Summer is great, but it can take a real toll on our bodies if we aren’t careful. This is especially true when it comes to the skin, which often bears the brunt of harmful UV rays, scorching heat, increased pollution, and overwhelming humidity.

That makes it doubly important to look after your complexion during the summer months, especially if you want to have a healthy glow for the season when more of your skin tends to be on show.

To keep your skin radiating like never before, we’ve come up with these four tips to follow this summer for beautiful skin.

Exfoliate your skin

Exfoliation is one of the basic ground rules of having good skin. The human body sheds almost a million skin cells in a day, and if you don’t get rid of them, they’ll just sit on your skin drying it out and making you look dull. That’s why you have to exfoliate two to three times a week in order to rub your entire body clear of dead skin, opening up your pores at the same time. Taking a nice, long shower with a body scrub that you run in circular movements all over your body will leave you looking and feeling great.

Wear sunscreen

The sun’s rays cause damage to our skin, which goes far beyond the tinge of red you’ll see if you end up sunburnt. That is why you should wear sunscreen all the time to protect your skin from any lasting damage. Make sure the sunscreen you are using has UVA and UVB products and comes in SPF 30 and SPF 70. Never use the bottle you had from last year either – the effectiveness of sunscreen diminishes over time, so if you’re applying cream that has been sat in your medical cupboard for a year, it’s not going to offer the protection you need.

Avoid drinking alcohol

Hot weather and cocktails go together hand in hand. Which is bad news, as drinking alcohol is one of the worst things that you can do for your skin. The toxins within alcohol negatively impact on your body in a number of ways with the quality and appearance of your skin being particularly susceptible to their dangers. 

Just remember that next time you want to reach for that mojito; and if you don’t think you can stop yourself drinking even for the sake of your skin, then it might be time to consider addiction treatment. 

Harmony Outpatient is an opiate addiction treatment Palm Beach, FL, helping people find support when they need it most.

Drink plenty of water

So, alcohol is off the menu – but water is very much on it. The hot weather means that you are more likely to suffer from dehydration and dry skin, which can cause cracks as well as a whole host of other problems. You need to keep your water levels high by remaining fully hydrated and that means at least eight large glasses of water a day with some taken on board every 30 minutes. That way, you’ll stay fresh as well as washing out toxins before they’ve had the chance to build into something more dangerous.