The Benefits of Exercise on Skin and Hair

Hi everyone. I apologize for the lack of posts this month. I've been rapidly preparing for a move from New York to Chicago (happening this weekend), and my mind has been OCD-fixated on the presidential race. I've developed a need to refresh CNN.com every 15 minutes and Gallup.com every few hours, even though they only update their polls once a day....

But for 30 min this past weekend, I re-commenced beauty research. Specifically: the benefit of exercise on skin. We know that aerobic exercise reduces stress and flushes toxins from the body. But I was fascinated to learn in this article from WebMD that exercise can also:

• declog oil from pores
• regulate the production of DHEA and DHT, the male-associated hormones that cause acne and hair loss
• increase collagen production in the skin—leading to a plumper, more youthful visage (in addition to giving that rosy flush, of course)

Now my experience: I'd been so busy with the Chicago move and having goodbye meet-ups with friends that, completely pooped, I had traded in my twice-weekly evening jogs for half-awake Netflix movies. By the end of last week, I was blah and sluggish, and my skin was looking too sallow for comfort. I forced myself to fit in a 25-minute run on Thursday and Sunday. And crazy enough, my complexion has looked much healthier, and I swear I've lost less hair in the shower.

So hurray for exercise: free, multi-beneficial, and without a carbon footprint!