Lifting weights, doing aerobic workouts, and stretching into a yoga pose all benefit your skin as well as your body.
Most
of the time, exercise conjures up images of losing weight, building
muscle, and trimming thighs. But now, doctors say, another body part may
benefit from regular workouts -- your skin.
Indeed,
from reducing acne breakouts to fighting the signs of aging, health
experts say regular exercise can play a big role in how young and how
healthy your skin looks and feels.
What
it happens is increased circulation and delivery of nutrients to skin
cells, whooshing away potentially damaging toxins. Another is giving
skin the optimum conditions for making collagen, the support fibers
that help keep wrinkles and lines at bay.
But
perhaps the most dramatic effects of exercise are on acne-prone skin.
Doctors say working out provides many benefits that can help clear the
skin. How? Exercise mediates the production of testosterone-related
hormones such as DHEA and DHT. There's a lot of indirect evidence that
shows that when you exercise your level of stress diminishes. So your
adrenal glands are producing less of these male-type hormones that are
part of any acne flare-up. The proof? Try to remember any situation
that increased your stress level -- meeting a deadline, receiving an
unexpected bill that needs to be paid, disagreements in family -- and
you're likely to recall a breakout. Almost everyone's skin flares when
they are under stress but especially those who already is prone to acne.
Exercise, can help control it. By reducing stress, it tends to quiet
the adrenals. There is less hormone output which in turn helps control
acne.
According
to dermatologists, regular exercise also increases sweating, which in
turn can unclog pores and have a positive effect on breakouts.
In
the long run, people who exercise have a better complexion overall. If
they have acne, it's better controlled, and if they have occasional
breakouts they are definitely less severe, and clear quicker and
easier.
This
same hormone-reducing activity can also benefit your hair. Anything
that controls the amount of male hormones your body produces can impact
not only skin, but also androgenic hair loss. Anything you can do to
reduce the production of these hormones is going to have beneficial
results on both skin and hair.
While
we don't often think of exercise has having any specific anti-aging
effects on skin, experts say it most definitely does. One is by
influencing the natural production of collagen, a kind of connective
tissue that plumps your skin and gives your face the bloom of youth.
Our fibroblasts, which are the collagen-producing cells in the skin,
became fewer in number and they become lazy as we get older. Skin
becomes less firm, drier, and even more wrinkled. However, add an
exercise routine to your beauty regimen and you infuse skin cells with
oxygen as well as other nutrients. Both set up ideal conditions for
collagen production.
Beyond
helping your muscles relax, doctors say most aerobic exercise, such as
walking or bicycling, also offer a "cleansing" effect on skin. This
helps remove toxins that assault the skin --like cigarette smoke, air
pollution, even chemicals commonly found in grooming products such as
hair spray, deodorant, and shower gels. The better your circulation,
which is something aerobic exercise can improve, the more effectively
toxins are removed. The better and healthier your skin will not only
be, but also look.
What can help your skin even more: Hydrating your body before and after exercise.
If
you are properly hydrating yourself during exercise you will get
better blood flow to the skin, which in turn encourages the elimination
of toxins that would otherwise accumulate in the skin cells. This is
particularly true for those who overindulge in alcohol, drugs, or even
junk food.
Proper
fluid intake -- water in particular -- can increase skin blood flow,
allowing the washing out of those toxins, which in turn will help skin
not only look better but also be healthier.
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