Facial Exercises to Tone and Lift Your Face

Your face has more than ten bones and 12 muscles, with numerous branches of nerves, arteries, and veins. As a person ages, the skin on their face begins to sag. This can be caused by loss of muscle tone and elasticity.

Facial exercise can help in all of these areas. It is typically used to stimulate blood flow and circulation, to better prepare skin for a facial treatment, relieve tension, or assist in treating medical conditions.

What is Facial Exercising?

It is a series of contractions and applied resistance to specific muscles in the face, sort of like body building but for the face and neck. In addition to increase in muscle size, which provides a nice lift to the face, when muscles are contracted the supply of blood to that area increases by ten times than normal, which brings more oxygen and nutrients to skin.

How do Facial Exercises work?

Facial exercises pull and push the facial skin to permit more oxygen as well as nutrients to the cells of the skin. As a result the old and damaged cells are whisked away and the face complexion gets better or cleaner. Since facial exercise enables the skin to absorb more moisturizer, the wrinkles will be rubbed out within no time. The most advantageous aspect of facial exercises is that they are economical and you can do it absolutely free.

What are the benefits of Facial Exercises?

Benefits of facial exercise can be given as below:

• It stimulates blood circulation to feed the cells of the outer layers, promoting better color and skin tone.
• It rejuvenates the elasticity and natural collagen, and smoothes sunken areas of the face.
• It diminishes fine lines and softens deeper lines to create a more firm and youthful texture.
• It brightens and tightens the skin.

Here are a few of the exercises that you can do at home to get started:

Exercises for a Double Chin

The chin is just another handy place for the body to store fat and too much body fat being deposited under the jaw causes double chin. Here are some double chin exercise that you can do every day (twice a day if possible):

• Sit upright, tilt your head back looking at the ceiling, while keeping your lips closed and then start a chewing movement. You will feel the muscles working in your neck and throat area. Repeat 20 times.
• Lie on your bed, with your head hanging down over the edge. Slowly bring your head up towards your torso and keep it there for 10 counts. Relax and lower your head towards the floor again - repeat 5 times.
• Sit upright and face forward and while keeping your lips together, separate your teeth by dropping your jaw and then push your jaw forward, keep for a count of 10, bring back to starting position and repeat 5 times.
• Sit upright, then tilt your head back as far as you can manage, now open and close your mouth several times feeling the muscle stretch each time.

Exercises for a Cheek

Over the course of time, the skin of the cheeks tends to lose its elasticity causing it to sag and developing wrinkles. The following exercises, if done regularly, will assist in lifting and firming the cheeks:

• Have a relaxed smile with your lips closed and then suck in your cheeks toward and on to your teeth. Hold this for 10 counts, relax and repeat 10 times.
• Look in a mirror while doing this exercise. Smile a wide as possible while keeping your lips closed and your mouth corners turned up. Try to make your mouth corners touch your ears. Next wrinkle your nose and see your cheek muscle move upwards and feel these muscles work. Keep for 5 counts, relax and repeat 10 times.
• Pout your top lip, turning the corners of your lips upwards and move your cheek muscles towards your eyes. You should at this stage try to get your top lip touching your nose. Keep in this position for 10 counts, relax and repeat 5 times.
• Keep your lips and teeth closed and blow air under your top lip (do not let the air out) and keep it there for 10 counts, then move the trapped air to your left cheek for 10 counts, then your right cheek for 10, then your lower lip and hold for 10. Relax. Repeat 5 times.

Eye Facial Exercises

• While keeping your eyes closed the whole time, first look down and then look up as far as possible. Repeat the facial exercise 10 times.
• Keep your eyes closed while lifting your eyebrows and stretching your eyelids down as far as possible. Keep in this position for 5 counts, relax and repeat 5 times.
• Lift your eyebrows while closing your top eyelids until about halfway closed, then open your eyelid wide open until the white of your eye shows over your iris.
• Gently tone the muscles of the eyes by pressing two fingers on each side of your head, at the temples, while opening and closing your eyes rapidly. Repeat 5 times.

Forehead Exercises

Forehead is one of the places where lines and wrinkles easily form. The following exercises, if done regularly, will help you reduce forehead wrinkles and make your forehead skin look and feel tighter:

• Lie on your bed with your head hanging over the edge. Lift your eyebrows as high as possible, with your eyes opening very wide. Relax and repeat 10 times.
• Sit upright facing forward and while bringing your eyebrows down over your eyes, wrinkle your nose as far up as possible while flaring your nostrils. Keep for a count of 10, relax and repeat 5 times.
• Frown as much as possible and try to bring your eyebrows over your eyes while pulling the eyebrows toward one another. Then lift your eyebrow as far as possible while opening your eyes as far as possible as well in a look of surprise. Repeat 5 times.

You can see the obvious improvement in your face only after two weeks. Within six to nine months you will be looking five to ten years younger than you were before starting to exercise! It's so much fun to have a natural skin care, and look younger with these simple exercises.