We all know that we should exercise.  We hear from our doctors and the medical community about how critical it is for weight loss and health that we get our bodies moving and stay active.  But did you know that there is another benefit to cardio exercise?  It can actually improve the look and feel of your skin!  It’s not a benefit that people normally associate with exercise, but it’s a great one.  Women in particular spend millions of dollars a year on anti aging products trying to get rid of wrinkles, but instead, they should just strap on a pair of running shoes and go for a walk or a jog.

It’s important to remember that our body functions as a whole system, so what is good for one system is likely beneficial to the others.  That’s why eating the right foods can also help your skin but providing the body with the correct nutrition and immune function.  But what specifically about exercise helps our skin?

Improved Circulation

Doing exercise, particularly cardio, literally gets your blood pumping and moving around your body.  This helps to deliver nutrients to the skin such as fatty acids and antioxidants.  The skin uses these nutrients to stay supple and smooth, so more of these little goodies will help you stay looking younger.  The increased blood flow also stimulates cell renewal.  This is important because as we age, our cells don’t renew as quickly as they used to in our youth.  The result is older, drier, more wrinkled looking skin.  Look at the hand of a twenty year old woman next to the hand of a fifty year old and you’ll see the effects of slower cell renewal.  By speed up this process, you can take years off your skin!

Detoxification

Another great benefit of exercise is that it stimulates detoxification.  This is the body’s opportunity to get rid of the toxins floating around and to sweat them out.  As the skin is one of the major organs involved in eliminating toxins, there is a tight connection to skin health and toxins.  If the body cannot eliminate the toxins, they are going to sit in our systems causing damage, including damage to the skin.  But in order for the skin to function effectively, the pores cannot be blocked.  This means that it’s better not to exercise with makeup on.  Makeup often clogs pores and prevents proper sweating or elimination.  Also, after you work out, it’s a good idea to wash your face and body to get rid of the oil, sweat and toxins you’ve produced during your work out.  There’s no point in doing all the work to get rid of the toxins just to let this sit on top of your skin for hours.

Stress Relief

The last benefit exercise gives to our skin is through stress relief.  It is proven that exercise helps lower stress hormones and helps us relax and lower our stress levels.  So how does our emotional state affect our skin?  Quite directly.  Have you even seen pictures of the U.S. presidents when they first come into office and when they leave after four years?  The pictures are quite dramatic and including both graying of the hair and a significant increase in wrinkles.  We wear our stress in the wrinkles on our faces.  And by exercising and reducing our stress we literally can prevent wrinkles from forming.

So now we have another reason to exercise- get moving and get rid of wrinkles!