@Mary Matsui
There are many ways in which regular exercise has a beneficial effect on your body, since it helps maintain both physical and mental health. Exercise can reduce your risk of stroke and high blood pressure, help maintain a healthy body weight, decrease your risk of Type 2 diabetes, support optimum brain function, improve your mood and reduce the risk of anxiety and depression.
Therefore, it should not be too surprising that a good exercise regimen will also protect and enhance the health and condition of your skin.
Physical inactivity is one of the leading health problems in the world and it has been suggested that exercise decreases the risk of more than 35 different disorders. The physiology and molecular biology of exercise suggests that exercise activates multiple signaling pathways of major health importance.
So, let’s go into more details about some of the specifics related to skin health and exercise: what kind of exercise is best, how exactly does exercise affect the skin, and check to see if there any negative consequences of exercise on the skin.
First, the basics. Exercise is defined as any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories. There are many types of physical activity, including swimming, running, jogging, walking and dancing, to name a few. In general, positive results can be accomplished with moderate exercise that increases your heart rate and breathing.
It’s now been demonstrated that lifelong regular exercise contributes to longevity. The WHO recommends at least 150 min /week of moderate-intensity aerobic activities or 75 min /week of vigorous intensity aerobic activities or a combination of moderate and high intensity to achieve a substantial health benefit.
It is important to note that evidence suggests that extremely high intensity exercise may be less helpful and possibly detrimental. Physical activity too intense, when you’re not accustomed to it, can cause inflammatory reactions in cells and damage to muscles or other tissues.
In contrast, regular moderate physical activity leads to beneficial effects on cells』 adaptation to oxidative stress. These benefits include reduced formation of oxidants, an improvement of antioxidant defense system, and increased resistance of tissues against oxidative damage.
Moderate exercise generates a low level of oxidative stress signals which then result in an upregulation of powerful antioxidant enzymes[1]. Therefore, moderate exercise itself can be considered an antioxidant.
To repeat: intense and exhaustive exercise, can lead to oxidative stress, exceed the antioxidant defense system capacity, lead to chronic inflammation, and ultimately cause collagen fragmentation and disorganization of collagen fibers and skin cell functions, contributing to signs of aging.
Exercise can give your skin a slight glow and help your skin look a little bit healthier because of the increased blood flow that occurs when you work out. It can help to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the skin, which keeps the skin healthy, promotes collagen production, and promotes the formation of new skin cells.
There is no evidence that any significant toxins are released from the skin via the increased blood flow or by sweating.
It has been reported that specific facial exercises can improve the appearance of the face. One pilot study on the facial appearance of middle-aged women assessed a 20-week facial exercise program to see if it could be of some benefit .
Physical manifestations of facial aging are now understood to include not only skin laxity and superficial photodamage but also deeper volume loss of fat and muscle. The researchers asked if facial exercises or facial 「yoga」 could rejuvenate the aging face, presumably by inducing underlying muscle growth.
Participants in the study received formal instruction on 32 facial exercises. They performed 30-minute daily or alternate-day facial exercise program over 20 weeks. The researchers concluded that this program modestly improved the facial appearance.
Participants were highly satisfied, noting significant improvement in 18 of 20 facial features. There are numerous websites that show videos of facial yoga that you can try.
Remember that not all skin is on the face. Cellulite is a cosmetically unappealing skin attribute that is generally a problem on the thighs. In one study, subjects increased their physical activity in order to lose fat in their lower extremities.
They also rated the severity of cellulite, as well as the general condition of their skin on their thighs and found that a combination of diet and exercise significantly decreased the appearance of cellulite.
Aging is commonly associated with a structural deterioration of skin that compromises its barrier function, healing, and susceptibility to disease. It has been shown that exercise robustly alters whole-body metabolism and protects from age associated physical deterioration and disease through pathways such as the generation of a signaling molecule called IL-15.
A recent study used moderate exercise to reduce age-associated changes to the skin in humans and mice and identified exercise-induced IL-15 as a novel regulator of function in aging skin.
They suggested that the improvement they saw could be due to increased fibroblast proliferation (the main cell in your dermis) and more collagen production. A good collagen framework in your dermis means a more firm, smooth skin.
