Hello everyone! Today we're going to talk about exercising. It makes you look and feel great - you're more self-confident, your steps are springier, you feel sexier, you do better at work. But that's not all! It also helps your skin. A lot! I've experienced it myself but I never knew the theory behind it. Well, I decided to do a little bit of research for you and here's what I found. Let's dig in. First of all, exercising helps fight acne by improving blood flow to the skin. Blood flow is what delivers oxygen and nutrients to all the vital organs and skin cells. If there is more blood flow, delivery is more efficient. That's what helps repair the damage from environmental pollutants and increase collagen production. Do you know what that means? It means there will be less wrinkles. Yay! An increased blood flow will also have a positive effect on your immune system because your body will produce more white blood cells - you know, the ones that identify and destroy bad bacteria and viruses. So if fewer bad bacteria and visuses are going to get through the gate into your body, it means there will be less inflammation. And if there is less inflammation, your skin will be happier. Blood flow isn't only responsible for delivering oxygen and nutrients. It also flushes out toxins and free radicals from your skin and body. So you could look at it as cleansing your skin from the inside. Exercising fights acne by improving lymph drainage.We have around 500 lymph nodes in the body. The lymph moves very slowly, differently from blood, because it doesn't have a heart to pump it. So how does it move? Well, it relies completely on neighbouring muscles. So if you have strong muscles, lymph is going to move faster and better. If you have static lymph, that's probably when all kinds of health problems start manifesting. That's why we should all do exercise. That's the only way to keep the lymph moving. When you do a pushup, for example, your muscles squeeze the lymph out of the lymph nodes and send it on its way out. That's how it works. Exercising fights acne by reducing stress. Cortisol is so called stress hormone. It's usually found at elevated levels in people who are stressed, sleep-deprived or starving. When the level of cortisol increases, it sends a signal to your sebaceous glands to start producing more oil, and that in turn leads to more acne. These days it seems like everyone is suffering from anxiety, fear or uncertainty. It's probably a part of our modern life because almost 20% of adults in America suffer from anxiety disorders according to the National Institute of Mental Health. You know, that's just official figures. I'm sure that most of us at some point in our life have suffered from anxiety, fear or uncertainty. What if there was a pill that could give you peace but would also make you healthier and more beautiful? Well, that's where exercising comes into play. That's exactly what it does. Even a short session of exercising will give you results for many many hours afterwards. Exercising fights acne by helping you sleep better. All our bodies have a natural cortisol cycle - it's high in the morning and low in the evening. This is what allows us to wind down and have a restful sleep at night. Now imagine this situation - you're chronically stressed at work, your cortisol gets triggered all the time, and your body loses sensitivity to it because it's always around at elevated levels. So what happens? Well, you lose the natural balance. You get groggy and tired in the morning and super restless during the night when you have to go to sleep. Have you been there? I definitely have. Exercising naturally increases your body's sensitivity to cortisol and acts as a kind of natural vent. You know, cortisol was created to be used in dangerous situations. For example, when humans used to run away from a bear. But nowadays we're just stuck in offices, there's nowhere to run. So cortisol just adds up, and adds up, and adds up until it starts overflowing. That's when we lose the balance. So exercising is one of the ways to let it out, and that's how our body understands that a stressful situation has now passed and it can now relax. If you sleep better at night, your skin will have more chances of repairing itself, and you'll wake up with healthier and more radiant skin. Exercising fights acne by making you love yourself more. Acne seriously destroys your self-confidence. So exercising is one of the ways to learn how to love yourself again. But, you know, exercising doesn't only tone your muscles or make you look better. It also improves your outlook on life. And the best thing about this is that you start seeing results and changes in your self-confidence immediately - way before you start seeing positive results in your body. Everytime I exercise, I feel undefeatable. As if I could move mountains just to achieve whatever I want. This feeling of strength and power is what makes us happy - and it doesn't take long to start showing in your skin. Exercising also fights acne by making you happy and releasing endorphins. Endorphins are so called happiness hormones. Nothing comes close to the high you get after a good run or a good session of exercising. And obviously, happiness, more happiness means less stress and happier skin. Exercising fights acne by balancing your hormones. I've already talked about the importance of balancing cortisol. But that's not all - there are other hormones that exercise can balance as well, for example, sex hormones or growth hormones. A lot of acne in adults is caused by hormonal imbalances. This is a great way to tackle the issue. However, be careful not to exercise too much - prolonged and high-intensity exercising might stress out your body, which will increase the levels of testosterone and cortisol in your body, which in turn will increase sebum production and that might lead to more acne. Exercise has to be fun, it doesn't have to be hard work or stress! Exercising is like a mini-facial for your skin. When you sweat, your pores get dilated, and that's what helps expel all the dirt, trapped sebum, dead skin cells from your skin. As soon as you finish exercising, go and wash your skin - that will reveal much clearer and much more beautiful skin. My personal tip - do Oil Cleansing Method as soon as you finish exercising while your skin is still hot and sweaty. You'll be surprised at what kind of gunk comes out of your skin. Generally, it would take at least 30 minutes of good massaging to get rid of that kind of stuff. It's impressive - you have to try it for yourself. So, what's the best way to introduce exercising to your life? Well, the best news is that you don't have to go to the gym and exercise for hours every day. In fact, I don't recommend going to the gym at all. 2-3 hours of body-weight training coupled with long walks or slow jogs, as well as a session of interval running thrown in would be perfect for most of us. My favourite fitness program of all is You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren. I absolutely love it. I have achieved all my fitness goals since I started doing it and I would never imagine going back to the gym since I started doing it. If you're interested, the link to it will be in my description box. The thing I love the most about this program is that you can use things in your own home, such as broomstick, chairs, towel - you know, things like that. You don't have to buy anything. You don't have to go to the gym, and it doesn't take a lot of time either. It's amazing! Another thing I love is the Primal Fitness Blueprint by Mark Sisson (that's marksdailyapple.com). If you just go to the link in my description box, all you have to do is sign up for the newsletter to get the e-book for free. I love it because it's all based on primal way of exercising. You can't get any closer to origins than that. I love it almost as much as You Are Your Own Gym - they are both great. And if for some weird reason you aren't ready to start an exercise program yet, just keep moving! Do whatever you enjoy! It's fine as long as you move and increase the heart rate. My personal favourite is this - go grocery shopping but leave your car at home. And it's even better if you have to go uphill on the way home. This makes me sweat like crazy every time I do it - and I do it a few times a week. It also makes you more mindful when you are shopping because you don't want to carry too much back home. So this is what I call a perfect exercise for mind and body at the same time! There are so many things you can do. Go swimming if you can, go for a long walk with the dog, go hiking during the weekends, play Frisbie with the kids. Even cleaning your house can be an exercise. Do whatever you like, whatever you enjoy - exercise has to be fun. Also remember this - exercising works in perfect synergy with healthy eating - you can exercise all you want but you will not get far if you don't eat right. The same goes for healthy eating but not exercising - you need both for radiant and acne-free skin. OK, that's all I had to share with you today. What's your relationship with exercising? Has it helped you achieve clear skin? What's your favourite way to keep moving? I hope you like this video. If you did, please give me a thumbs up, subscribe to this channel if you want to see more videos like this, and check out my blog if you want to see more healthy living tips. I'll see you next time! Bye!