Looking for some stand up comedy advice? This article contains stand up comedy advice that focuses specifically about performing on stage. I discuss stage confidence, fear of the stage, and pre-show anxiety.

Stage Confidence

The first of my stand up comedy advice has to do with stage confidence. All creative performers are required to overcome their demons; only they have to do it on stage and you as a comedian need to keep your sense of humor while you overcome them. This article will provide you strategies for overcoming some of the demons such as fear of the stage, hecklers, bombed shows, and forgotten lines so that you can exude confidence while you are on stage.

Fear of the Stage

The second of my stand up comedy advice has to do with fear of the stage. The ironic part of the phrase "fear of the stage" or "stage fright" is that you really are not afraid of the stage, are you? The stage is just pieces of wood and a slab of concrete that you stand on. What you are truly afraid of is failing and not living up to your expectations or those of someone else. Being afraid of the stage is not because of what it happening right now; it is because of what you think might happen later.

Now that you are a comedian and have joined the ranks of those who have come before, you need to understand that everything you do from this day on is going to take you into the unknown. As a comedian, you will venture into the unknown every day, and this can be intimidating. You can either decide to turn around and go down a new path, or you can grab the bull by the horns and go on with your dream.

As you venture into the unknown world of being a comedian, consider my stand up comedy advice and take a workshop or find a teacher to guide you along your path. The more you work with your teacher and practice your routines, the more tools you will discover. The more you practice using those tools, the more fun you will have and the more you will realize that the unknown is just a new playground.

Understanding that the unknown is just a new playground is only the beginning. As you learn to use these tools you may still have some stage fright; this is due to one of two situations: the anxiety before the show and the fear that overtakes you while you are on stage.

Anxiety Before the Show

The third of my stand up comedy advice is about pre-show anxiety. Taking control of your feelings and owning them will keep you from falling victim to them. You want to be able to respond to the audience and the routine on your terms. In this section, you will learn some strategies for taking control of your anxiety and using it to benefit your performance.

The acting teacher has a variety of responsibilities that have to be addressed if the students are to receive professional training.

First and foremost, the teacher must have a consummate knowledge of their craft, and the ability to impart that knowledge clearly and concisely. This is more difficult than one might imagine. In music for example the musician has an instrument on which to practice their, rudiments, scales, charts, etc. The instrument is tangible. This is not so for the actor, for the actor IS the instrument. The actor works with actions, and specific behavior as a means of authenticating emotional truth. They must learn to inhabit the world of the character, and to bring the writer's words to life by executing their actions fully. They must understand the wants and needs of the character on a personal level and learn to bring all of themselves/their life's experience to the work. Generating real emotion using their creative imagination and "working off" the other person to create urgency as suggested by the script is imperative. Guidance and corrective feedback have to be provided in a professional manner or the students will not be able to move forward in their training.

The teacher's role transcends knowledge of their craft as they have to learn to balance corrective criticism with support and encouragement. This balance between praise and criticism is essential. A disparity between one or the other can erode the confidence of the student.

Good teachers love their students and embrace their accomplishments. They understand that their main goal is to provide the student with a strong foundation that will contribute to their growth. They do not try to take credit for the student's talent. Rather they nurture and feed that talent so that the student can reach their full potential. They do not attempt to guarantee or assure success as any such pronouncements would be misleading and above all, dishonest.

Patience is an essential element for teaching. The process cannot be rushed. Not all students adapt equally. Some grasp the technique sooner than others. There are many examples of actors that began slowly and worked hard to overcome their limitations. Hard work can make up for a multitude of "warts". People need time to grow and learn. Telling them to "stick with their day job" is not the answer. The great Fred Astaire met with an agent who wrote of Astaire's audition thusly, "Can't sing. Can't act. Dances a little." Astaire went on to become one of, if not the greatest dancer in the history of show business.

Sometimes students need more than feedback on their technique. A good teacher will do what they can to provide guidance and emotional support when needed. At the same time the teacher must never pry into the personal affairs of their students. If the student is in need and chooses to share a personal problem the teacher must LISTEN without every crossing the line.

