Exercise Can Make Your Skin Look Younger!

HELLO!! Happy Wednesday :D
How's your week going?! Are you having a productive one so far?! I hope so :D If not, don't sweat over it too much, it's midweek so you still have time to reach your goals before the week is over! You got this!!

Question: Can exercise make your skin look younger?!
New research says YES!!
This is music to my ears :D I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to wrinkles that come with getting older. I don't mind getting older (i'll be 5-0 next year) but the wrinkles can stay at bay as long as possible...lol! I don't do botox or laser treatments, and I've never had surgical procedures done on my face BUT I'm religious when it comes to using my skincare products! So when I read that exercising can reverse aging too, I was doing a HAPPY dance!!

Today I'm posting the article I read in "SHAPE" magazine by Beth Janes.
Keep reading and find out how exercising can help your skin look even better :)

Though it sounds too good to be true, exercising not only keeps your skin youthful but also helps it de-age and now we know why. As you workout, your muscles release all sorts of proteins to start the domino effect of your body's response to exercise. Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario took a close look at those proteins and were able to pinpoint 1 in particular, IL-15, that stimulates skin cells power centers, or mitochondria. The pumped-up mitochondria in turn make skin cells perform better, whether they're cranking out plumping collagen or triggering the cell turnover that renews your complexion. In other words, IL-15 makes skin cells mitochondria fitter and healthier, and that makes skin look and act younger. Best of all, this priceless IL-15 youth potion is totally free: Exercise is the only way to get it.

The magic of IL-15...
The Canadian scientists first discovered the IL-15 effect in a remarkable study that was released earlier this year. Comparing the skin of older adults who did moderate-to-vigorous cardio 4 or more times per week to that of sedentary adults, they found that the exercisers skin looked 25 years younger. Yes, 25 years. The key was that the exercisers had higher levels of IL-15 (IL is short for interleukin, a class of protein). Even more exciting, when the scientists put the sedentary seniors on a light cardio program, the aging of their skin was partially reversed. "After just 3 months, we saw a youthening - a thickening of the dermis (the under layer) and a thinning of the epidermis (the topmost layer)," says lead author Mark Tarnopolsky, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics and medicine. (A thick dermal layer has lots of collagen, which gives skin a firm appearance, and a thinner top layer indicates that the epidermis is constantly being replenished with fresh skin cells.) "And the fact that we got these improvements means you can't say the initial differences we observed in the original exercisers skin were just the result of good genes."
What's especially reassuring is that if you haven't put in much exercise time in the past, you haven't missed the boat for younger-looking skin. To be clear, the former couch potatoes in the study didn't magically erase wrinkles by hitting the gym, but even Dr. Tarnopolsky was stunned at how little exercise it took for them to reap the skin benefits that could keep them from developing more signs of aging. "These people didn't have to do that much. They biked 30 to 45 minutes at a moderate pace twice a week, and on 1 other day, we asked them to go for a walk," he says. "I thought the effect would take longer or require more intensity or duration per workout. But based on what we see, there's no question that even a little exercise makes skin look younger."

Other skin-deep perks...
As you know, getting your heart thumping faster boosts your circulation. That means more nutrients and oxygen reach your skin cells, and your body more efficiently carries away the by-products of normal cell repair and turnover. "Whenever you increase nutrition to cells, you also increase and improve cellular function," says Mark Herron, M.D., a dermatologist in Montgomery, Alabama, and a three-time Ironman competitor. "And if each cell is improved when you exercise, then you are further warding off the aging process." Plus, at the same time your level of IL-15 is spiking, your muscles are releasing similar interleukins that stimulate the body's immune system, which in turn can reduce whole-body inflammation. That's a crucial function, because inflammation breaks down collagen and can thwart skin repair. "The term inflamm-aging was created because inflammation is seen as a key driver of aging," says Frauke Neuser, Ph.D., the principal scientist for Olay Skin Care. "It can literally exhaust cells because they're constantly responding to the inflammation. Their defense mechanisms kick in, which prevent them from focusing on the regular functions that keep skin strong and healthy." In other words, exercise does the dirty work to lift the constant low-grade stress your skin cells could be under without your even knowing it.

The ideal antiaging workout...
Any exercise has positive effects on skin, experts say, but research shows that only cardio, not resistance training, generates IL-15. The specific type - walking, jogging, cycling, swimming - doesn't seem to matter. As the McMaster University study on seniors suggests, intensity may not be that important either. "I think  there's a ceiling effect on how much IL-15 your skin cells can use, and we were close to it. The skin really looked much younger, and you cannot get younger than young," Dr. Tarnopolsky says. And if you're worried that pounding the pavement on runs stresses skin's elasticity and causes sagging, don't be. The small amount of g-force that the skin endures may actually help ward off wrinkles. "That little bit of intermittent stretch in skin could stimulate repair mechanisms and trigger collagen growth," Dr. Tarnopolsky says. (As for breasts, what leads to sagging is not high-impact exercise - a good sports bra can pretty much provide the necessary motion control to neutralize that stress - but the gradual loss of elasticity in their inner support system, namely fascia and Cooper's ligaments.) Bottom line: All you have to do is move. "When you see an older person and go, WOW, you look so good, it's probably 1 of 2 things," Dr. Tarnopolsky says. "Either they've paid a lot of money for plastic surgery and collagen injections, OR they exercise."

Did you like the article?! I'm THRILLED :D Exercising has many health benefits AND we can also get this IL-15 potion for free! BRING IT ON!!
Be skin smart...if you're going to exercise outside, don't forget to apply SPF 30 every 2 hours...just saying :D

Have a GREAT day!
SEE YOU on Fridayyyyy!!