Can Working Out Double as a Face Lift?
Hitting the gym could help you sculpt a killer body and an ageless face. (Photo: Shutterstock)
“Working out has countless benefits for your body,” says every fitness article you’ve ever read—ever. But something you might not know is that lifting weights or going for a run can also help prevent and undo skin damage that causes aging.
In her new book, Why You’re Sick and Tired and How to Look and Feel Amazing (Harlequin), trainer Jackie Warner writes that recent research shows that working your muscles increases the production of collagen cells and stimulates the production of “growth hormone,” which can repair the connections between your skin and muscle, “giving you a tight, toned appearance.” Pretty sweet, right?
Related: 9 Beauty Habits That Give You Wrinkles
“As a 46-year-old, I’m constantly told that I don’t look anywhere close to my age,” says Warner, “and I really think that’s because I have made fitness a priority in my life.” In addition to seeing results in her own face, Warner says that her mom, who just started a regular workout routine last year, has also seen results. “She’s 64 and she looks like she’s 50 again since she started working out five days a week,” says Warner. “It really does make a difference.”
What’s even better: All sweat sessions that increase your heart rate and blood flow result in these benefits, says dermatologist David Bank, M.D., director of the Center for Dermatology, Cosmetic, and Laser Surgery. By getting your cardiovascular rate and blood flow up, these types of exercise “deliver more nutrients, like vitamins and oxygen, to the skin cells all over your face and body,” he says.
That increase in vitamins and oxygen to your skin cells helps them reproduce and enables the repair mechanisms in your skin to undo damage from years past, he says. Plus, those nutrients feed the fibroblast cells in the skin that produce collagen so they can make more of the wrinkle-fighting nutrient, says Bank.
Related: 10 Ways to Look Younger Without Using ANY Products
As Warner mentioned, resistance training can further boost your skin’s youthful appearance since it increases the production of growth hormone. This handy hormone is produced by the pituitary gland in your brain, and some studies show that it can aid cell repair, says Bank. It can also influence the fibroblast cells to create more collagen, he says. In short: You get collagen, you get collagen, you get collagen—if you work out.
But wait, there’s more! Since exercise reduces the production of stress hormones—which can cause blood vessels to constrict and impair healing—when you work out, you’re minimizing the damage stress does to your face, as well as increasing the flow of those good nutrients your skin loves, says Bank.
Banks says people who hit the gym about four times a week are setting themselves up for youthful-looking faces as they age. The bad news is that you probably won’t be able to tell if it’s working until you start aging.
But in a recent study by McMaster University, researchers discovered that participants over the age of 40 who were active for at least three hours a week had skin on their booties that was similar to that of someone in their 20s and 30s—even in someone as old as 65, according to The New York Times. If that’s not motivation to keep working up a sweat, maybe nothing is.
Related: 3 Scientifically Proven Wrinkle-Eliminating Ingredients
However, if you aren’t exercising on the regular, you could notice smoother and brighter skin after kicking off a new, consistent workout routine in three to six months, says Banks. And while the results won’t be as dramatic as a facelift or injections, they will be healthier for your face, he says. “Getting a procedure doesn’t improve the health of your skin like exercising can because it doesn’t boost collagen, improve blood flow, or stimulate growth hormone.”
Better health and more money in the bank? Hope you didn’t buy a super fancy face cream recently.
More from Women’s Health:
The Health Tests You Need to Get in Your 20s, 30s, and 40s
This New App Claims It Can Guess Your Age—Find Out if It’s BS
What to Do Before, During, and After a Workout So You Don’t Break Out
