Eye bags make a person look older. How do we diminish those annoying bags under the eyes and get them to look lighter as part of an anti-aging skin care program?

Eye bags are caused by the liver's cleansing process of the body's digestive impurities. As you get older (especially in men and women over 40), you will experience more puffiness under the eyes because the body has less ability to expel these impurities, making your anti-aging efforts that much harder.

Here are a few anti-aging skin care tips to reduce any eye bag problems:

· Try obtaining more sleep. The dark rings around the eyes are often a good indication that you're not getting enough of your beauty sleep. The average adult human requires eight hours of sleep a night.

· Drink at least one liter of water per day, preferably warm.

· Cut down or eradicate smoking.

· Avoid fried foods, red meat, fast foods, soft drinks, carbonated water, sugar, table salt, synthetic sweeteners, alcohol and caffeine, foods containing baking powder, and cold foods. Try not to drink liquids before retiring to bed at night.

· Apply face masks over the entire face. Use cucumber slices, chilled thinly sliced potato pieces, or cooling pads around the eye area, for about 10 to 15 minutes, a few times a week. This will temporarily reduce the depth and dark discoloration of the eye bags. Lie on your back while doing this, and relax as much as possible so as to reduce stress.

· Immerse cotton wool in cold milk or water, and apply to the eye bags by lying down on your back with your feet elevated higher than your head.

· Eat more raw honey, fresh fruit, unrefined sea salt, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and drink vegetable juices.

· Take a multi-vitamin and mineral combination supplement once per day or as directed.

· Vitamin K as a supplement or foods rich in Vitamin K such as spinach, beets, and turnips, is extremely beneficial to reducing bags under the eyes.

· Avoid allergens that trigger nasal congestion such as pet hair, dust, and pollens. Try sleeping with an extra pillow to elevate the sinuses so that mucus does not build up in the sinuses and nasal cavities.

· Exaggerated eye bag puffiness in the morning can be temporarily treated by placing chilled table spoons on the areas under the eyes to reduce the swelling.

· Try not to use eyeliner; rather use an eye shadow that's similar to the color of your eyelids to mask the discoloration of the bags under your eyes.

· Do not use exfoliators such as retinoid, alpha hydroxyl acid, salicylic acid around the eyes, as these could irritate the skin and aggravate the swelling.

· Massage the area under the eyes. Use your forefingers, and firmly massage the eye bags using a small circular motion. By doing this as often as possible, you will minimize the swelling, lift the sagging skin, and reduce the fatty digestive deposits that have gathered in the eye bags. Do it at the bus stop, in traffic, in front of the television; you'll see the difference in a few days!