How face yoga can reduce signs of ageing and make you look younger
Facial workouts aim to strengthen your muscles to give your skin a youthful glow. While people have been doing them for years, their popularity has soared thanks to social media and video-sharing platforms
“Just blow 100 kisses, that’s it,” instructs the YouTuber as she demonstrates repeatedly puckering her lips and blowing kisses to the millions following her tutorial. This is one of many facial exercises that come under the growing banner of what is being called “face yoga”.
There are no downward-facing dogs or Lycra tights involved in face yoga, but it is gaining a growing following in Asia. That is thanks to its perceived anti-ageing and health benefits, with the facial workout aiming to strengthen your muscles to give your skin a more youthful glow.
While people have been doing facial yoga for years – especially in Japan and India – it has spiked in popularity in recent times thanks to the likes of social media and video-sharing platforms that allow instructors to post their do-it-at-home tutorials online.
Before you turn your nose up at the idea of face yoga, know that this is no laughing matter. Earlier this year, researchers at Northwestern University in the US state of Illinois found that spending 30 minutes a day doing facial exercises resulted in lifted lower and upper cheeks and firmer skin. Participants in the study also appeared to look three years younger, on average.
The small study saw 16 women aged between 40 and 65 undertake a 20-week facial exercise programme. After two sessions with an instructor, the women did facial exercises for 30 minutes each day for eight weeks, before reducing the workout to every other day for the rest of the period.