3 reasons why your bike is your best friend if you want beautiful skin as you age.
Beauty editor and keen cyclist Adele Mitchell explains.
Hitting the hills on a road bike, shredding the mountain bike trails or sweating it out in a spin class: cycling is a great way to get fit, lift your mood and have fun. All that heart pounding pedalling and red-in-the-face awesomeness has another benefit too – it works wonders at revitalising your skin.
Here’s why:
- Pedalling hard raises your heart rate, which in turn increases the blood flow to your skin and delivers the oxygen and nutrients essential for a bright, revitalised complexion. The blood flow also carries away waste products – including cell-damaging free radicals that are linked to premature ageing.
The increased blood flow is, in effect, cleansing the skin from the inside.
- Healthy eating is essential to fuel your fitness, and help your body recover after a strenuous ride and then come back stronger. It’s no secret that eating well will also benefit your complexion – it’s a win-win situation on a plate!
- Riding a bike is fun and a great stress buster – and that benefits your appearance too because if you feel good then you look and feel more relaxed. To put it simply, a happy face is always beautiful.
Of course, these benefits apply to any form of strenuous exercise – so next time you’re putting the miles in and it’s starting to hurt, just think of it as the greatest gift to your skin – and push yourself a bit harder!
Need to know…
If you’re exercising outdoors then you do need to protect your skin, at all times of year, from the skin-damaging effects of exposure to the sun: it is the most important thing to remember if trying to maintain youthful skin!
@adelemitchell is a beauty editor and cycle blogger.
