Facial Exercisers

Marionette lines (also known as laugh lines) are often associated with aging. However, it is not unusual to notice indications of such lines even as early as your 20s. While they are perfectly natural and absolutely nothing to feel self-conscious about, you may have personal reasons why you wish to have them removed.

What Can Cause Laugh Lines?

To give you context into why facial exercises work to reduce the appearance of laugh lines, let us first look closer into why and how they can occur.

Laugh lines are wrinkles caused by reduced collagen production that emerges over time. As part of the natural aging process, your skin can lose its elasticity and look more stretched. Other causes of laugh lines involve frequent exposure to the sun and inadequate nutrition. 

Many different methods help reduce the appearance of marionette lines, some being more invasive than others. One of the less invasive techniques to minimize laugh lines involves habitually performing facial exercises (in other words, taking part in face yoga). 

Face yoga can be highly advantageous in helping you to remove laugh lines. They are easy to perform and can also be an enjoyable part of your routine.

Best Facial Yoga Exercises To Treat Laugh Lines

Several muscles in your face may stand to benefit from frequent exercise. As such, this is where face yoga comes into play. Face yoga involves numerous activities to help tone and strengthen your muscles.

This article will cover six different exercises that are very easy to implement in your daily life. Before we start, it is essential to know that you must perform the exercises every day to yield effective and timely results. Furthermore, some activities pay the most benefits when you complete them twice a day.

1. The ‘O’ shape and tapping

The first exercise helps to strengthen the muscles between the mouth and the chin, where marionette lines would form. The ‘O’ shape exercise can be considered one of the most popular exercises in face yoga and has proven to be highly effective for many individuals.

During the exercise, you will notice that the form you shape the lower half of your face into results in no lines between your lips and chin. It strengthens the muscles between those areas and can promote increased circulation throughout your entire face, thus helping to reduce the appearance of laugh lines.

To complete this exercise, you will need to follow a series of manageable steps:

Step 1: Lower your jaw and shape your mouth into a distinct ‘O’ shape. You will notice that several sections of your lower face feel strained as the muscles form for this step. Continue to hold this shape for all of the following steps.

Step 2: Gently place the tips of your forefinger an inch below your lips near your jaw.

Step 3: Use the tips of your fingers to make small yet quick taps. Start from your jaw, go past your lips, and end at the sides of your nose.

Step 4: Quickly tap your fingers both up and down your face for 15 seconds

Step 5: Complete another set twice and stop.

2. The ‘L’ shape and lift

Along with strengthening the muscles between your lips and chin, this exercise can also help tone your lower jaw. This exercise uses your lips and hands to help further shape your lower face. It enables you to directly encourage the corners of your lips to lift upwards instead of downwards.

This exercise requires you to complete a few simple steps:

Step 1: Shape your left hand into an ‘L’ shape and your right hand into a backward ‘L’ shape. Next to each other, your hands should appear as if you are replicating the bottom half of a regular square shape.

Step 2: Place your hands on your face such that your thumbs rest towards the bottom half of your cheek. Your thumbs should be pointing towards each other and the rest of your fingers pointing upwards.

Step 3: Press your lips against each other so that you can no longer see them and hold that position for 5 seconds.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 twice.

3. Lipless smile

With this exercise, you can use the muscles directly around your lips while upwards pulling the skin above your chin. The lipless smile exercise helps reinforce the skin where laugh lines would often occur, thus helping to prevent them from forming.

To complete this exercise, you can follow a straightforward set of steps:

Step 1: Tighten your lips and hold them towards each other so that you can no longer see them. You will notice that the skin around your lips is kept tense in this shape.

Step 2: Place each forefinger on each corner of your lips gently.

Step 3: Hold that position and attempt to smile without showing your lips for 5 seconds. This action will strain your muscles in the area.

Step 4: Relax your muscles and repeat the process another two times.

4. Pucker exercise

This exercise involves the simple use of your lips without the need for hands. For this exercise, the main goal is to strengthen the section between your lips and nose.

When you make expressions, you often utilize the corner of your lips and your chin. Whether you’re smiling, laughing, or frowning, those areas are typically most used. It is an excellent idea to strengthen your upper lips and help lift the lower half of your face to reduce the appearance of laugh lines.

To help you perform this exercise effectively, below is a short sequence of actions that you can complete step-by-step:

Step 1: Shape your lips into a ‘pucker’ shape. You will likely notice that the skin between your nose and lips is curved upwards with this step. This shape helps improve blood circulation and firm up the muscles in the area.

Step 2: Hold that ‘pucker’ shape for at least 10 seconds and release the tension around the area.