Creating a positive environment is a necessity. Students need a place that is conducive to learning. They must feel free to make mistakes without fear of recriminations or humiliation. If they feel safe learning will take place.

Once a bond of trust has been established the student looks to the teacher for support on all levels. This trust must never be taken for granted or abused. False praise is a destructive force and in the long run will damage the students confidence and ability to succeed, but a steady diet of negativity is equally damaging. If the teacher takes a genuine interest in their students, the students will know. You can't fake sincerity. Teachers must look inside, not outside, when they confront difficulties in any aspect of their craft. Blaming your students for your own limitations just won't cut it.

I offer ongoing classes in Meisner Technique, scene study/cold reading/audition technique, monologues, private coaching, private Skype or Face Time coaching. Prospective students may take advantage of my offer of 1 free audit to the class of their choice.

Cosplay, also called costume play, is an art form where the players wear dressy clothes to match certain ideas or characters. Cosplaying may get transformed to performing art, where the cosplayer demonstrates the personality of a character. Alternately, it could be considered as a kind of artistic expression minus the performance feature. It is different than dressing up for events - such as masquerade balls or Halloween - though cosplayers may put on outfits and makeup for such like events; it goes along with a very distinct subculture.

Communities have been putting on costumes since centuries. However, the practice of cosplays started taking shape in Japan during 1980, when the public started dressing up like characters from their much-loved manga and anime series. Apart from dressing up like famous characters or perceptions, they also participated in plays where they acquired different guise. In due course of time, this trend got extended to other parts of world. Now, cosplayers bring to life a wide range of characters, from Harry Potter to Princess Mononoke.

Cosplayers may spend a considerable amount of cash and time on costumes. They heavily focus on exact details, so that the costume will be close to known details as possible. It is quite likely for a cosplayer to dye the fabrics himself, if they are unable to get a perfectly matching color. Likewise, they may fabricate pieces of jewelry by hand if the exact replicas are not available. These players really work hard to practice behaving and speaking like the original characters they are trying to imitate.

Tokyo's Harajuku district is well-known for cosplaying plus sweeping overall youth fashions. You can witness cosplays at important conventions, gatherings, and shows purposely arranged for that. Competitions are also organized, where performers are evaluated on the strength of their acting talents, costumes and understanding of the character being played by them.

At times, public mixes up cosplay with role-playing games or fetishism. This is because a number of cosplyers dress up like characters from the opposite sex.

Actually, cosplay is different from such subcultures, though many cosplayers like participating in role-playing games, while some may indulge in obsessive communities. The ultimate objective is to have fun in a variety of clothing and jewelry to bring live historical or fictional characters, and to interact with society in that role-playing. These players may also animate ideas or incarnate non-living items, like the renowned railway trains.

In the Punjab province of Pakistan, the monsoon rain can be divided into three distinct regions according to the amount of rainfall and its reliability.

The Heavy rainfall High Reliability Region

This comprises the North and Northeastern divisions of Punjab, namely the Rawalpindi and Gujranwala Divisions. Typical representative stations are the Hill station of Murree and the Plateau of Rawalpindi in the Rawalpindi division and the piedmont plains around Sialkot in the Gujranwala division,
Murree gets the most rain; as much as 35 inches in the three months of June, July and August with a frequency of one heavy downpour every other day, followed by Rawalpindi receiving not less than 28 inches in the aforesaid months. The No. of rain days are 10-12 in the monsoon months.

Sialkot, in the Gujranwala division, stands third both in the amount as well as frequency of the rainfall. Here the rainfall in the monsoon months is about 25 inches with 8-9 rain days in each of the monsoon months.

The common feature of all of the above mentioned three stations is not the amount but most prominently the reliability of rainfall. This is quite extraordinary at these locations. The rainfall amount varies only +/- 10 percent of the average in the normal years and even in the worst years it does not vary much beyond 15 percent.

