We all know that practicing yoga asanas is good for us—it improves our strength and flexibility, increases circulation, and helps us to breathe better. But did you also know that it’s good for your skin?
Optimum health on the inside affects the way our skin looks on the outside. Good circulation, balanced hormones, and proper digestion and elimination are the keys to inner health. And what better way to improve our inner landscape than by practicing a variety of yoga poses with their profound effect on our internal health. Our digestion and circulation improve, hormones are balanced, toxins are expelled, and constipation vanishes. All of these translate into better looking skin.
As we age, the outer layer of our skin thickens, while the underlying layers become thinner. Canadian researchers recently questioned whether these changes were inevitable or whether exercise could perhaps affect the rate at which our skin ages. To test this, they looked at skin samples of volunteers between 20 and 84 years of age. (They looked at skin from the buttock area that hadn’t had much sun exposure over the years.) When they divided the samples up by the volunteers’ exercise habits, they found that after age 40, the men and women who exercised frequently had healthier skin—more akin to that of the 20- to 30-year-olds. That’s quite a revelation! Of course, it’s still important to take care of your skin when you go out in the sun because it can get damaged—regardless of how much you exercise.
So whether you run, swim, surf, play tennis, or golf, the practice of yoga asanas makes a great addition to your exercise regime—and will help keep your skin looking good!
