we are made up of our habits our habits Define us they Define our character they Define our health they Define what we're all about and why not start 2025 putting away some of the worst habits that are bad for our health bad for our skin bad for our overall well-being hi everyone I'm Dr Amir carum board certified facial plastic surgeon and founder and creator of caram MD skin I specialize in facial Rejuvenation which basically means I help people look as young as they feel we're going to talk about some very important lifestyle habits that are
affecting the way we look our skin our well-being our sense of healthiness and our energy all of those things can be directly correlated with what we do on a daily basis and those are formed by habits that we need to carefully evaluate and be very critical of because some of these habits can be causing problems that you don't want when I was a medical student and resident there was such a macho thing around not sleeping this attitude that you know if you slept less and work more the better it is I wanted to outwork my
colleagues I wanted to get as much as I possibly could because I wanted to be the best that I could possibly be there is so much power and benefit in sleep I am not talking about just for our mind and our well-being our health Etc all that has been very very well documented what many of you may not know is the impact sleep has on our skin there's been a number of research studies that have shown that lack of sleep has a direct effect on the fiber blast in our cells the cells that create collagen
and therefore by decreasing the amount of sleep that we get our fiber blasts are not creating as much collagen and remember in some of the videos that we talked about in the past skin aging revolves around decrease collagen production as we age so things that are going to accelerate that process are definitely things that we want to get out of our life additionally Skin Barrier repair remember the Skin Barrier we did a video on this a while back but basically the topic of the Skin Barrier is so important and so timely because the Skin Barrier
is basically the protection that our skin affords Us by decreasing the amount of pollutants and UV radiation and viruses and bacteria from entering our body so a properly functioning Skin Barrier is an absolute critically important part of health and well-being and overnight when you sleep just like in so many different areas of our body there's a recovery process and that recovery and remodeling process affects the Skin Barrier just like it does in everything else our muscles Etc and if we're not getting plenty of sleep then that Skin Barrier is going to be weakened and as
a result the functional aspect of skin becomes compromised in addition not getting good sleep is inflammatory so your skin might be more sensitive it could have a little bit of eczema it could also show signs of just redness and overall inflammation these are things that create a problem with the products that you put on because you might not be as tolerant of them if your skin is inflamed now there's another aspect of skin aging and just overall body aging related to the telr the telr are the end sections of chromosomes in our DNA that every
time there's a cell division process you lose and shorten a little bit of the telome Sleep has a direct effect on that as well so in terms of durability and longevity of cellular function that's also an important aspect that you want to basically be able to preserve as much telr length as possible before that cell completely stops functioning so what are some of the Direct effects of sleep on the appearance of skin well it can contribute to fine lines and wrinkles it can contribute to puffiness in dark circles under the eyes it can also function
by just making the skin look dull and kind of Ashen looking not very vibrant and fresh it also affects dryness of the skin interestingly enough probably related to some of the inflammatory aspects and also related to The Skin Barrier but dryness is a direct relationship to those as well so what are the takeaways when it related to sleep so number one prioritize it this is what it's really about prioritize sleep make sure you're getting between 7 to n hours of restful sleep a night sleep is repairative and it's restorative and that's really what basis of
good health starts with starting around 8:00 or so I kind of shut down on social media I shut down my my phones I stop looking at screens Etc I wind down oftentimes I actually do a sauna right around that time of the night or a warm shower I stretch start a show typically around 9:15 or so watch about half an hour with my family just winding everything down darkening the room get some of that melatonin to secrete and just letting your mind rest and relax not thinking about emails or thinking about the next day Etc
by the time I get into bed around 9:45 or 10:00 I'm typically reading for about 15 20 minutes maybe a little bit longer sometimes but usually by that point I'm pretty tired and a little bit of reading puts me right to sleep we also like to have the room cool down usually I actually sleep with a room around 66° that's typically the the level that I feel comfortable there's a lot of science that shows a cool room is really helpful to get you into a deeper sleep as possible all these things set you up for
good sleep and that's some of the habits that I've tried to pick up and Implement every single night and then wake up at 6:30 in the morning I usually do not need an alarm I'm bright an alert get off and start my day I like to do a cold plunge I like to do a little bit of morning walking I like to do some stretching before surgery that gives me the opportunity to feel perfectly rested as we go into it now I also notice that times when there's something stressful going on in my life or