The Moderate Rainfall and Low Reliability Region

This comprises of the East Central Punjab; Lahore is the chief representative of this region. Here rainfall amounts of the three months of July, August and September falls to about 17 inches and number of rain days fall to about 5-6 in the monsoon months. The amount of rainfall is not as important at Lahore as the low reliability or high variability of the monsoon rainfall. Every 3-4 years or so the rain can vary as much as 25 percent from the long term average. Some years are extraordinary. In August 1996 as much as 18 inches fell in three days in August whereas the total annual rainfall of Lahore is only 28 inches!

The Low Rainfall and Very Low Reliability Region

This covers a huge area. Actually it comprises of all district of Punjab other than the Northern, Northeastern and east Central Districts. The typical Station is the south western town of Multan. In Multan, only about 5-6 inches of rainfall is recorded in the three monsoon months, the no. of rain days are about 2-3 in each month. Moreover the rainfall amount is highly unreliable and extremely variable; sometimes as much as 10 inches can fall in 24 hours during a tremendously strong wet spell. This is more than total annual rainfall of Multan.

In short, less than one-third of the Province of Punjab in Pakistan gets reliable and heavy rainfall from the monsoons. The rest two-thirds of the province is not only deficient in rainfall but also gets highly variable precipitation from year to year during the monsoons.

Katabatic wind is a wind which has its source in the high mountains where the temperatures are quite low. It's etymological origin is the Greek word Catabasis that means descending. That is the reason that another name for this wind is the fall wind. The temperature of the katabatic wind depends on the temperature of the source region and the amount of descent. The speed of the winds is generally 5-10 knots.

Mountain wind is a cool, high density, descending wind which flows from the highlands towards the stations located along the foot of the hills. As it happens, the rarer atmosphere of the high mountains radiates heats back to the atmosphere on a dry, clear night at a much faster rate than the plains. The mountain slopes, under the influence of radiation cooling, get much cooler quickly and the air in close contact with the mountains slopes gets much cooler as a consequence. As it cools, it gets denser and heavier and starts sliding down along the mountains slopes, under the action of the force of gravity, at a speed normally in the range of 5-10 knots or 9-18 km/hr. towards the nearby located deep valley or the foot of the hill plateau location and reaches there in the early hours of the morning, causing quite a chill there even in the relatively warmer months.

Here we discuss a typical Katabatic wind scenario in Pakistan taking into account the temperatures of Hill station of Murree, the foothill station of Islamabad and the Plain station of Lahore

The Murree Islamabad Scenario

During the cool dry fall months, the atmosphere at Murree is usually dry at nights. The skies are quite clear and the relative humidity is very low. When the sun sets, due to the clear atmosphere and dry air, the mountains slopes of Murree cool at a rapid rate due to re-radiation of the heat accumulated during the day back to the atmosphere. As the mountains slopes get cooler, so does the air in close contact to it. Now it is known that the temperature is inversely proportional to the density of the air. Therefore, the air becomes dense and heavy and under the influence of the force of gravity starts descending towards to foot of the hills at an average rate of 5-10 knots. It reaches Islamabad in the early hours of the morning and creates quite a chill there which is not otherwise possible had there been no katabatic phenomenon. The following temperature comparison will further illustrate the point.

Let us compare typical late October temperatures of Murree (a hill station), Islamabad (a plateau station located close to the hills) and Lahore (a plain station located far-off from the hills). As described above the necessary conditions for a katabatic effect to fully establish are clear atmosphere, little or no wind at the source location and low relative humidity. Incidentally all these factors are available at Murree in late October to Early November. The temperature at Murree falls sharply at night and the air along the slopes becoming cooler, descends down towards Islamabad, cooling it more than 5-6 degrees as compared to the plain stations. At times, the minimum temperature at Islamabad falls below the minimum of Murree, the source location of katabatic wind. The typical day time high and nighttime low for Murree, Islamabad and Lahore for late October are as follows:

Murree 19 8

Islamabad 29 7

Lahore 31 15

Note the effect of katabatic wind on the minimum temperature of Islamabad. It is 8 degrees Celsius cooler than that of Lahore although the maximum is 10 degrees hotter than Murree. Also note the diurnal range of temperature at Islamabad that is an enormous 22 C. This is typical of Katabatic Regions.

