We know exercise is good in many ways but can exercise reverse aging? The answer to this question is yes, as determined by a 2014 study done by the researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. Study results showed that exercise does not only keep skin younger, but may also reverse skin aging for many people. And the good news is that the benefit applies even to people who take up exercise later in life.
Earlier studies at McMaster examined the effect of exercise on mice by splitting them into two groups and giving one group access to exercise wheels. The mice that didn’t exercise quickly became weak, bald and ill while the mice that exercised enjoyed healthy brains, hearts, muscles and even reproductive organs. They also noticed a difference in their fur, which was longer for the active mice and didn’t even go gray as it did for the non-active group.
Researchers wondered if exercise could have the same impact on people so they performed a second study that involved 29 male and female volunteers from ages 20-84. The results were presented in April of this year at The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
Approximately half of the participants completed at least three hours of moderate to vigorous exercise each week while the other group exercised for less than an hour per week. After three months they then studied the buttock skin of each of them since it’s an area of skin that is rarely exposed to the sun. Those over 40 who’d been actively exercising had visibly  younger skin, even similar to that of someone in their 20’s or 30’s. This included the participants over the age of 65.
They took the study even further by having the sedentary group begin exercising three plus hours each week before microscopically studying their buttock skin after three months. They compared the skin to the samples taken prior to beginning the exercise regimen and the results were remarkable. The inner and outer layers of skin also looked like those of 20-40 year old individuals.
The researchers admitted that the study was small and more research would need to be done but were excited to present the current findings.
We know exercise has a lot of benefits, including increased heart health, weight loss, stress management, the list goes on and on. So this is just one more reason to stay active and prolong the need for Botox®!
For more ways to slow the signs of aging, read HOW TO LOOK AND FEEL YOUNGER WITHOUT GOING UNDER THE KNIFE.