you know some some matters related to some patient or some other issue if I'm thinking about those things and it's wearing on me it's going to affect my sleep so do your best to compartmentalize and stick the stressful life events outside know that you need your sleep so that you can go out there and fight those things in the best possible way with a good night of sleep alcohol consumption is one of those things where I don't even think it's a matter of controversy but I do think it's a personal choice more and more people
are moving towards limiting or not drinking alcohol at all anymore the data and the science behind how much of a Toxic effect it has on every cell in our body is beyond question I mean fundamentally alcohol is a pois poison it's a poison many of us choose to consume because of the altered state of consciousness and the pleasure that comes from drinking whether it's from a taste point of view social point of view or just simply the way it makes you feel I'm not going to get in here and tell everyone that they need to
stop drinking I don't have a complete sensation on drinking period but I have to say that much of my alcohol consumption has truly truly decreased over the last several years you know I never was a heavy drinker but now if I do drink even if I drink like two or three drinks I can feel how much of an effect is has on my sleep how much of effect it has on my next day I don't know if I was aware of it before because if I did it more often you're you just kind of think
this is a steady state and this is how you're supposed to feel but now I really notice a difference so I save the alcohol for special occasions if I'm at dinner and I don't really feel like I need a drink I won't have a drink you know when I'm even out with my friends and there's nothing wrong with that and I think more and more of my friends maybe it's because of awareness fall you know aging whatever it is but we're seeming to drift in that particular direction and I think it has a lot of
beneficial effects on our overall health and energy and everything else that comes with it but the science on our skin is also very very powerful it can be dehydrating to the skin which makes the skin appear drier and you know just gray and Ashen a lot more it has just an overall effect on the quality and the appearance of the skin and remember when we were talking about fiberblast well there's studies that actually show alcohol consumption can decrease the production of fiberblast activity which means decreased production of collagen and and people who drink a significant
amount of alcohol even in moderation will find that their skin looks more sagging fine lines and wrinkles overall more dull and dehydrated many of the same effects that we talked about happen during sleep deprivation finding a way to decrease your alcohol consumption can have a direct effect on all around body inflammation all around Health vitamin deficiency is actually affected by this vitamins um and minerals are depleted as a result of alcohol consumption really look at this aspect of your life and see when and where you can decrease the amount of alcohol and if you feel
like it you can even stop it completely I'm not quite there yet but who knows we'll see what the next year shows you've heard me say the three C's right which is commitment consistency and continuity that is the absolute basis for getting great skin once you are on the right products and as you all know in my opinion the best product is the product I developed that's why I developed it and that is the trifecta because it allows you to be consistent with it because it's 2 minutes twice a day and you're done and you're
getting all the important actives that you need for your skin to see changes but what happens if you start playing the game of okay I'm going to do it for a few days then stop for for a week and then do it again well that skipping aspect is what is going to cause your skin to not make progress because the progress that you're seeing with your skin is happening at the cellular level and cellular level changes need to be given constant input so when you use a retinol or vitamin C you're causing your skin to
upregulate and create more collagen for example and many actives decrease the amount of of melon produce so you decrease pigmentation and improve fine lines and wrinkles and when you stop doing that for a period of time because you're starting and stopping you're moving a few steps forward and then a few steps back and you're not really going anywhere or if you're you know exposed to Sun and just normal aging you're actually going backwards so not skipping your skin care routine is a very very important habit I want you guys to get into the regimen of
using it on a regular basis now and I say the trifecta for a very very good reason because a big reason why I developed it was for people to stay consistent with six to eight individual steps is a big ask for most people and I thought consolidate it make it really easy and that way there is literally no excuse for remaining consistent and people who have been on these actives that are in Trifecta for example or the trifecta have seen their skin literally look younger and younger year after year as opposed to older and older
this is really really important let's also not get too hard on ourselves because at the end of the day there are going to be nights when you're just too tired to put it on Etc you just have to do your absolute best to remain consistent as much as possible don't beat yourself up too hard but remember it's a long game but you want to go as close to doing it on a daily basis as possible and again if your skincare routine is too complex take a look at the trifect I think it'll solve that particular
