A Case of Vanity

After yesterday’s post about maintaining a youthful look by exercising our facial muscles, today I wanted to share an article I read last year on NPR about what causes our faces to sag as we age. Not only does it have to do with our muscles losing their tone but our bones droop as well.

As we age, our cheekbones can drop, making our eyes look more deep set and hollow and our jawbones can deteriorate and recede. This also means that a face-lift to fix sagging skin will not hide sagging bones. Have you ever noticed that taut skin on someone may still not make them appear young, depending on their age.

How does this happen? Our bones are not static. They are living, dynamic structures that are constantly being remodeled. The texture also changes as we get older, from hard and smooth to more rough. And although the article offers little advice for preventing this from happening, it does suggest that keeping our teeth is one effective way to prevent sagging bones since the socket of a lost tooth will disappear. That means, brushing, flossing, eating a balanced and healthy diet, and drinking lots of water to keep our teeth and gums healthy.

And although I haven’t found any evidence to back up the theory that exercising our facial muscles will help preserve the structure of our bones, I’m going to bet my money on this being true. Since we already know that weight bearing exercises help maintain bone density, I predict that exercises that stimulate movement around the bones in our face will help to maintain their integrity. And if I find any evidence for this, I will report back. In the meantime, in the name of vanity : ) I’ll do my facial exercises and brush/floss regularly. I hope you do too…

P.S. The book Face Culture by Frederick Rossiter discusses this topic. I’m going to search for it at the local libraries…

A Workout from the Neck Up

Yesterday’s post about eye exercises made me realize that most of us probably ignore our muscles from the neck up. We’re so focused on toning our arms, legs, buttocks, and abdomens and we neglect our faces. Yet, as we age, our facial muscles begin to sag, which can contribute to lines and wrinkles and make us look older.

No matter how good our diets are, our facial muscles won’t stay firm unless they’re conditioned. In addition, exercising our heads is a good thing because like the rest of the body, working these muscles is also thought to relieve swelling, especially in the eye area, and stimulate the lymphatic system to detoxify this part of our body.

And, so, here are several facial exercises designed to work the three groups below:

Neck and Throat

Lips and Cheeks

Eye and Forehead

I did all of the exercises in about 10-15 minutes and can say that by the time I was finished with my lips and cheeks, my face was tired! This is a good indication of how little I work these muscles. One nice thing is that many of the exercises can be done anywhere. Of course, like the eye exercises from yesterday, if you’re on a subway or train, you may want to hold up your magazine or newspaper or people may get the wrong idea ; )

There are additional eye exercises here to supplement those from yesterday as well. I’m going to try these daily to see if I notice a difference. Especially the exercises for the neck and throat since I’ve noticed in yoga class a bit of sagging going on with the skin on my neck. I’m also thinking that many of these exercises would be a wonderful way to treat a headache or relieve stress from sitting or working too long in front of the computer, since our head, neck, and even shoulders are often involved and the exercises are stimulating blood flow to these areas. When is the last time you thought about working the muscles in your head and neck?