In short, Katabatic wind is a cool, dense wind that dramatically alters the temperature regime of the are over which it descends.

The weather during a monsoon in Islamabad is of mixed nature. When it rains, it is cool and pleasant; otherwise hot and sultry.

The monsoon season sets in Islamabad, normally, in the first week of July and continues up to the middle of September. The cool winds bring dark clouds along with them and in the onset dates, it rains heavily in the city accompanied by cool, pleasant wind. The temperatures drop 10-15 degrees F during a strong wet spell.

After an initial period of heavy rain for a week or two, the rain suddenly stops and for several days there is no rain at all. The weather becomes hot and sultry and the heat index rises sharply. This is called break in the monsoon.

Since Islamabad is located at the tail end of the monsoon, coming from India, so these breaks can, at times be quite long. The humans perspire profusely and lack of any wind increases the torture. After about a week or two of this trying weather, monsoon rains resume with normal intensity and duration.

Another peculiar thing about the monsoon rain of Islamabad is that since it is located pretty close to the outer Himalayan stations like Murree, the monsoon winds exert full force on the hills and since they cannot cross the high ranges so condensation takes place giving copious rainfall. In Islamabad, in recent years, as much as 48 inches of rain has been recorded in 24 hours; thus causing urban flooding.

The months of July and August get the heaviest rain so much so that the average rain of these months even exceeds that of Murree in these months. Each of these months at Islamabad get 14-15 inches of rainfall which is quite extraordinary in a country like Pakistan where 70 percent of the area of the country gets less than 20 inches of rainfall annually.

The weather of the months of July and August is tolerable to some extent but September is unbearably muggy. With increased humidity and less rain than the preceding months, September at Islamabad is, perhaps, the worst month of the whole year.

In short Islamabad gets heavy rain from the monsoon system being located in close proximity to the outer Himalayas. The months of July and August although humid are less trying than September which is worst of all. At times exceptionally heavy rain, in excess of 40 inches, is recorded in a single day which is harmful both for the humans as well as for the flora and fauna.

Boxing gloves have been around in one form or another almost since the beginning of boxing 3000 years ago. The ancient Greeks used to wrap their hands in leather strips in an attempt to protect their hands. But there was no padding in these early boxing gloves, just leather to protect the boxer's hands. Most people mistakenly assume that boxing gloves have always existed to protect the person being hit. But the bones in your hand are very small and fragile. The padding provided by boxing gloves is as much to protect the person swinging as to protect the person on the other end of the swing.

When the Romans picked up boxing as a sport from the Greeks they unfortunately turned it into a life or death type gladiator event. They continued to use Greek style leather strips as gloves. However, they hardened the leather and attached metal studs and spikes to the strips. As a result, in many ancient Roman boxing matches the loser ended up dead or permanently maimed.

This was too brutal for even the ancient Romans. They made boxing illegal in all Roman cities and provinces in 30 B.C. This distaste for boxing was so great in the Roman Empire that the ban continued in the entire Western civilization for over 1500 years.

When boxing finally reappeared in the late 1600s it was of the bare-knuckled variety. However, because of the more civilized approach taken to boxing it was not long before boxing gloves resurfaced as well. This time, padding was added. Jack Broughton, who was a British boxing champ in the early 1700s, is widely considered to be the inventor of the modern padded boxing gloves. However, these padded leather boxing gloves of the 1600s and 1700s were only used in practice and for informal boxing matches. The major public boxing matches were still bare-knuckle events.

But people were dying in these bare-knuckle matches, so something had to be done. Strangely, however, the boxing rules established in the 1700s and much of the 1800s did not require or even mention the use of boxing gloves. Boxers were very reluctant to give up the purity of bare knuckles fisticuffs. As a result, in many parts of the world boxing was banned in the 1800s and picked up its seedy reputation that continues today.