Step 3: Repeat the process four times.

5. Pufferfish face

Several exercises help get your blood circulating nicely around your face. Blood circulation is important because it facilitates the cycling of blood, oxygen, and essential nutrients around your face. Good circulation can help to give you healthier skin and help you maintain your natural complexion.

The pufferfish face exercise is one exercise to help with blood circulation and muscle strengthening. To perform this exercise, you need to follow a series of steps:

Step 1: Puff out your face by ensuring that your lips touch tightly and fill your cheeks with air. This step involves pushing air towards your closed lips, giving the appearance of a pufferfish.

Step 2: Hold that position for 5 seconds, then push the air from the center of your face towards your left cheek.

Step 3: Hold that position for 5 seconds and push the air towards your right cheek.

Step 4: Continue holding that position for 5 seconds, then move the air towards your upper lip.

Step 5: Lastly, after 5 seconds, move the air onto your lower lips towards the chin area. It is important to note that you should feel resistance from those areas.

Step 6: Release the air by breathing and repeat the exercise twice.

6. Upper Lip Air Exercise

Strengthening your upper lips is an excellent method to help you achieve a lifted and firmer lower face. The upper lip air exercise intends to help firm up the muscles in your upper lip while also allowing you to strengthen the muscles in your cheek.

The upper lip air exercise can also help circulate blood and oxygen around your cheeks and lower face more effectively, therefore helping you get more nutrients into your skin.

For this exercise, there are a few simple and easy steps for you to follow:

Step 1: Ensure that your face is relaxed and untensed.

Step 2: Place 3 fingers (specifically your forefinger, middle finger, and index finger) on your upper lip in a line. The sides of all three fingers should be touching one another.

Step 3: Close your lips tightly and fill your cheeks with air. Start with centering the air towards your lips.

Step 4: Move the air to your left cheek and then transfer it towards your right cheek. Air should be moving between your left and right cheek at an average speed for this stage.

Step 5: Continue step 4 for 30 seconds and repeat once or twice in one session. It would be ideal for you to perform this exercise at least twice daily for best results.

Protect Your Smile With Facial Exercises

Utilizing the exercises listed above can help strengthen the muscles where marionette lines often appear, reducing the appearance of such lines and helping to lift your smile naturally.

To reiterate an important point, you must complete your chosen exercises daily, at whatever time is most convenient. Adding the activities to your daily routine helps firm up the muscles in your face and prevent marionette lines more quickly and more effectively.

Whichever exercise(s) you choose to incorporate into your routine, it is likely to yield considerably positive results in helping to remove marionette lines (as well as having other benefits to your face shape in general). Simple, non-invasive, and likely to bear fruit, facial exercises are worthwhile.

Strokes are usually caused by the decrease or blockage of blood supply to the brain, which can occur without any prior warning. Usually, the symptoms you’ll need to watch out for include headaches and numbness, to mention but a few. There are a few ways to mitigate the damage, and this post sheds light on facial exercises after a stroke that guarantees results.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), strokes are the fifth leading cause of death in the USA, as nearly 800,000 people have a stroke each year. Strokes can also cause short and long-term disabilities, depending on how quickly the affected individual gets medical attention.

After a stroke, patients may find it challenging to produce facial expressions, like smiling and displaying emotions, due to weak facial muscles, which is later diagnosed as facial paralysis or Bell’s palsy. 

What is Facial Paralysis?

Facial paralysis occurs due to damage to the nerve cells controlling facial movement. Because of this damage, the muscles can become atrophied, causing some parts of the face to droop. Paralysis of this sort makes speaking, expressing facial emotions, and moving the face difficult. As a result, facial exercises are recommended in post-stroke therapy to assist patients in regaining full or partial facial mobility. By practicing these exercises repeatedly, your brain learns to use different neural pathways to regain facial control.

NB: Though effective in helping you regain and improve your facial movements, not all these exercises will suit you. Discuss with your doctor to get the best recommended facial exercises for you to do after a stroke.

Facial Exercises Post-Stroke

Therapy is one of the treatment processes you’ll need to embark on after a stroke, and a significant part of therapy will involve facial exercises. When done repeatedly and regularly, these facial exercises will place you well on your way to total recovery. 

Based on your therapist’s instructions, you can work on your exercises up to four times daily, with about 30 repetitions per exercise. Let’s take a quick look at some common facial exercises you can do after a stroke.

1. Facial Stumulation

Like you would in a regular gym, you need to perform some warmups before beginning your facial exercises. Preparing your muscles by stimulating them will help reduce discomfort and pain after your exercise. We recommend sitting in front of a mirror to monitor your movements.

