Exercise and Acne
If you have acne, you may be interested to know that moderate levels of exercise can actually help to reduce your breakouts. The reason for this is that by participating in moderate exercise you can help to maintain a healthy body and lower your stress levels. Exercise also helps to keep the body from gaining a buildup of toxins, which can aggravate acne, and it helps to promote circulation, which removes the toxins from the system.
There are some cases where you may find that an exercise routine can actually cause an aggregation in acne symptoms. If this is the case, you may want to look at what you are putting into your body during your exercise routines, as well as what you are wearing while exercising and the type of exercise you are engaging in.
If possible, when exercising, be sure not to wear any makeup. If you must wear makeup, make sure to wear as little as possible. The reason behind this is even oil free, or non-pore clogging cosmetic products can become pore clogging during exercise and actually help to cause a breakout.
Many people love to exercise outdoors, they run, bike, jog or walk but doing so can expose you to long periods in the sun. In order to be sure you do not because a breakout due to sun exposure be sure to wear sunscreen when doing outside activities. They have come out with a line of sweat proof sunscreen that can be of great benefit.
Equipment is another cause of acne. Often times this is caused by the constant rubbing of equipment against sweaty skin. To avoid this be sure to make sure that your equipment is the proper size; sweat collect cloths are also a good idea. By lining, equipment in soft cloths you can help to reduce the chances of a break out by collecting sweat before it can rub against the skin. It is also important to make sure that equipment is cleaned and then dried before being stored.
Clothing also plays a role in acne. Be sure to wear clothing that is comfortable and slightly loose. This allows air to flow and helps to dry the skin. Close fitting clothing or clothing made out of tight weaved cloth can actually cause you to break out because they do not allow the skin underneath to breath and trap both heat and moisture against the skin. This makes for a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which we all know, is one of the contributing factors to acne. When you are finished, working out it is best to shower and change into dry clothing if this is not possible than dry off as best as possible and then change into dry clothing. Shower as soon as you are able to prevent your pores from becoming clogged.
When drying your face remember that it is patting not rubbing, you should do. The face is one of the areas of the body that is the most likely to receive an outbreak of acne. By rubbing, you help to increase the chances of pushing, sweat, makeup, sunscreen and anything else that happens to be on your skin into your pores.
If you want to be extra sure to help out by making sure there is no longer sweat or other irritants it is best to shower right after you work out and use an exfoliant that has acne medication in it. It is important to remember however to be gentle with your skin especially with exfoliant cleansers since they can irritant the skin if used to harshly. This type of cleanser however can help to reduce or eliminate the appearance of exercise related acne.