Do you know what the popular American actress Jane Fonda said when asked about her favorite cosmetics? Gymnastics!
And she was right. When you’re over thirty (or forty, or fifty), and life’s stresses and health issues start to take a toll on your appearance, you can’t rely solely on powder and lipstick. Even the most skillfully applied makeup won’t hide wrinkles, and how long will your skin hold up? It’s far more effective to engage in what’s now called corrective gymnastics. Women all across America are starting and ending their days with it. We recommend you get started too, before dark circles and bags under your eyes become a nightly occurrence. There’s still a chance to regain your shape and maintain your youth for a long time.
Your face, its expressions, and your gestures give others an impression of who you are. A motionless face resembles a mask: excess fat can accumulate on the cheeks, cheekbones, and around the eyes, stretching the skin, which can lead to wrinkles when a woman loses weight.
Corrective gymnastics helps maintain muscle tone, improves blood circulation, and boosts metabolism, which keeps your skin elastic for longer. All of this helps prevent the appearance of wrinkles.
So, how do you properly perform facial exercises?
First and foremost, they should be done regularly, at a relaxed pace (preferably while sitting in a chair with a straight back), keeping your back straight and your chin above shoulder level. Just 5-7 minutes of practice is enough.
Let’s start with the cheeks. Expand your nostrils, take a deep breath through your nose, and “inflate” your cheeks. Exhale forcefully through pursed lips. Do this 3-4 times. The exercise will be more effective if you hold the corners of your lips up with your index fingers. Take another deep breath and exhale forcefully again, but this time through the left corner of your lips while “inflating” your left cheek. Repeat the same for your right cheek. Do this a total of 3-4 times.
Next exercise: “inflate” your cheeks and “roll” the air from left to right and back again. This gymnastics will engage your cheek muscles and help smooth out vertical lines around your lips.
The next two exercises are for those who have wrinkles on their upper lip.
Open and close your lips without clenching your jaw. Repeat this 5-6 times. Now, do the same number of times while pronouncing the sounds “a,” “i,” “o,” and “e.”
We’re all familiar with that tired feeling when our eyelids swell and dark circles appear under our eyes. The following exercises will improve blood circulation in the eye muscles.
Let’s begin. Press your palms against your cheeks, with your index and ring fingers at the corners of your eyes, and gently press down on your upper eyelids with your middle fingers (keeping your eyes open). Now, try to squint hard while resisting with your middle fingers. Repeat this 5-6 times.
Tightly close your eyes for five seconds, then open them wide for the next five, trying not to wrinkle your forehead. Repeat this 3-4 times.
Without turning your head, follow an imaginary pendulum with your eyes. Every ten seconds, close your eyes and count to three. Repeat this exercise 3-4 times.
Make circular movements with your eyes, imagining you’re following a large wheel that spins twice in one direction and twice in the other. Repeat this 2-4 times.
Keeping your head straight and still, look up (without wrinkling your forehead), then look down. Hold each position for three seconds, then close your eyes for the same amount of time. Repeat this 3-4 times.
Quickly count to ten, blinking your eyelids with each count, then close your eyes and pause for three seconds. Repeat this 3-6 times.
The final exercise will promote blood flow to your face. Turn your head as far to the right as you can, then as far to the left, and finally drop your chin to your chest, exhaling and relaxing your muscles. Repeat this 3-4 times.
