Face Good

Altering your biological clock radically can result in potential illnesses in the long run. In this aspect, many people are guilty of sleeping late and disrupting some of the body's most essential processes, which only take place at night. Here’s another outline of the workings of your body, this time, focusing on its nightly detoxifying actions.

1. 9pm – 11 pm. Lymphatic system detoxifies.

2. 11 pm – 1 pm. Liver detoxifies.

3. 1 am – 3 am. Bile ducts detoxify.

4. 3 am – 5am. Lungs detoxify. When you’re suffering from a cough, your cough is most vigorous at this point of time. Don’t try to stifle or stop your cough as you’ll be interfering with the lung’s detoxification process. Head out of the room instead if you don’t wish to disturb your room mate.

5. 5am – 7 am. Large intestine detoxifies. This is the time when you’d normally go to the toilet to defecate.

Our body’s detoxification system works best when the rest of our body is in resting mode. Hence, it’s best to be asleep during the entire detoxification process. But few people have the luxury to sleep by 9 and would prefer to spend the time before midnight on leisure activities. Nevertheless, from 9pm to 11pm, you can still optimize rest time by doing relaxing activities like listening to music and reading and avoiding high-energy activities such as eating (yes, eating burdens your digestive system) and adrenaline-pumping computer games.

Humans are highly adaptable, but going against the workings of our biological clock is never good for you in the long run. When your health is poor, there is no beauty to speak of. So let's take a look at what the ideal healthy lifestyle should be like to stay healthy and beautiful!

7:30: Time to wake up! Researchers from Westminster college have discovered that those who wake up between 5:22 to 7:21 are more susceptible to heart problems. It’s best to wake up a little after 7:21.Turn on the room lights once you’re up. This helps your body to register that it is daylight and snap out of rest mode. Next, drink a glass of water to make up for the lack of water in the night.

7:30 – 8:00: Before breakfast, brush your teeth. Fluoride from the toothpaste creates a protective layer over your teeth.

8:00 – 8:30: Breakfast time! Breakfast is mandatory and the most important meal of the day. It helps to stabilize your sugar levels. Cereals especially make good breakfasts as they are healthy and quick to prepare.

8:30 – 9:00: Avoid vigorous exercise as your bodily system is overall weakest at this point of time and rather than improving your fitness and immune system, you may end up being more prone to injuring yourself. Walking is all right and recommended though.

9:30: Begin with the most challenging task of the day. According to New York Sleep Centre researchers, we are often most alert in the first 2 hours that we’re awake.

10:30: If you’ve been working on the computer, look away and rest your eyes for 3 minutes. Keep doing this every hour if you have to use the computer for long hours.

11:00: Have some fruits. Consuming fruits before lunch makes you fuller so that you will eat less for lunch.

13: 00: Lunch hour! Be sure to have a delicious and nutritious lunch in order to have the energy and vigour to continue work for the day. Consume more vegetables and bean products and less meat. Rice can be supplemented with bread too if you’re packing your own lunch and find it a hassle to prepare rice.

14:30 – 15:30: Have a half hour nap (subject to boss’s approval, but it has been scientifically proven that employees who take afternoon breaks are more productive). According to a university research team in Athens, napping for half an hour for at least 3 afternoons per week reduces death from heart problems by 37%.

16:00: Have a yogurt drink. It helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and is good for the heart.

17:00 – 19:00: This is the best time to exercise. Most working people are probably still in the office though. But you can try doing some office workouts.

19:30: Have a light dinner. Eating too much for dinner causes sugar levels to go up and also affects sleep because your digestive system has to work into the night. Avoid high-calorie and protein foods. Eat more vegetables instead, and take your time to chew your food so that it is more easily digested.

21:45: Having cleared up after dinner, you can watch a little tv for relaxation, but don’t watch tv on your bed. It affects your quality of sleep because your body then gets attuned to the idea of bed being a place for watching tv instead of rest.

23:00: If you have problems falling asleep, take a warm shower to relax your muscles.

23:30: You should be asleep by this time! If you wake up at 7:30 the following day, you will enjoy 8 hours of sleep.