For facial stimulation, you’ll need to attempt to move all parts of your face. Start by winking, wrinkling your nose, and moving your mouth from side to side. Remember to work slowly and gently. Don’t let it deter you if you notice that you have no control over some parts of your face. It’s a gradual process – you’ll need time before you regain total facial movement. If it proves to be too difficult, you can use your fingers to massage different parts of your face gently.

2. Smile and Laugh

After your facial warmup, try smiling. Smile without showing teeth, then show a little. Try to balance the muscle strength on both sides. Repeat the process until you can feel your face moving. 

You can also think about a good memory that brings a wide grin to your face so that you can laugh. Laughing uses multiple muscles in the face, making it an excellent way to encourage nerve stimulation and help improve blood circulation to the face.

3. Eyebrow Exercises

Eyebrow exercises are great for stimulating muscles around your forehead. The process is simple. Raise and lower your brows in a slow and steady rhythm. After doing this, keep your eyebrows raised (you can use your fingers) for 10-15 seconds before lowering them. Repeat this process up to 3 times.

Next, wrinkle your forehead and use your fingertips to make firms strokes on your brows, rubbing them up to the hairline. Keep your face in a frowning state, and try lowering the eyebrows. These exercises will help improve movement and blood circulation to your forehead and eyes. Do these for a few minutes two times a day, increasing your repetitions slowly.

4. Eye Exercises

After a stroke, patients might find it difficult to close their eyes, causing difficulty sleeping. These exercises can help you regain control of your eye muscles. Slowly squint your eyes as though you are staring at the sun. Next, look downwards without bending your neck. The idea is to pretend that you’re peeking at something on the floor.

You can also use your fingers to stretch out your eyelids. Place the back of your index finger on your closed eyelid, and with your thumb as an anchor, stretch your eyelid upwards. This exercise helps relax your eyes and prevents the muscles around them from getting too stiff. Winking is also practical here; wink with one eye and gently alternate with the other. However, note that you must stop if you notice any inappropriate muscle movements.

5. Nose and Cheek Exercises

Your nose and cheeks are important parts of your face, so you must pay special attention. If the muscles in this area are weak, they can affect the strength of your entire face. 

The first step for this kind of exercise is to wrinkle your nose. Think about a bad smell, like when you broke a rotten egg. If your nose isn’t moving, you can help by using your hand to push your nose upward. 

Nose and cheek exercises will need you to make a lot of weird faces, so try to have a bit of fun as you go. Flare your nostrils and try to maintain that position for a few seconds. Breathe deeply through your nose before flaring your nostrils. Great news if a part of your face hasn’t been affected by the stroke. Now, try to cover the unaffected part of your face so the muscles in the affected places can do their work without any interference. Repeat these exercises several times throughout your day.

6. Mouth Exercises

Face paralysis can make it difficult to eat or drink. It’s also not uncommon to sometimes have some dribble leak out of your mouth, significantly when the stroke has affected the tongue. These exercises can help strengthen your mouth and jaw muscles, giving you better control of your facial movements.

Start by opening your mouth wide. Pretend to smile before closing your mouth. Practice frowning as well. Next, gently pucker your lips, place them in a position as though you’re about to whistle, and then relax. Finally, open your mouth wide but place your hands under your chin to restrain movement.

7. Jaw and Tongue Exercises

To strengthen your jaw and tongue muscles, try these exercises: Start by sticking out your tongue as far as possible and holding it for about five seconds before resting. Also, try retracting your tongue inside your mouth and keeping it at the roof of your mouth for three seconds before relaxing.

Next, stick out your tongue as far as you can and press down on it with the back of a spoon as you try to lift it. Finally, place a finger on your cheek about one inch from the corner of the mouth, and then push that finger with your tongue from the inside of the mouth. You can stretch your jaw by opening your mouth wide, moving your lower jaw left and right, and then moving it circular. You can repeat these motions ten times each, four times a day.

Benefits of Facial Exercises Post-Stroke

The big question is, do facial exercises work? The answer is yes. Studies have shown that these face workouts can help improve the functionality of the face and can assist patients in restoring some of their lost function. These recommended exercises will play a crucial part in your recovery from facial paralysis and, when done right, will lead you to a faster recovery.

Conclusion

While performing facial exercises, you must be as gentle as possible. Chew your food using both sides of the mouth to retain the natural pattern of your muscles. 

The exercises we’ve listed are safe and straightforward. Ensure that you don’t overexert your muscles. If your muscles feel stressed, try to relax. Don’t rush the process. You’ll recover faster than you think.