Facial exercises

[mario91]

Hey people... I'd like to talk a bit about facial exercises - face stretching, grimacing, etc

As some of you know I burned my whole face 2 years ago in a grease fire, at home. It was a nasty burn - my face went all dark-grey and my forehead skin just fell off immediately.
Luckily the burn was only 2nd degree, but it was mid-deep 2nd degree.
The last day I spent in hospital, nurses told me to do facial-skin-stretching (grimaces) and hand-skin-stretching as much as I could.
The back of my left hand was the worst burn. It got a huge keloid scar, that's luckily almost 100% flat now thanks to stretching and pressure gloves. But the first months were hell. I had to keep stretching it all day, and only at the end of 10months I had my movements 100% back.
About the face, I only got some very minor hypertrophic scarring on my nose, which I think to be the area that I've exercised less. However, it's much better now, and it's very slowly going away with time. I could have stretched my face more, also.
My hand no longer needs stretching, but my face does, and I think it will always do. If I don't grimace for like 1 hour, my facial skin starts feeling dry and uncomfortable. The more I stretch, the better it looks and less acne/eczema it would get (although since on Wai Diet I'm 99% acne and eczema free).

And then, today, I just found this:
http://www.evafraser.com/
A woman that claims to be 80 and looks like 40, thanks to facial exercises, she days.
I really believe in this, it's simple and it makes sense.

So, if you wanna look younger, you better start thinking about this

Would like to hear some opinions and comments! Thanks.

[dime]

I strongly believe in exercising muscles, whether it's the big skeletal muscles, or the tiny muscles on the face. It's very simple: if you don't use it, you'll lose it (atrophy).

I've read some old book by Sanford Bennett: http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition ... -intro.htm
Still haven't started doing the facial/neck exercises though. Besides the exercises he's saying that facial massage/stretching with your hand is good for keeping the skin from dying. After doing the exercises he recommends for 10-15 years, he looked much better at 65 than at 50.

[Oscar]

I'm not such a proponent of (any) exercises (to improve health). I think it matters more what the speed of elastic fiber degeneration is, and personally I think diet plays a big role here.

[overkees]

I must disagree with you Oscar. Stimulating lymph nodes by excercising is really underestimated. Lymph nodes are on the spots where we move the most and at vulnerable areas. Why? Because lymph nodes aren't connected to the heart and depend totally on movement to get stimulated. This is what yoga mainly is based on. Chakra systems, you name it. All have to do with the location of nodes in our body. And besides, I feel way more energetic when excercising and a lot happier than when I'm not. Probably due to the hormones. We were made to move. Otherwise we would've been trees or plants
This is also seen in astronauts, their faces are really pooffy if they come back to earth. Because the circulation of fluids doesn't work properly.

But I don't think you should overdo it. Running for hours and hours would definetely be a no go. But a short High intensity interval training and low energy exercises for a not too long period of time are very healthy if you ask me. I was really sedentary all my life and since I began excercising I feel much much better.

Nuff said: I will put it to the test. I have a manly shaped face and nothing to complain. Except for one thing. And that is dark spots underneath my eyes. Ive began developing them in my puberty and since on wai they are a bit less. BUT they are still too dark compared to other's. Because of this people always ask me if I've been sick.
Now I read this and it's all starting to make sense: Your eyes are supposed to move a lot. Nowadays we look a lot of computer screens (at least I do). So my eyes get no excercise at all. Only very subtle movements.
So I'm going to train my eyes and see if it improves my dark spots. Wish me good luck

[dime]

And besides, I feel way more energetic when excercising and a lot happier than when I'm not.

Same here, this alone improves health significantly.

[Oscar]

My answer was aimed at facial exercises in particular. I will clarify the general part a bit: I don't think the exercises (aside from normal moving around) are necessary for good health. Making one feel better/happier or not (in my case there's no difference) does not signify anything per se. Lymph nodes are meant for producing white blood cells. As far as I know, the only way to 'stimulate' these is to get sick.

[Gendi]

I've read some old book by Sanford Bennett: http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition ... -intro.htm
Still haven't started doing the facial/neck exercises though. Besides the exercises he's saying that facial massage/stretching with your hand is good for keeping the skin from dying. After doing the exercises he recommends for 10-15 years, he looked much better at 65 than at 50.

Just a note, it took Bennett about that long to develop the complete program, if you start on it progress is quite rapid. I started it recently as a flabby person, after 2 months it's given me a firm body, still plenty of progress ahead if I want to get stronger but I've started only doing the exercises twice a week for maintenance.

[Nadia]

RRM ,
are facial exercises beneficial for the appearance of the face ?
what do you think ?

[RRM]

I really have no idea.
I doubt that a lack of facial exercise is responsible for looking old.
I think that looking old is mostly caused by oxidative stress damaging connective tissue, and due to water retention causing the skin to sag.