
Alongside that, I rely on EO Mega+—it’s doTERRA’s premium omegas supplement sourced from wild-caught fish from the Nordic seas. It’s packed with 900 milligrams of omega-3s to help soothe inflammation naturally. Just a couple of chewable softgels a day keep my skin calm, my joints moving easier, and my energy steady. If you’re wondering how ‘fish oil’ can be chewable, that’s because doTERRA’s is preserved with Wild Orange essential oil which makes it last longer and taste great.
EO Mega+ works together with VMG+, and there are also strong anti-inflammatory benefits from the antioxidants and superfoods in VMG+.
Together, these steps support my gua sha and cupping routine, making my skin glow brighter and feel firmer—no harsh treatments needed!
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