Want Younger Skin? Run It Till the Years Fall Off

At the Dirty Girl Run, mud treatment and exercise in one

Consistency has never been one of my strong points. Case in point, my blog posting schedule which, coincidentally, will be filling up with this good stuff more often so get ready. I thrive on new experiences and appreciate the nuances of every day life, unlike some who find comfort in following a routine. Why I don’t crave the satisfaction felt after a good run in the same way I crave Rocky Road ice cream is a question I actually would rather not know the answer to. So when it comes to exercise, I find it very discouraging that you have to routinely do it in order to keep up the positive effects.

The eternal search for that motivation to exercise regularly may have finally revealed itself though through this New York Times headline: Younger Skin Through Exercise. Um, yes please. Taking care of my skin while doing something low cost that also has dozens of other proven health benefits sounds like a plan I can get behind. According to the study cited in the NY Times article by researchers at McMasters University in Ontario, after realizing that mice who had been bred to prematurely age could “stave off or even undo the signs of early aging” through exercise, they put a few fellow human beings to the test to see if the results were true for us as well.

A patch of skin from none other than the buttocks area was biopsied and compared between those who exercised and those who remained sedentary. Skin was healthier amongst all age levels for those who regularly exercised. The most promising aspect of the study was when a group of 65 year olds who had been sedentary were tasked with exercising twice a week for three months. Their skin cells after the period of exercise looked similar to the cells of 20 to 40 year olds. People who are three times younger than them. In three months.

By my calculations if I start working out tonight, I will be back to my five year old self by the end of the year.  In the meantime, I’ll also keep ordering my Retinol-8 complex Verso Night Cream from b-glowing, just to be safe.