Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
After menopause, when women’s estrogen levels drop, their skin gets thinner, loses more moisture, makes less collagen (the protein that keeps skin firm), and wrinkles show up faster.
Correlational
Spending too much time in the sun over the years causes your skin to break down its natural support system—like tearing up the strings in a trampoline—which makes your skin sag, wrinkle, and develop dark spots.
Mechanistic
As we age, some skin cells stop working properly and start leaking harmful chemicals that tell other cells to slow down production of collagen and elastin — the proteins that keep skin firm and bouncy — which is why skin gets wrinkly, loose, and heals slower.
After people lift weights, their blood contains special signals that tell skin cells to make more of the structural stuff that keeps skin firm and youthful—like a natural anti-aging boost from exercise.
Working out with weights may help your skin make more of a gooey substance that keeps it plump, while cardio like running or biking helps your skin make more of the strong fibers that give it structure—so different types of exercise might help your skin in different ways.
Working out with weights or cardio for 16 weeks can make your skin tighter and healthier-looking by improving the support structure underneath it—no magic creams needed!
Causal
When middle-aged women lift weights or do strength training, their body produces less of two inflammation-related signals (CCL28 and CXCL4), and this seems to go hand-in-hand with their skin making more of a helpful protein called biglycan—which might mean these signals normally slow down skin repair.
Doing strength training for 16 weeks can make the skin of middle-aged Japanese women just a tiny bit thicker and boost a protein that helps keep skin firm—like giving your skin a little anti-aging boost.
Taking short bursts of exercise throughout the day—like climbing stairs or walking for a few minutes—doesn’t seem to help raise your good cholesterol or lower your blood fats, even though it might help reduce your bad cholesterol and overall cholesterol levels.
Descriptive
Doing quick bursts of exercise throughout the day—like climbing stairs or doing squats for a minute at a time—won’t help you lose weight or fat by itself. You’d need to do more or change your diet too.
Short bursts of exercise throughout the day—called 'exercise snacks'—might help people who don’t move much get better at using oxygen during activity, but we’re not super sure because the studies are all over the place and not super reliable.
Quantitative
If you're not very active, doing tiny bursts of exercise throughout the day—like climbing stairs or walking fast for a minute—can lower your 'bad' cholesterol and overall cholesterol, which helps protect your heart.
Doing quick, intense bursts of exercise—like sprinting in place or climbing stairs for 30 seconds—several times a day can make your muscles stronger and more powerful, even if you’re not normally active.
Eating fewer calories may help keep skin younger by slowing down the sticky sugar-protein damage that happens with age.
Foods like tofu and flaxseeds may help women’s skin stay firmer after menopause by mimicking the effects of estrogen, which drops after menopause.
Taking collagen pills or powders may help skin look plumper and less wrinkly by tricking the body into making more of its own collagen.
Eating fish, flaxseeds, or walnuts may help skin stay moist and less irritated, making it look smoother and less dry as you age.
Eating too much sugar and white bread can cause gummy sticky stuff to form in your skin, which makes your collagen and elastin fibers stick together—leading to stiff, wrinkly skin that doesn’t bounce back like it used to.
Eating foods rich in antioxidants like berries, nuts, and leafy greens might help keep your skin looking younger by protecting the proteins that make it firm and bouncy, and by reducing damage from everyday environmental stress.
For healthy young people, eating more or less salt doesn’t seem to make their blood pressure bounce around more or less — their blood pressure stays steady no matter how much sodium they pee out.
If a healthy young person eats a lot of salt—about 18 grams a day for 10 days—their blood pressure won’t go up, whether they’re sitting still or going about their normal day.
If you eat a lot of salt—like 18 grams a day for 10 days—your body will flush out more salt in your urine and also have a bit more salt in your blood, which proves you actually ate the salty food they gave you.
Eating a lot of salt for 10 days might make your blood pressure bounce around a bit more, but the change wasn’t big enough to say for sure it’s real — it’s just a hint, not proof.
Eating a lot of salt for 10 days doesn’t make your blood pressure jump around more than usual in healthy young adults.