problem for you how many of you out there are bouncing around from product to product on a regular basis that happens all the time and big reason why that happens is because you're searching you're looking for something new you're looking for something better you're looking for something because you heard about it on on Instagram you heard about it through a friend you've been exposed to some kind of marketing that is a huge no no constantly changing product or routine is a major major reason why your skin may not be seeing the transformative changes that you're
hoping for and why it's not meeting your expectations because if you carefully choose to be on the right particular product that is all you need to do that's it you're done you don't need to bounce around and move around from thing to thing and search but the key is to identify the right products and make sure and that's why I've made so many videos on the optimal skincare routine getting things figured out so you know what each of these ingredients do so that you get dialed and once you're dialed stick with it don't bounce around
from product to product when you're switching around you're putting your skin on a lot of stress every time you introduce a new product or a new regimen your skin goes through an Adaptive change which is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to the Skin Barrier the appearance Etc and remember a lot of different components of of products aren't designed aren't meant to work together the PHS are off the this or that and so what all of that causes is stress on the skin and that stress on the skin often times will lead you
to looking at your skin saying ah that doesn't look quite right which then prompts you to change again and again and again so this cycle is really important to break and this is frankly again one of the most important reasons why developed the trifecta because I wanted all those components to live happily together because they're meant to be together and therefore once you're on all of them there's literally no reason to switch or change I mean the people who go on Trifecta they stick with it consistently over time you know there at this point in
this video there's over 10,000 people who are doing it on a daily basis consistently and one of the number one things that they say is they feel liberated psychologically from the need to play around with a bunch of different things it's like so peaceful just to have their one thing and know that you're doing the right thing and be done with it that is a huge issue under the smoking category in this day and age we have to talk about vaping also smoking is a major effector of skin aging a massive effector this is something
we've known for years I mean all you have to do is look at the faces of people who are chronic smokers and look at how much more lines and wrinkles they have it's up there with sun exposure in terms of accelerating collagen loss and decreasing fiberblast activity it is a big deal and vaping falls into that category as well but here's another really important point to understand smoking provides nicotine that's what's the addictive substance in most smoking situations the nicotine is often times replaced nowadays with vaping and nicotine gum or nicotine patches Etc the issue
is nicotine is a vasoconstrictor means decreases the blood flow now when you decrease blood flow the organ is not not as healthy looking or functioning as it normally will be for example if I were to do a facelift on a patient I require them to stop smoking or using any nicotine for at least two months because if not the risk of wound breakdown and necrosis which is basically means dying skin goes up dramatically and who wants to have an elective faft procedure and then have half your face basically melt away because the wound didn't get
enough blood supply and it broke down that is very very telling about what's happening at a microcirculation level when it comes to smoking vaping and using nicotine in general so the obvious impact is going to be that it's going to have Direct effects on the skin as well and those are the things that I would say none of us want when it comes to vaping there's been a lot of research and awareness around the effects that it can have on our lungs it's even greater and more dangerous than regular smoking but we all know smoking
and all the other things what it can do from a lung cancer point of view Etc but it is a very very hard habit to kick so this is why I'm going to give you a lot of credit if you can get rid of the smoking habit completely because that is the one thing that none of us need in our lives not even in moderation because the potential to become addicted especially vaping which is a lot more concentrated nicotine and makes it much more addictive is a very fine line to toe you want to get
out of the habit of leaving the house without sun protection and I mean this quite honestly the sun is contributing to 80% of your visible skin aging changes I would put smoking is right up there with it and if you're doing both of those well you're really really running down a very very bad path in terms of accelerating what mother nature would basically have contributed because in my practice I see patients from all over the world and the ones that come from areas where sun is low places like Canada places like Washington State Oregon State
in general shocking how much better their skin looks compared to people who've been born and raised in areas like Southern California in Arizona and in areas where sunbathing especially in my gener a of Youth was very popular you will see how much of an effect sun has both in terms of decreased collagen production which leads to fine lines and wrinkles dehydration of the skin as well as pigmentation and sunspots those are things that all of which make the skin look older these are the things that you want to basically minimize as much as possible even
