‘Facial Yoga’ Could Help You Look 3 Years Younger, According To Science

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All of the yogis out there can attest to the fact that their daily practice tones their bodies as much as it soothes their minds. But it turns out that those aesthetic benefits aren’t limited to your arms, legs and abs. According to new research from Northwestern University, “facial yoga” has the entirely natural ability to keep your profile looking youthful by strengthening the tiny muscles beneath the skin.

For the study, the researchers recruited 27 female participants between the ages of 40 and 65. Each participant sat down with a facial exercise instructor for two 90-minute sessions to learn how to perform 32 different facial exercises that engaged a combination of facial muscles in a variety of ways. They then set off to perform these exercises at home on their own. For eight weeks, they did their exercises for 30 minutes every day. For the next 12 weeks, they did their exercises every other day for 30 minutes.

Each participant also took before, during and after photographs for the researchers to measure aesthetic change using a standardized facial aging scale called Merz-Carruthers Facial Aging Photoscales. Dermatologists assessed 19 different facial features at the starting point, at the 8-week mark and at the end of the twentieth week.

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While only 16 of the 27 participants followed through in completing all of their exercises over the course of the 20-week study, those who rated the photographs found that the fullness of both the upper and lower cheek of these women had been significantly enhanced. And while they guessed the average age of the women to be 50.8 at the beginning of the study, the average age estimate dropped down to 48.1 percent by the end of the study, creating a reduction of almost three years in a matter of 20 weeks.

Outside opinions aside, the women who completed the study were all very satisfied with the changes they noticed in their own facial features (and that’s really what matters here).

“Facial exercises that may be beneficial include those that entail puckering and squeezing the cheeks,” lead author Dr. Murad Alam said in a statement. “There are many muscles that collectively allow movement of the cheeks, and our study showed that building these up makes the upper and lower cheeks look fuller. The exercises enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, so the face becomes firmer and more toned and shaped like a younger face.”

Obviously, the study is limited by its small sample size and the fact that it only included middle-aged women, but the results are definitely worth trying to replicate in other populations.

“Assuming the findings are confirmed in a larger study, individuals now have a low-cost, non-toxic way for looking younger or to augment other cosmetic or anti-aging treatments they may be seeking,” said Alam.

Facial yoga might sound like a woo-woo concept the folks at Goop invented, but if it means we can say “see ya never” to Botox, we’re going to give it a try.