Our skin faces its battles every day with pollution, UV damage, aging and so much more. One key thing that benefits our skin and helps to win these fights is something we’re familiar with —collagen. But along with collagen, I discovered something even greater and more powerful throughout my travels to South Asia — it’s called elastin. 

When it comes to skin health, elastin means elasticity and resilience in the skin. Elastin in the skin decreases over time which means more visible fine lines and wrinkles. While we naturally lose skin elasticity with age, sun exposure, smoking and poor diet can also heavily contribute to this loss. But elastin is an essential contributor to our skin’s health and glow in combination with collagen. 

You may wonder how you can improve elastin in your skin, so here are my top 10 ways to improve your skin’s elasticity for more glowy, young-looking skin:

1. Autophagy is not only essential for our overall health and wellness, but also for harnessing the skin’s ability to produce elastin and other important compounds. It works to clear out the toxins and debris from cells and then promotes cells to regenerate and replicate. To increase autophagy, you may try the keto diet, intermittent fasting, and prioritizing sleep.
2. Antioxidant plant compounds. Elastin formation requires vitamin C, minerals and phytonutrients to act as antioxidants to protect the skin.Colorful, fiber-rich plant foods are extremely essential to get these antioxidants, for instance, cacao, blueberries, nuts, seeds, and autophatea (a citrus bergamot tea that has been used medicinally to promote heart health
3. Since elastin is a component of fish skin, eating fish increases elasticity in your skin. The best fish for lots of elastin are the fatty fish, such as tuna, salmon, bass, and sardines.
4. Green tea. It was discovered to have potential anti-wrinkle effects by increasing the amount of collagen and elastin fibers and decreasing the expression of MMP-3 enzymes that break down collagen.
5. Your skin cells' metabolism is enhanced by exercise, which also helps you look younger. It increases blood flow and aids in maintaining firm skin. A simple every day walk or regular workouts help to increase blood flow.
6. Both elastin and collagen play key roles in the flexibility, and elasticity of the skin making it look young and healthy. Research has shown that collagen peptides will travel throughout the body if ingested. As a result, more collagen and elastin are produced by fibroblasts to support the skin’s firmness.
7. Hyaluronic acid. The skin naturally contains hyaluronic acid, which has the ability to retain water. Yet it becomes exhausted with time. Dry, old, and sagging skin are the results of this loss. Because of this, you need hyaluronic acid, to help your skin's firmness.
8. Gua sha. Regular gua sha targets deep depuffing, toning, and skin elasticity improvement. Gua sha should be practiced three to four times a week for a total of three to five minutes per session for best effects. Gua sha is performed by simply gliding one of the instruments' smooth sides across the skin twice while exerting light pressure. Before using it, you can apply a moisturizer or serum to make it glide more easily on the skin.
9. Skin care routine. Using proper hyaluronic acid-infused serums and creams can help skin regain some of its natural suppleness.
10. Skin nutrition. OMI Skin Nutrition was created to increase elasticity and reduce the visible signs of aging. Our formula pairs elastin, a key beauty peptide that provides resilience and elasticity to the skin, with precision skin collagen peptides, an important structural component of the skin. We also included hyaluronic acid to lock in moisture, and vitamin C to boost protein synthesis to fight visible signs of aging.