You already heard a million times that exercising is fundamental to have a healthy body. A 2016 systematic review even concluded that a higher level of physical activity could significantly decrease the risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease and ischemic stroke events. But what about aging? Are there any anti-aging exercises that could actually help?
Does exercising help to slow aging down?
According to a 2017 research, exercising doesn’t only help to keep chronic diseases at bay. It has a direct impact on the cells age too!
In this study, the researchers measure the telomeres, nucleoprotein caps at the end of chromosomes. These caps become smaller with age leading to gradual cell deterioration.
However, the authors discovered that individuals who exercise frequently – 30 to 40 min jogging, daily – presented at the equivalent of 9 more biological years worth of telomeres than the sedentary group. Moderate exercise also proved beneficial but the difference wasn’t as significative.
Best anti-aging exercises for the body
According to science, the best workout to reverse aging is the HIIT, High-Intensity Interval Training. As its name hints at, this is an interval training where you are supposed to combine fast-paced exercises followed by a less intense “rest” period.
The HIIT method proved to be more efficient that only resistance training or combined resistance with cardio at normal speeds and rates. The anti-aging exercises used in this study were a combination of cardio and resistance but adapted to this method of training.
Cardio
Cardio exercises like running, cycling or swimming, are aerobic, which means they stimulate the mitochondrial function, responsible for generating energy in cells.
On average you should do around 240 minutes a week of cardio to collect the benefits. However, you won’t need as much if you do a HIIT training as you concentrate a lot of power in the fast-paced phases.
Resistance exercises
According to a 2007 study, resistance exercises do more than slow aging, they can reverse it too! In this study, older and younger subjects’ data were compared before the training took place.
Muscle strength wise, the older population scored initially 59% lower than the younger population. However, after 26 weeks of both groups doing resistance training, this gap was reduced to 38%.
Which anti-aging exercises did they perform, you ask?
- Chest press
- Leg press
- Leg extension
- Leg flexion
- Shoulder press
- Lat pull-down
- Seated row
- Calf raise
- Abdominal crunch
- Back extension
- Biceps curl
- Triceps extension
The subjects worked out two non-consecutive days of a working week and they began with 1 repetition per exercise at their 50% of strength. The difficulty was progressively increased to 80% of strength for 3 repetitions.
Best anti-aging facial exercises
You can disguise the body aging signs. The face, though, as no problems in telling off your true years.
Unfortunately, you cannot perform a HIIT workout on your face to reverse the years, but fret not. There are some facial exercises that can improve your skin’s elasticity, smooth it up and prevent the devilish wrinkles for longer.
If the creases are still fresh and superficial, you might even be able to revert some of these.
Forehead wrinkles
How to perform the exercise
1. Close your hands in fists.
2. Join them together on your forehead, and position the middle and index finger knuckles in the center.
3. Apply pressure and, without releasing it, slide your fist to each side very slowly.
4. End the exercise by applying a gentle pressure to your temples.
5. Repeat 4 times.
Toned cheeks
Source: Face Yoga MethodHow to perform the exercise
1. Stand out straight, with your face looking forward and take a deep breath.
2. Puff your cheeks with the air you just inhale, like you used to do as a kid, and hold for 5 seconds.
3. Slowly release the air and let your face relax.
4. Repeat 10 times.
Platysma Toning (“Double/sagging-chin”)
How to perform the exercise
1. Sit down with your back straight.
2. Gently tilt your head back so you are left looking at the ceiling.
3. Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth until you feel your neck muscles tightening.
4. Hold for 25 seconds.
5. Gently return to the original position and relax.
6. Repeat again.
Smile smoother (smiling and frowning lines)
How to perform the exercise
1. Shape your mouth like an O while pulling your lips to cover the teeth. No choppers should be seen from now on.
2. Smile as widely as you can without revealing your teeth. You may close the O shape a bit, but never open it. Your lips should not touch either. It is supposed to look and feel weird.
3. When you reach your maximum, put your index finger on your chin and, while using it to hold your jaw in place, tilt your head back and slowly let your face relax to normal.
4. Repeat 7 times.
Droopy eyelids and crows feet
How to perform the exercise
1. Make a V shape with your index and middle fingers and place their tips on the outer and inner corners of your eyebrows.
2. Gently apply pressure and pull the eyebrows down as if you were frowning.
3. Try to release the fingers and maintain the low eyebrows, while squinting your eyes and pursing your lips.
4. Hold for 2 seconds and relax. Repeat 8 times.
5. End this workout by closing your eyes and relaxing.
Do facial anti-aging exercises work?
It depends who you ask. Science doesn’t have a say on it yet, right now it is only a matter well-based arguments, and both the “yes” and “no” sides have those.
To the believers of this method, it works by stimulating the muscles just like in a body exercise. Toning them gives the face plumper and smoother look as they stretch the skin they are attached to. There are also some mentions that it might stimulate the production of collagen too.
Those who don’t believe in this method tend to be baffled by it. According to them, wrinkles are formed due to facial movements and the inability of the skin to bounce back. Therefore, to prevent wrinkles you should move your face less, not more.
The truth probably lies in the middle. Even the fans of this method defend that you must do exercises very carefully and thoroughly to produce results. Squeezing your face randomly is more likely to give you wrinkles than treating them.
Take it slow
If you want these anti-aging exercises to be effective, try not to do them every day. Ideally, you should leave at least one day of rest or low-intensity activity in between your stronger workouts.
Remember that your muscles need to rest to regenerate too. If you push your body too hard it will have to use its own resources to be able to function normally, which can be counterproductive if you are trying to fight the exhaustion of your body cells.