Exercise can also have an indirect beneficial effect on your appearance by improving your mood, letting you feel better about your appearance, and even changing the way others perceive you. Exercise, including walking and yoga, has been shown to exercise can increase the production of endorphins, which are known to help produce positive feelings。
Another indirect benefit of regular physical activity, whether it is aerobic or a combination of aerobic and resistance training, is its ability to help you sleep better and feel more energized during the day. This links exercise to sleep to healthy skin: we』ve shown that poor sleep is associated with decreased skin barrier function recovery and poorer recovery from sunburn.
In several studies, the faces of sleep deprived individuals were perceived as having more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, more swollen eyes, darker circles under the eyes, and more wrinkles/fine lines.
Just be careful about exercising too close to bedtime, because that can disrupt your sleep. Since a workout can increase your energy levels, this may make it more difficult to fall asleep within a few hours of working up a sweat.
Is there a down-side to exercising for the skin? As stated before, the most benefits come from moderate, routine exercise (that doesn’t turn you into a puddle of jelly on the floor). For the most part, this benefits anyone with a few exceptions. And, even these exceptions are manageable.
Exercise can be a trigger for some patients with rosacea, which tends to worsen with increased blood flow to the skin, leading to redness. For this condition, you can get an anti-inflammatory medication from your dermatologist or you can try using some cool compresses post-exercise.
Other sensible rules to follow include these: It's important to clean off any equipment you might be using and avoiding sharing towels with others. If yoga mats are shared, clean them off before using, frequently use hand sanitizer while at the gym, and wear something to protect your feet while in shared showers.
Chaffing and rashes may result from friction and moisture build-up in certain folds or areas of your skin. If this happens, try using an antiperspirant to help prevent the excess sweating or slathering a thick layer of a moisturizing ointment in the area where you experience chaffing.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends gentle washing to remove pollution, makeup, and other substances without irritating your skin. Perspiration, especially when wearing a hat or helmet, irritates the skin, so you want to wash your skin as soon as possible after sweating.
Finally, there is mounting evidence to suggest heat-centric activities, such as Bikram yoga and infrared sauna, may actually worsen pigmentation problems and persistent redness.
◆ Everything in moderation, including exercise (unless, of course, you’re an Olympic or professional athlete).
◆ If you choose to exercise outside, be sure to use sunscreen to protect your skin from the aging rays of the sun. The sunscreen should be broad spectrum, SPF 30 (or higher), and water-resistant.
◆ Exercise positively impacts your mood and self-perception, which has been shown to be reflected in the way others perceive you. You can actually look younger than your age with this influence from the inside out.
◆ Don’t exercise too close to bedtime. Remember that lack of sleep adversely affects your skin and appearance.
◆ For an immediate, short-term, effect, exercise can give your skin a slight glow and help your skin look a little bit healthier because of the increased blood flow that occurs when you work out.
◆ For those with eczema and rosacea who want to exercise but find that it causes their skin problem to flare up, try cool compresses post-exercise and/or asking your dermatologist for a topical anti-inflammatory. If possible, exercise in a cool environment.
◆ There is no evidence to support claims that exercise and sweating function to release 「toxins」 from the body. There is no evidence to suggest that exercise (particularly weight lifting) causes more wrinkles from the act of straining and muscles pulling on the skin. There is no consistent evidence to suggest that exercise has any effect on acne.
Rreferences
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4. Kruk, J. and E. Duchnik, Oxidative stress and skin diseases: possible role of physical activity. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2014. 15(2): p. 561-8.
5. Alam, M., et al., Association of Facial Exercise With the Appearance of Aging. JAMA Dermatol, 2018. 154(3): p. 365-367.
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9. Bonardi, J.M.T., et al., Effect of different types of exercise on sleep quality of elderly subjects. Sleep Med, 2016. 25: p. 122-129.
10. Oyetakin-White, P., et al., Does poor sleep quality affect skin ageing? Clin Exp Dermatol, 2015. 40(1): p. 17-22.
11. Schrom, K., et al., Acne Severity and Sleep Quality in Adults. Clocks & Sleep, 2019. 1: p. 510-516.
12. Sundelin, T., et al., Cues of fatigue: effects of sleep deprivation on facial appearance. Sleep, 2013. 36(9): p. 1355-60.