What if the secret of Japanese youth was hidden in the gym? A new study from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto (Japan) shows that endurance exercises (such as cycling) and weight training improve the health of cells and tissues in the skin of the face.
Physical exercise is a key strategy for living a longer healthy life. Studies have shown that it can reverse age-related deterioration in cognitive function, improve stem cell function and muscle regeneration. But for the first time, researchers have looked at the effects of exercise on skin aging.
Lifting weights, the best anti-wrinkle
For this study, Prof. Satoshi Fujita and his team gathered 56 sedentary middle-aged women and assessed the elasticity, thickness and structure of the dermal layers of their facial skin, using ultrasound and other measures. Then they asked half of them to cycle for 30 minutes, twice a week. And the other half to lift weights, also for about 30 minutes, twice a week.
After 16 weeks, the researchers again carried out tests on the skin. She had become “younger on a cellular level” after she started exercising, Satoshi Fujita said. The extracellular matrix, which structures the skin tissue, was denser, while the genes involved in the creation of skin collagen were more active.
However, the most pronounced effects were recorded in women who lifted weights. “Only resistance training increased dermal layer thickness,” the researchers add.
Source : Resistance training rejuvenates aging skin by reducing circulating inflammatory factors and enhancing dermal extracellular matricesScientific reports, June 2023
