If you want to shed a few years but aren’t willing to pay for expensive creams or cosmetic surgery, you could massage your own face.
This might sound strange, but research shows that certain facial exercises could tighten the muscles enough to make you look as much as three years younger in a short 20 weeks.
Three years in 20 weeks
With promising results, research from Northwestern University, USA, have examined whether it is possible to make yourself to look younger with the help of facial massage.
In the study, 27 middle aged women between 40 and 65 were asked to perform facial exercises for half an hour every day for eight weeks. Hereafter, they were to do the exercises 3-4 times a week for 12 weeks.
By the end of the experiment, the women’s faces were compared to photos taken before the experiment started. The results greatly enthused the scientists.
Almost three years shed in 20 weeks. The exercises enlarge and strengthens the facial muscles, so they become firmer and shaped more like a younger face, says one of the scientists, Murad Alam, in a press release. He is a professor of dermatology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine.
Exercises at home
The women in the study were given 32 different exercises, each lasting approximately one minute, which they would perform at home. Among the different exercises were:
The cheek lifter:You should form an O with the mouth, while tightening the muscles. Meanwhile, you should try to smile and massage the cheeks up and down with the fingers.
The happy cheek shaper: You should smile with the mouth closed and press the lips together. Then place a finger in each corner of the mouth and pull towards the cheeks, and hold this for 20 seconds.
Difficult to draw general conclusions
The exercises were developed by yoga expert Gary Silorsky, in collaboration with Murad Alam. They explain that exercises where the cheeks are tightened and squeezed have a significant effect. By working on the facial muscles, it is possible to make the cheeks look firmer and fuller. Murad Alam and the other scientists behind the study explain that we can’t generalise to other age groups and genders. This would require further study. However, in the meanwhile, you could give the exercises a shot. You can find them at this site:https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2018/january/facial-exercises-help-middle-aged-women-appear-more-youthful/