The beginning of the end for bare-knuckle boxing started in 1866 when John Graham Chambers in London published the now famous Queensbury Rules. Among other things, these rules required the use of padded boxing gloves for all boxing matches. By the beginning of the 20th century the Queensbury rules were used everywhere and bare-knuckles boxing was gone from established boxing events.

The last of the bare-knuckle boxing champions was John L. Sullivan. He lost his championship in 1892 to the first of the Marquise of Queensbury rules champions, "Gentleman Jim" Corbett. Not too surprisingly, the match was held under the Queensbury rules and both combatants wore padded boxing gloves.

Today boxing gloves are defined by weight. The heavier the boxing gloves, the safer they are for both contestants. This is not just because they are padded more. The higher weight means the boxers can't swing as fast as they can with lighter gloves.

A home gym equipment can be very expensive especially if buy you the high-end class. Who would want to purchase a piece of equipment worth $1000 to $4000 without getting anything from it? Although a home gym can be constructed without having to spend a lot of money, there are multi-gyms that cost thousands of dollars. There must be some way to check the effectiveness of these items so that we can be sure that we are getting enough value for our money.

The best way to test the effectiveness of a multi-gym is by comparing its performance with the performance of the equipment that can be found on a real gym. A home gym is supposed to give you the same, if not better, result as a regular gym. Your home gym can be considered effective if it is able to do so. You may want to ask yourself the following questions to test if your home gym is effective.

Can I weight train alone in my home gym? If it is impossible to weight train without a spotter, your home gym does not serve its purpose well - train in privacy. Maybe you need to add some pieces of equipment, like a power rack, that would enable you to lift heavy weights even without a spotter. Or, you might consider going back to the gym as well.

Am I achieving the kind of body I want with my home gym? If you used to workout at a local gym, you might be able to compare how you look then and now. Are you gaining muscle mass? Where did you gain more muscle mass fast - at the local gym or in your home gym? If you think that you gain more, or at least the same, amount of muscle within the same length of time, then your home gym is quite effective. If you are a beginner, you can also compare your muscle mass before you started training in your home gym and after weeks of training there. It is always good to get your body measurements so you can track or monitor your growth.

Am I gaining strength in my home gym? If build a home gym that is focused on gaining strength, you may simply ask yourself how you're feeling then and now. Do you feel stronger several days or weeks of training in your home gym? If so, then you did make a good planning on your home gym.

Is it safe working out at my home gym? Did I ever get injured while training at home in spite of observing precautionary measures? If so, you better check the safety and durability of the pieces of equipment in your home gym. However, if you continuously get injured in your home gym, it would be best to consider doing some re-planning and re-construction.

Am I able to follow my training program without the help of a fitness instructor? If so, then a home gym is really the best for you. But if you keep on saying to yourself, "I will do it tomorrow" just because there is no fitness instructor who will monitor your performance, then a home a gym is not for you. You might consider going back to the gym.

The amount of money that you spent on your home gym can also be used to gauge its effectiveness. Note that one purpose of a home gym is to save money and not overspend on some expensive piece of equipment. However, if you are not much after the money, you may want to eliminate this in your criteria as sometimes the benefits of an expensive piece of equipment are just great.

In general, the effectiveness of a home gym depends on careful planning and determination. The result can be dramatic for some while not for others. In both cases, a home gym is supposed to give the same result as the real local gym. Remember that there are several factors that must be considered when setting up a home gym. Once you have taken into consideration all these factors, there should be no way that your home gym would not be effective - well, except when you are not determined enough on achieving your dream body.

The general idea of picking up those weights or getting on that treadmill constitutes the main subject of working out. Coupled with a good diet, the general idea is that as long as you get some aerobic exercises and a few resistance training workouts, you are generally a fit individual.

That may be so, but there is much more to it than merely cutting down on food and getting half an hour on the treadmill. For a real workout routine one must take into account the specific requirements involved. Instead of merely having a general goal of weight loss and muscle development, take into account the fact that certain workout exercises are meant for certain parts of the body, and for certain results.

