Exercise: The Modern-Day Fountain of Youth Part 1

My little family preparing for another school year.

School is back in session, the young adults are back in college, which means life can resume as usual. For many of us that is a great feeling, for me personally there is NO better feeling than being in your usual routine. For my Boujee Girls, that means you have no more excuses to miss the gym! – yes, I definitely just called y’all out lol
 
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog; to be honest the addition of a 3rd child has made me greedy about my free time, mainly it caused me to take A LOT more naps. I heard the old cliché of three kids feeling more like having 100 kids, and now from experience I can honestly say it is not a lie- so you parents debating on having a 3rd, THINK ABOUT IT!
 
Okay so let’s get to the reason we are here, todays topic, Exercise and its effects on aging, primarily, how it reduces the effects of aging. Yes, I know, that is a bold statement. Essentially, I’m calling exercise the modern-day fountain of youth, and you know what, I stand by that statement. 
 
Many of my clients have been with me for years, every time a birthday comes, I am more and more shocked when I hear their age. It is a shock due to them not looking, acting or moving the way you would expect your typical person of that age to be. It also doesn’t help that most of my 50+ outwork me day in and day out. I had hopes to cover all of this in 1 blog, but after doing research, it is such a broad and huge topic, I will be breaking down each point throughout the month of August and September.
 
Okay let’s get down to the research. Point one, and ladies you will love this. The combination of Resistance training and Aerobic training has been scientifically proven to reduce the effects of skin aging. A 16-week study of 61 sedentary, healthy women who began a exercise routine to see the effect on skin. After the 16 weeks every woman showed a significant improvement in their skin elasticity, dermal structure and dermal thickness. After exercise the expression of dermal extracellular matrix-related genes was increased in normal human primary dermal fibroblasts. Training also had effects on cytokines, hormones, metabolites and an increase in dermal biglycan.   
        
Okay, okay, okay, let me break down those fancy words that scientists use to make the rest of us praise their fancy degrees. 

Skin elasticity refers to an Increased flexibility and resilience of the skin. Kind of like Mr. Fantastic from the fantastic 4.

Dermal structure is the organization and composition of the skin's connective tissue.

Dermal thickness refers to the skin's middle layer thickening, this contributes to improved skin firmness and resilience. Basically, you’re becoming like colossus from the xmen.
Now let’s breakdown HOW exercise does this:

Increased gene expression: the exercise stimulates the production of proteins essential for skin structure (extracellular matrix proteins).

Cytokine and hormone regulation: Exercise alters the levels of signaling molecules that impact skin health. (thickness, structure, elasticity)

Biglycan increase: This very important protein is involved in skin structure and hydration. This protein becomes elevated following exercise. so, every time you exercise, you elevate the protein that helps the structure and hydration of your beautiful skin, kind of makes you want to hit the gym right now, doesn’t it?

So, there you have it, folks! Exercise isn't just about burning calories and getting fit; it's also a secret weapon for looking younger and feeling fabulous. Who knew hitting the gym could be such a fountain of youth? So, pump up those sneakers, grab your favorite workout playlist (slipknot preferred), and get ready to combat aging one rep at a time. Your skin will thank you!

I can’t wait to cover the next chapter in our exercise- the fountain of youth blog series. Until then, I hope you guys learned something. Feel free to message me with any questions about fitness and health. I would love to cover them in a blog.