Exercise and Skin Care

So I noticed something that's happened to my face in the last couple weeks. My skin got clearer! Yes even at the tender age of 35 I still get outbreaks of pimples. I thought that stopped happening after high school but apparently not. I broke out all the time in my 20s. It happened less in my 30s but they were still there. But I noticed that my skin has been looking a lot clearer lately. So I did some research on this subject and apparently it's been shown that exercise has some wonderful benefits on the skin. According to WedMD, the increase circulation and the delivery of nutrients to your skin cells takes out damaging toxins.  Another thing that exercise does is increase the production of collagen. Collagen is the stuff that keeps wrinkles and lines away. In other words you stay looking young.
My husband commented just yesterday how I look a little younger. Which used to bother me when I was 24 and people thought I was a freshman in college.  But now at 35 I'll take it!

Also according to WebMD  there are effects on acne-prone skin.  Doctors say working out provides many benefits that can help clear the skin. How? Exercise mediates the production of testosterone-related hormones such as DHEA and DHT.

"There's a lot of indirect evidence that shows that when you exercise your level of stress diminishes. So your adrenal glands are producing less of these male-type hormones that are part of any acne flare-up," says David Berman, MD, medical director and dermatologic/cosmetic surgeon at the Berman Skin Institute, Palo Alto, Calif., and former chief of dermatology at Santa Clara County Hospital.

Well there you have it.  If you exercise you will have better skin complexion!
And another benefit to exercise is the riddance of cellulite! That cottage cheese-like skin on the buttocks, backs of thighs, and upper arms that a lot of us probably have. This forms, according to WebMD, when fibrous connections in skin are pulled tighter, leading to puckering in pockets of fat.Yuck!
certain exercises can even help break up pockets of cellulite. By toning and pulling the muscles with workouts such as Pilates or weight training, Kunin says you reverse that tension, which reduces the appearance of cellulite.

"Stretching tones and conditions the muscles. Skin attached to those muscles becomes firm and beautiful," says Vasanthi Bhat, founder of Vasantha Yoga Health and Fitness in Santa Clara, Calif.

Guess I'll have to add yoga and Pilates to my workouts. I've definitely seen an improvement in the appearance of the skin on my butt and thighs. But I want to keep the  momentum going. Swimsuit season is almost upon us!