Perhaps the most important exercise goal would be the cutting down of excess fat from the body. Aside from being a definite health benefit, getting rid of unwanted fat allows for the muscles to become more enhanced. And as a result, whatever workouts you may do for muscle toning or strength training will be more defined if there was no fat covering those muscles.

Fat burning always goes hand in hand with aerobic exercises. Known to burn calories best, these aerobic exercises focus on the cardiovascular system, and in the process burns the most number of calories. In turn, the elimination of extra calories means the eventual elimination of extra amounts of fat.

To focus on this, certain points have to be considered: the person's actual weight, the amount of body fat, and the total daily calorie intake.

The simple equation to this is that burning 3,600 calories equals burning 1 pound of fat. However, it is unrealistic to burn a total of 3,600 calories in one workout; therefore, the main point is to burn as much calories as possible, while maintaining safety and effectiveness. This leads to the specific calculations of exactly how long one should be on the exercise bike, or the treadmill. The adjustments come dependent on the person's weight, as a heavier person, with the extra effort that would be exerted, would need fewer minutes than a lighter person.

When it comes to strength training and muscle toning, a number of more complicated considerations must be made, in terms of the actual kind of exercises, the number of times one must repeat this, the number of sets, and perhaps the actual muscle groups one intends to work on. There are a group of exercises for the upper body, and another group for the lower muscle groups.

For the upper body, a particular exercise would be the bench press: the person lies on their back on a bench or any flat surface, and lift a pair of dumbbells in a series of various movements. In this exercise, the movements must be slow and deliberate, to keep the muscles stressed and flexed.

The bicep curl is another upper body exercise, and this involves lifting dumbbells while standing up, with the elbows kept close to the sides. Doing the exercises lying down can increase the intensity.

For more defined chest muscles, there is the chest fly: while on your back, hold a dumbbell in either hand, and lift them above your chest, with your palms facing inward, until the dumbbells meet. While doing this, it is important to keep the arms above the shoulder levels at all times, as to avoid any strains. Also, remember to keep your arms slightly bent.

For the abdomen, usual sit-ups, coupled with similar workouts, should work fine.

A whole range of different exercises is designed to tone and develop the muscles found on the lower body.

For the muscles located at the front of the thighs the seated leg extension is one of the best exercises. Lift the weight smoothly, keeping them just above your ankle level. Remember to keep your back straight.

Other exercises such as the leg press focus on the quadriceps and the buttocks. Remember to do the exercises slowly.

Perhaps the best workout for the entire lower body would be the lunge. Performed either while using dumbbells or a bigger exercise machine, this has been proven to work out every muscle in the lower body.

The pain associated with arthritis can definitely be very intense. What's worse is that every time your arthritis flares up, your normal range of motion can be limited to a significant degree. As a result, you cannot do all the things you used to do before arthritis took over a great part of your life.

There are many different forms of arthritis, the most common of which includes rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and gout. Contrary to popular belief, arthritis can be managed quite successfully. All you need to do is enlist the aid of certain medications formulated specifically to deal with the symptoms of the disease and adopt some healthy lifestyle changes. Be free from the ties that bind you with arthritis and live life the way you used to! Here are some surefire strategies that can help you deal with arthritis:

o Keep excess weight off! Those extra pounds just add stress to your already inflamed joints so you better do something about it! Eat a well-balanced diet and make sure that you have enough of the nutrients needed to reduce the pain associated with arthritis. Getting enough vitamin C will help your body repair damaged tissue while substantial amounts of vitamin D will help your body absorb calcium, protect your bones and prevent bone loss. And don't forget to get enough calcium - it will help strengthen your bones.

o Give those joints some work out! To reduce arthritis flare ups, you need to adopt a moderate exercise routine. This may help you increase your flexibility and stability and may also aid in strengthening your joints. However, people with rheumatoid arthritis should refrain from exercising during flare-ups to prevent further damage. A word of caution - you should only exercise to the point where you feel mild discomfort. Do not over-exercise!

o Sleep it off! You should be getting enough sleep - it would be great if you can put in 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night.

