Should You Be Doing Face Yoga?

Wouldn’t it be great if exercising your facial muscles kept them toned, just like working out at the gym maintains the contours of a youthful body? Many people say face yoga does just that. If you haven’t heard of face yoga, you’ve got plenty of company.

Don’t Wrinkles Come From Being Too Expressive?

For one thing, it goes against common wisdom. It certainly seems counterintuitive that vigorously contracting and relaxing facial muscles would promote smoother skin. Quite the opposite, in fact: “When facial muscles contract, the skin wrinkles,” says Dr. Michael A. Bogdan, a board-certified plastic surgeon and facelift specialist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “As we age, these wrinkles become deeper and more prominent. BOTOX Cosmetic reduces or even eliminates wrinkles by temporarily paralyzing the small muscles that contract to produce small lines on the face.”

Dermatologists and plastic surgeons alike agree that the primary external culprit when it comes to facial aging is sun exposure. Applying sunscreen daily starting as early as possible will do far more to keep your skin looking youthful than facial exercises. Gravity gradually tugs the tissue and muscles of the face down, causing the sagging appearance that leads to jowls. Finally, constantly changing our facial expressions throughout the day begins to take a toll on the skin’s elasticity.

Imagine stretching a rubber band over and over again. Gradually, it doesn’t snap back quite as much —and eventually, it breaks. That’s what happens with the skin. It becomes slack, and the face loses the form and defined lines that are hallmarks of a youthful appearance. Creases begin appearing between the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds), and forehead lines and crow’s feet start showing up.

A New Spin on an Old Idea

Believe it or not, the idea of contorting facial muscles to fight off signs of aging isn’t really new. Even legendary exercise pioneer Jack LaLanne promoted the idea (he called it “facenastics,” though, not face yoga.) The concept is based on the idea that faces age as muscle and tissue beneath the skin start to sag and lose volume, creating lines and wrinkles. Facial exercises, then, would stave off the sagging of muscle and tissue.

So, the question of whether face yoga actually works comes down to why our faces really age. What’s to blame for the development of wrinkled skin — muscles contracting too much, or not enough? Are jowls and sagging skin the product of gravity’s slow work as we age — or tissue that hasn’t been “worked out” enough to remain toned?

Face yoga proponents say that toning the 40+ muscles in the face helps keep those muscles from sagging prematurely. Anecdotal evidence abounds among face yoga sites, but it appears that the science hasn’t followed suit.

Waiting on Proof

Dr. Francis Papay, chairman of the Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, remains skeptical. In a Fit Body HQ story, Dr. Papay cites a lack of studies (that he’s aware of). More importantly, he says the claims just don’t make sense: Heavily used face muscles are a cause of wrinkles rather than a remedy.

Still, if you’re interested in seeing what face yoga looks like, there are plenty of examples online. But it’s probably wiser — if you’re concerned about premature aging — to drink plenty of water and stay out of the sun as much as possible or use sunscreen. And of course, there’s no disputing the fact that great genes matter more than everything else, if you’ve got them.