Your treadmill may not be a time machine, but research shows that regular exercise can help slow the body's aging process.
Exercise Keeps Your Skin Soft and Glowing
In one study published in 2019 in Biology (Basel), researchers studied a small group of adults aged 20–84. The frequent exercisers over age 40 had skin resembling the more supple, elastic skin of people in their 20s and 30s.
People may use moisturizers and eye creams as anti-aging methods. One potential anti-aging option is being physically active. Exercise can help fight aging by allowing your body to adjust better to the aging process or make changes at the cellular level.
It was found that people who are exercising at forty have skin that is as elastic as people in their early thirties. McMaster researchers trace the cause back to, believe or not, sweating. If you exercise regularly, your skin will be cleared from impurities more often, leaving it glowing and healthy.
Strength training means slowing and reversing the aging process at the cellular and genetic level, increase your energy, protect against the effects of aging, improve insulin resistance (the kindling for all sorts of diseases), reduce mortality and improve brain function.
The anti-aging effects of lean muscle mass for your skin
Your skin will also look healthy and younger as you will have less fatty tissue under your skin. Having a layer of fat under the skin all over the body as a protective measure is healthy and completely normal.
Because aging and inactivity tend to reduce muscle mass, resistance training is even more crucial for older adults as it helps slow the natural loss of muscle mass with age, McDonough says.
We are all aware that fitness and motor skills decline with age. Regular exercise, however, can slow this process down significantly. More exercise also means improved quality of life in old age. Active people report looking and feeling 10 years younger than sedentary people in terms of motor skills.
That's because exercise increases blood flow and blood delivers oxygen to your muscles and organs—including your skin—which makes it look healthier. That is what we call the "post-workout glow." Aside from that, exercise itself is really a good tool for combating breakouts.
Immediate effects of exercise include “increased blood flow to the skin and increased lymph flow, which decreases eye puffiness,” says Leslie Baumann, MD, a dermatologist in Miami and author of The Skin Type Solution. So long as you aren't managing an underlying skin condition, you're left with a more radiant glow.
Researchers found that people who performed high levels of physical activity had longer telomeres; in fact, biologically speaking, they were nine years younger than more sedentary people.
Why Exercise Leaves You With 'Gym Face' Extreme workouts can result in fat loss throughout the body as well as the face. This subsequent decrease in facial fat and volume is one of the main reasons why exercise makes you look older, especially for anyone over the age of 35.
HIIT workouts tend to combine the two forms of exercise that have a huge impact on aging: aerobic and strength-training. Cardio that comes from aerobic exercise helps get the heart pumping. Whereas strength-training helps to keep muscles strong. Yoga is another physical activity that can reverse aging.
Getting fit not only makes you look sexy, it also makes you feel sexy by balancing the body's sex hormone levels, which in turn can improve the appearance of hair, skin and muscle tone.
When you sweat, you shed a lot of minerals and natural salt from your body, which acts as a natural substitute for an exfoliator. This helps in clearing out the clogged pores and also removes all the dirt and impurities from the skin. It also fights problems of dry skin and allergies.
"My [clients] generally see initial changes within four to six weeks, and actual results within eight to 12 weeks," Wilson explains. And, no two people have identical goals or workout programs to reach them, meaning that the general timeline to see results of any kind (eight to 12 weeks) is pretty malleable.
Skin becomes loose and sagging, bones lose their mass, and muscles lose their strength as a result of time spent living life. Most people begin to notice a shift in the appearance of their face around their 40's and 50's, with some also noticing a change in their 30's.
From burning fat and building muscle to improving mood and reducing stress, most of the benefits of exercise are well-known. But, if you need yet another reason to hit the gym, research suggests that exercise can boost collagen levels, helping you tone not only your muscles but also your skin.
Between, 17-25, you will experience testosterone driven growth burst in your muscles. However, you need to be moderate with your workouts and its intensity. Follow the 10 percent rule and raise the intensity by one-tenth at a time, so that your body gets ample stimulus to grow.
There is no particular age that you should stop lifting heavy.
Lifting weights that are too heavy can cause muscle and joint damage. Doing so can also cause spinal injuries such as herniated discs. In extreme cases, heavy lifting can even tear a heart artery, which could result in death.