Facial exercises are hailed as a non-invasive alternative to Botox and surgery. You can take years off your face by just doing some facial exercises. Yep and this fact has a strong scientific backing to it.
Facial Exercises
Facial exercises may improve facial appearance and reduce some visible signs of aging says a recently published research study.
“Assuming the findings are confirmed in a larger study, individuals now have a low-cost, non-toxic way for looking younger or to augment other cosmetic or anti-aging treatments they may be seeking,” says lead author Dr. Murad Alam, vice chair and professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine dermatologist.
When you perform facial exercises, they enlarge and strengthen your facial muscles making your face more toned and younger looking. ‘The exercises work the hypodermis or the lower layer of the skin, the dermis or the middle layer and the epidermis or the upper layer.
‘By working all these layers correctly, it will increase the blood circulation, allowing more oxygen and more nourishment to reach the cells of the skin. The result is a bright, healthy complexion with a beautiful glow which has fewer toxins and has a better ability to absorb moisture,” yoga expert Danielle Collins tells Marie-Claire.
Benefits
Your face gets its shape from the face pads which fit like a jigsaw puzzle. As your face ages, your skin loses its elasticity. And your face pads between the muscles and the skin become thinner. When your skin becomes saggy, the thinning face pads atrophy and slide causing your “face to fall” or age.
Facial exercises stimulate the collagen and elastin production in the middle layer of the skin giving a smoother, supple and tighter looking skin.
Experts say that facial exercises help your muscles underneath to become more prominent, so your skin gets more stuffing underneath it. The muscles become firmer and enhance the fullness of your face.
“Muscle growth is increasing the facial volume and counteracting the effects of age-related fat thinning and skin loosening,” says senior study author Emily Poon, an assistant research professor in dermatology at Feinberg.
How the exercises worked
The study participants all middle-aged women between 40 to 65 years received training from a facial exercise instructor. They practiced them at home for a total of 20 weeks. The facial exercises were developed and provided by Gary Sikorski of Happy Face Yoga. Also the co-author of the study.
And guess what? The results were stunning. The participants found that upper and lower cheek fullness were significantly enhanced after following all these exercises. The results showed a three-year decrease in age appearance while performing these tasks over a 20 week period.
Experts recommend that you do the facial exercises for 20 minutes, six times a week. It may seem like a lot, but you’ll be amazed by the results.
