Underrated Ways To Level Up Your Skin Health In 2024 (Without More Products)

While tending to your largest organ is a worthy resolution, the truth is that skin care is not all about the products. In fact, you can make significant changes in your skin's health, both inside and out, without buying anything at all. 

Consider sleeping well your first step to a clear, calm, and youthful complexion. See, while you sleep, your skin kicks into repair mode, thanks to a little hormone called melatonin (often referred to as the "sleepy-time" hormone). 

"Melatonin is critically important for your skin and plays a significant role in skin repair from environmental exposure, UV light, stressors, pollution, and so on," says board-certified dermatologist Keira Barr, M.D., on an episode of Clean Beauty School. "If you're not resting, you're not generating that melatonin, and your skin isn't repairing itself." 

There are plenty of factors that lead to thin, crepey skin, thus plenty of ways to encourage tighter, more resilient skin. (Read our guide on this specific skin texture to learn more.)

The relationship between stress and skin health1 is a well-researched one. For instance, in acne-prone individuals, stress triggers breakouts. For those with sensitive skin, it can cause inflammation and rashes.

Stress, it turns out, can also lead to faster skin aging. "Less collagen is produced in high-stress states since more of the body's resources are used to combat stress and the inflammation it produces," says board-certified dermatologist Gary Goldenberg, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.