What you put in your mouth has a great deal to do with your arthritis. Eat the wrong kinds of foods and you are sure to suffer from the consequences of your actions. Eat the right kinds of foods and you'll be spared from the pain. There's just no getting around it - your diet can determine your fate! To help you in dealing with your problem, here is a list of some of the foods that can be your ally in your fight against arthritis.

Bananas - These golden fruits enjoy the status of being one of nature's "perfect foods". Bananas are better known for being one of the richest sources of potassium but do you know that they are excellent arthritis fighters as well? Bananas contain high amounts of vitamin B6, folate and vitamin C - some of the nutrients needed to keep your joints and bones healthy. They are also a great source of soluble fiber so they can play an important part in your weight loss efforts as well!

Green Pepper - Vitamin C can be of great help in controlling the symptoms of arthritis but if you are not very fond of eating citrus fruits, you can reach out for a green pepper instead. A single green pepper can provide you with 176% of your daily needs for vitamin C while the red and yellow varieties can provide you with more than twice that amount! And not only that - sweet peppers are also known as excellent sources of vitamin B6 and folate.

Salmon - Salmon is one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids, also known as the "healthy fats". It also contains calcium, vitamin D and folate - some of the nutrients that help in the fight against arthritis.

Shrimp - The mighty shrimp can be one of your best bets in conquering arthritis pains. You can get about 30% of your recommended daily amount for vitamin D in just three ounces of cooked shrimps. That's much more than what you can get in a cup of milk! Shrimps also contain essential omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C, iron and vitamin B12.

Skin care is a delicate matter. Skin is baby soft when we are born and becomes dryer, rougher and more saggy as time goes by. Hormones can cause pores to clog, which will result in pimples and acne. Age causes skin to sag and wrinkle. The environment and life choices such as smoking can further the damage. Five things in particular are useful in fighting the effects of time and our surrounding on our skin.

All skin care routines should begin with a good cleanser. It is important to take note of what kind of skin you have. Some people have oily skin while others have dry tight skin. Some people have a combination of both types. There are also many people with sensitive skin. Many cleansers are specially formulated to fit any skin type. Excess oil on the skin can lead to an increase in pimples. Dry skin feels extremely tight immediately after cleansing. Dry skin may flake off. Combination skin will feel oily in the T zone and dry elsewhere. Good skin care requires cleansing in the morning and at night.

Moisturizer is the second thing that is essential to skin care. Moisturizer helps to restore natural oils washed away during cleansing. Lotions used on the body should not be applied to the face. Certain moisturizers are specially formulated to protect against wrinkles as you age. Some moisturizers contain sunscreen to help protect against the sun during the day. Different moisturizers should be used at night to revitalize the skin while you sleep. Moisturizer should always be a part of any skin care routine.

Water is the third thing that should be included in any skin care regimen. It is recommended that you drink 6 to 8 glasses of water everyday. Water is needed to help the body function properly. It also helps to cleanse the pores and keep skin looking vibrant and radiant. Water helps to keep the skin hydrated from the inside.

Exercise is also important to skin care. Many experts agree that exercise can improve the look and feel of skin. Exercise improves circulation and helps to flush out toxins. It helps to deliver nutrients to the skin and encourages the production of collagen, which reduces wrinkles. Exercise is also effective in reducing stress, which can in turn reduce acne. It is important to remember to cleanse immediately following exercise to prevent the pores from getting clogged.

Diet is the final essential ingredient in a good skin care regimen. Like water, a healthy diet keeps the body functioning properly. Diet is also responsible for delivering important nutrients to our skin. Vitamin A obtained from low fat dairy products will help keep skin looking vibrant. Antioxidant rich foods such as berries will help skin appear younger. Healthy oils help keep the skin hydrated. Green tea, whole grains, salmon and nuts are all beneficial to skin as well.