though skin cancer is a very real thing and so is melanoma and all these other you know aspects that are related to increased UVA and UVB exposure even if you decide you want to let your arms and legs get some color my general recommendation is limited as much as possible enjoy the sun I'm from Southern California I'm from San Diego I'm out in the sun all the time I just make sure that I wear sunscreen I wear a hat my wife Netta is very very hardcore about sun protection she even wears a little UV protective
face mask when she goes out a big hat during her long walks that's just her thing she wants to keep her skin as preserved and beautiful as possible so when she is out and about with her friends and we're at dinner parties or in social situations she has this beautiful looking skin underneath it she's not spoiling it by a bunch of sun exposure so that's really really important so let's make sure we get into the habit of putting on sunscreen before we leave and get rid of the habit of baking in the sun processed foods
are almost impossible to completely get out of your diet I mean I think that would be a very very big Challenge in a modern world so many things are processed however the more conscious you could be of this and try to remove as many things that are processed and replace them with Whole Foods you you want to be able to get as much nutrients out of the actual food as possible that's where all the vitamins and minerals fiber and all these other things are foods that are very significantly processed have been contributed to acne increased
inflammation all around the appearance of of skin does not look quite as good when you're eating a high volume of processed food so from an appearance point of view as well as a health point of view trying to decrease the amount of processed foods we eat is definitely a habit we want to address in 2025 folks I can't stress this enough as we get older and I'm 51 as I mentioned as you get older you want to preserve as much strength and as much mobility and flexibility and all the things that basically allow your body
to move in the most youthful way possible because some of the biggest challenges as we get older is the ability to be strong enough to be able to walk upstairs or downstairs or uphills or downstairs and all that has a negative spiraling effect because the less you do the less you can do so it's this this you know negative feedback cycle that ends up causing us to be sitting around and not exercising and not getting out and being with our families and our grandkids and all the other things that we love to do so prioritizing
activity in exercise is critical and not paying attention to exercising no matter what age you are is a habit that we need to get rid of in 2024 when it comes to your skin specifically it actually has Direct effects because the active physical activity sweating blood flow all those things have a vibrant effect on the complexion of our skin the sweating process clears our pores it has a lot of very beneficial effects on the actual skin and how the skin actually looks so those are things that you want to basically do not just because of
all the health benefits which is in my opinion the number one priority but also on your appearance so prioritize exercise breaks some of those negative habits that you might be having the things that effectively keep you from being able to exercise for example for me I have two points in my day that I like to exercise I like to do mild or moderate cardio in the morning with it's rucking in the canyons I go out for 30 minutes to an hour in the morning additionally sometimes I do a pelaton bike in the mornings that also
gets the blood flowing and gets good cardio coupled with a little bit of stretching in the afternoons I will come home to do some stretching and some release of my body but also some weight resistance exercises I do cisic type workouts so I don't require a gym I spend about 30 to 40 minutes at a time that might be 3 to four days a week of that type of resistance training but it's enough to basically keep my muscles in tone keep my body moving and gaining strength which is so important those are some of the
things that I've added to my own life and I had to truly break some of the bad habits like for example coming home and immediately eating without exercising or jumping on a couch and just sitting there watching some TV etc those were habits that I had to basically break and I urge you to break some of those habits that are keeping you from being able to exercise in 2025 and on that very note I actually did a very very cool video not too long ago on lifestyle habits that I've implemented that have really had a
big impact on my own life and doing it in the most time efficient way check out that video and see which one of those type of things you can apply to your own life and save some time so time is not an excuse for not doing the things you want to do all right my friends that is the conclusion of eight habits to leave behind in 2024 all of that has an overall effect on our appearance as well as our sense of well-being so let's take this opportunity this new year period where we're always thinking
about what kind of resolutions we want to apply and what how we want to go about things let's figure out what we can change about some bad habits in 2024 and get them dialed in for 2025 I hope you enjoyed this video if you haven't already make sure you subscribe to this channel if you like this type of content make sure you sign up for the caram MD Journal if you enjoyed it hit like and share it with some friends let's get people empowered in and understanding and motivated to do the right things for themselves
any questions or comments drop them down below until next time Dr Mir carum
