To determine the effectiveness of facial exercises, we have to know if they actually work.
Do facial exercises actually work?
The face and neck area has more than 57 muscles and much like every other part of your body, these regions need stimulation.
Facial exercises, or face yoga, are becoming popular. Perhaps, the origins of this trend can be traced back to the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle who admitted in an interview that she regularly performs at-home facial exercises to keep her face sculpted and radiant.
But, what does science say about the effectiveness of these exercises? Do they actually produce the desired results?
Well, the answer to these questions is neither yes or no. Unfortunately, it’s a frustrating maybe. According to a 2018 study conducted by Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston Illinois, 20 weeks of daily face yoga can produce firmer skin and transform cheekbones.
The only problem with this study is that there is no other research of this nature to compare it with. Therefore, in scientific terms, we can’t reliably say, for certain, that every person who implements face yoga to their daily routine will have well-contoured and radiant skin.
How long does it take to see results?
Those still driven by the ambition of achieving peak facial beauty can try out the exercises we’ve listed below. Using the NU study as a guide, eight weeks of consistent face yoga, performed for at least 30 minutes, can produce optimistic results.
The subjects in the study, women aged between 40 and 65, performed facial exercise for 30 minutes every day, for eight weeks, and every other day for three months thereafter.
At the end of the trial, the participants reported changes to their face, some even claimed they looked three years younger. Dermatologists who observed the study only noted changes in the cheekbone area.
Facial exercises to tone and slim your face
So, now that we have understood the impact of daily face yoga, we can reasonably conclude that a combination of consistency and proper execution can, at the very least, produce optimistic changes to the cheekbones.
Here are a few facial exercises you can try to tone and slim your face:
The Cheek Lifter
- Open the mouth and form an ‘O’
- Pull the upper lip over the top teeth
- Smile to lift the cheek muscles up
- Place fingers lightly on the top part of the cheeks
- Release muscles to lower them
- Lift muscles back up
The Eyebrow Lifter
- Smile
- Press three fingertips of each hand beneath your eyebrows
- Try to frown your eyebrows down against your fingers
- Close your eyes lightly
- Roll your eyeballs up
- Hold for 20 seconds
- Release.
These easy-to-perform routines can be done for 30 minutes every day.