Want to Look Younger? Get Up and Move! Instead of spending your time and money researching the latest anti-aging moisturizer, dermal filler, or surgical procedure, it appears that you can restore youthfulness to your skin through exercise!
In an interesting set of studies from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada it was observed in the second study that adding 30 minutes of endurance training at a minimum of 65% of their maximum aerobic capacity twice a week for 3 months to a group of sedentary 65-year-old’s routine resulted in a significantly more youthful skin appearance.
As we age, the outer layer of skin becomes more dense, drier, and flakier and the underlying layer gets thinner and loses elasticity so that the skin becomes more translucent and begins to sag. This usually begins to happen around the age of 40. These changes could be observed in the skin biopsied from the sedentary 65 year olds. After the three months of exercise, a new biopsy showed skin characteristics similar to those observed in the 20 – 40 year old group included in the first study.
This is good. Why is this good? Unlike specialized eye cream, exercise won’t just help your skin. It will strengthen your heart, increase your flexibility, develop your muscles, improve your mood, aid in digestion, and possibly lower your blood pressure.
Find it hard to get started? I know. I can’t even remember how much I’ve spent through the years on fitness memberships I used once or twice. After that, every time work challenged my fitness schedule, I let work win. That didn’t mean I sat on the couch. I water skied, canoed, snow skied, and hiked. What I learned from this was that I have to really enjoy an activity or I won’t do it. My fitness plan can’t seem like “working out”. It has to feel like fun.
If you’re like me and you having trouble sticking with a workout plan, then try an experiment for one month. During that month, explore 4 or 5 different kinds of activity. Do each one a couple of times until you hit on the thing that you like so much it doesn’t seem like work. That will be the key to sticking with a program. When you love the activity and how it makes you feel, you won’t have to force yourself to participate regularly. You may even find yourself looking forward to it. That’s how I feel about swimming!
Of course there are many more possibilities than 4 or 5. There’s walking, running, cycling, climbing, weight lifting, CrossFit, Zumba, Pilates, barre workout, Jazzercise, ballroom dancing, pole dancing, belly dancing, trapeze workouts, yoga, swimming, rowing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, kickball, soccer, basketball, golf, tennis, softball, gardening, bleacher walks, surfing, water skiing, snow skiing, snow boarding, trampoline workouts, rope jumping, and even walking the dog.
If you love variety, you can simply repeat the experiment over and over and you’ll have a widely varied fitness plan. If you feel more comfortable with a simpler rotation, you’ll have to narrow the list to the top few things you enjoy. One good way to begin paring down is to think back and remember what you loved to do as a child. If there’s a related activity, or an activity that puts you in a similar environment, that is age and health appropriate – choose that one.
Get up, get moving, and you’ll automatically be healthier and have younger looking skin. There’s some side effects I can get behind!
Be sure to consult your doctor before beginning a new fitness program.
http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/why-the-fountain-of-youth-might-taste-very-salty/