Few people I know are actually able to follow this schedule exactly due to our committments. Adhere to it as much as you can, but don't panic if you can't! You can always substitute what you can't do with something just as good. For example, if you have to get up before 7:30, make it a point to go to bed even earlier. If you can only spare time to exercise in the morning, do it anyway! Exercising at a less productive time is better than no exercise at all!

It seems that many people are traveling abroad this year for a white Christmas since the economy picked up! Since I'm receiving more emails asking me about skin care tips for winter, I’ll try my best to comply!

Environmental conditions affect our wellbeing in many ways. Since your lodging is the place where you spend the night recuperating, it's important to know how you can make it a conducive place to rest and relax.

In countries experiencing winter, hotels and rooms have heaters or even fireplaces to keep you warm. While these are necessities, the heat causes moisture in the room to evaporate. When humidity levels are too low, one may experience itchiness and dryness in the nose and throat, headache and bleeding from the capillaries. When I was visiting a country experiencing winter a couple of years ago and didn’t know better about protecting my skin from the harsh winter climate, the skin around my nails bled, and I had a friend who suffered from nosebleeds every morning. Random bleeding is alarming and even leaves stains on your clothes if not taken care of in time. Furthermore, dryness causes skin itch, peeling and roughens the texture of your skin.


Here are some tips to prevent humidity levels from dipping too low. If there’s a fireplace in the room, place a kettle filled with water over the fireplace, leaving the cap off. This keeps the water boiling and the steam issuing from it will increase humidity levels in the room. If your lodging has a heater installed, stand a basin of water on top of the heater. You can also hang your wet towels and clothes around your bedroom. They will contribute water to your surroundings and consequently dry quickly!

If you can spare the time, take a hot water bath before going to bed, or before going out in the morning. In winter, your metabolism decreases and blood flow is slower than per normal, hence the paler outlook. A hot water bath will stimulate blood circulation and give your skin a healthier glow!

The rainy season has come again in Singapore and this also means decreasing temperatures and winter in other countries! Some of you must have already begun preparations for going abroad during the year-end holiday! If you’re going to a country with winter, don’t forget that you will need to protect your skin against the harsh dryness of the weather. Keeping your skin fresh and smooth isn’t all about piling moisturizers on your skin.

1. Drink lots of water
Overseas, we don’t get the comfort of drinking as much water we want, whenever we like, especially if you’re in the middle of trekking up a mountain or exploring some slums, but do make the effort to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. A sudden decrease in water consumption is often detrimental for health, what more when you’re in a new climate. Drinking water keeps you healthy too so you can enjoy your trip without falling sick! So you don’t have to go out of the way to ensure you get your eight glasses of water, try to get at least 2 glasses of healthy beverages during your main meals. Soup contributes to water consumption too. You wouldn’t say no to a steaming bowl of hot soup, would you?

2. Easily-forgotten parts
Middle of eyebrows, behind ears, nose, edge of eyes, neck and joints on elbow and knee. Many people tend to neglect these areas, so if you don’t moisturize them, you’ll feel the drying effect will be even more severe in winter.

3. Morning is the best time for skincare
Our body has a biological clock such that there are different times when different parts of the body work best. Our skin actually absorbs moisture and nutrients best in the morning at around 8am. Therefore, make it a point to apply your moisturizing cream and do your moisturizing facials and what not in the morning before you go for breakfast. This applies even if you’re traveling to a vastly different time zone because our body adapts to our environment. Once you’re no longer jetlagged, your body has adjusted to your environment.

4. Moisturizing Sprays are useless on oily skin
Oil and water do not go together. The oil obstructs water from being absorbed your skin. If you have oily skin, you do not need a moisturizing spray, even if it’s touted as a handy must-have winter item. Rely on water and moisturizing cream instead.

5. When too much is simply too much
Just because the weather is drier than usual doesn’t mean you slather on more moisturizing cream than usual. Continue to use the moisturizing cream as per instructed. Applying more than the recommended amount restricts your pores from being able to open completely and breathe properly at night. When skin can’t breathe properly, it can’t regenerate new cells and perform its usual repair process, which results in dry skin instead!