We’re constantly told how important exercise is for our health, but do you know just how important exercise is for your skin? When we think of exercise we usually associate it with getting fit, losing weight, or gaining muscle, but exercise is also vital for skin health. The benefits of exercise on the skin are often overlooked when we’re busy looking for the next sought-after potion to plump skin, minimize wrinkles, or reduce breakouts with minimal effort.
#JustOneHour of exercise a week can make you significantly happier with your appearance!
You can eat like a saint, but if you’re not doing the correct amount of exercise, you’ll never achieve a healthy glow, which no beauty product can mimic! Likewise, you can exercise like a pro, but without adequate nutrition, you’ll never reach optimum health and beautiful skin.
For truly radiant skin, you need to start seeing your daily workout as a beauty treatment. Think I’m crazy? Exercise increases circulation which brings extra blood flow and oxygen to the skin which will give you that post-facial glow without the expensive price tag.
Studies show it boosts your self-confidence almost immediately – and nothing is sexier and more beautiful than confidence, right? Regular exercise also improves your sleep patterns and reduces stress and anxiety – do I need to go into the ins and outs of the importance of quality shut-eye on the skin? It’s called beauty sleep for a reason!
Just one hour of exercise per week can make you 17% more content with your appearance than those who don’t exercise. Earlier this year, organic beauty brand Green People surveyed over 1000 people about their exercise habits and how content they were with their appearance and discovered that just one hour of exercise per week can make you significantly happier with your appearance! Interestingly, out of all the varieties of exercise surveyed, those who did yoga or Pilates were the most content with their appearance and 28% happier with their appearance than non-exercisers.
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Can Too Much Exercise Cause Acne?
When you’re constantly searching for that miracle elixir that promises beautiful, youthful skin, it can be easy to develop unhealthy, obsessive habits. Don’t get me wrong, exercise is key for beautiful skin, but the pressure we feel to look our best at all times can lead to obsessive eating habits teamed with excessive workout regimes that can actually do more harm than good.
We’re often told that stress can trigger acne, but we often only think about psychological stress. It’s easy to overlook the fact that too much exercise also causes stress and strain on the body.
Don’t be dissuaded from working out as it does not exercise that can cause bad skin, it’s how you exercise that could be the problem. There’s a fine line between training hard and overtraining, which pushes the body’s stress response to the extreme and can cause many unwanted health issues.
Too much high-intensity exercise can lead to an increase in the release of the stress hormone cortisol from your adrenal glands. It’s cortisol that controls your body’s stress levels, but too much of it can have negative effects on the human body, including skin problems. The trick to exercising for optimum health and beauty is to do shorter bursts of exercise 3–5 times a week rather than 1–2 longer, more intense sessions.
There is also a good deal of research out there that explores the link between intensive exercise (10–12 hours per week) and increased levels of testosterone. High levels of testosterone are bad news for skin as they can increase sebum production that combines with dead skin cells and debris to form a plug which can clog pores and lead to breakouts.
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Top Exercise Tips for Beautiful Skin
- Find something you love: If you enjoy the exercise, you’ll unlock so many more benefits. There are hundreds of different things you can do to get moving. If you hate running, that’s fine! Try a pilates class. If you can’t afford a class, don’t worry! Put on your favorite tunes and dance around your living room for 30 minutes.
- Reduce the frequency: If pumping some serious iron and exercising till every muscle aches is your favorite way to keep fit then you don’t have to give it up for the sake of your skin. Just reduce the frequency of your workouts to 1–2 times per week so you don’t overdo it.
- Do something that makes you sweat twice a week: Perform short intensive 30-minute workouts 2–3 times a week. These exercises should get your heart pumping faster, your breathing heavier, and your brow sweating harder.
- Perform lower intensity exercise the rest of the week: Try to do lower intensity exercises 3–4 days a week such as walking, pilates, yoga, or swimming. I find performing a few sun salutation sequences each morning is an excellent way to work a variety of different muscle groups and fill some of your movement quotas before you’ve even left the house.
- Get enough rest: Make sure you get enough rest between workouts, especially if you’re doing intensive training. If you start to find that your sleep patterns are disturbed and you’re not getting adequate sleep then you may have to readjust your exercise schedule and reduce the intensity of your workouts.
- Start exercising TODAY: The worst thing you can do for your skin is not exercised at all, so get some extra movement into your day and slowly build up to a regular routine that works for you.
Exercise plays such a key part in the journey to healthy skin and you don’t have to become a total gym bunny to reap the rewards! Remember, just one hour of exercise a week is all it takes to boost the way you see yourself in the mirror by 17%! Start with little changes like going for a 30-minute walk after work or grabbing a skipping rope, putting on some tunes, and giving yourself a 15-minute workout in your garden. It won’t be long before all the small perks, such as enhanced mood, increased confidence, better sleep, and reduced stress, will have you glowing in a way you never thought was possible.
Do you exercise for one hour per week? Have you noticed a link between exercise and healthier, more beautiful skin? Why not share your experience using the comments box below.
