Expert-Recommended Facial Muscle Training: Understand the Causes of Aging and How to Strengthen Your Muscles to Prevent Wrinkles and Sagging

What causes facial muscles to weaken?

Why do facial muscles weaken in the first place? There are four main reasons:

・Aging

・Lack of facial muscle use

・Poor posture

・Prolonged smartphone use

Aging

One of the primary reasons for muscle decline is aging. Even if you maintain the same lifestyle, your muscles gradually weaken as you get older. It is said that muscle mass decreases significantly, especially from around the age of 55. The ability to generate new muscle also weakens compared to when you were younger, so unless you are conscious of it, your facial muscles will continue to decrease.

Lack of facial muscle use

Like other muscles, facial muscles will weaken if they are not regularly used. People who have fewer opportunities to talk, chew less frequently, or spend long periods staring at a computer screen without moving their facial muscles should be particularly cautious. The less you use your facial muscles, the stiffer and more prone to weakening they become.

Poor posture

Poor posture can also cause facial muscles to weaken. Since the muscles of the entire body are connected, distorted posture can affect your facial muscles. For example, slouching can cause the chin to protrude, creating imbalances between the chin muscles and other facial muscles. Additionally, habits like chewing only on one side or resting your chin on your hand can cause imbalances in the facial muscles, leading to weakened muscles, facial asymmetry, and sagging.

Prolonged smartphone use

Spending long hours on a smartphone can also contribute to the weakening of facial muscles. Staring at a phone screen for extended periods at close range can cause eye strain and poor blood circulation. As a result, the muscles around the eyes can become stiff, leading to weakened facial muscles around the eyes and contributing to sagging in that area.

What happens when facial muscles weaken?

When facial muscles weaken, it can cause wrinkles and sagging skin, and make facial expressions less expressive. Both of these affect the impression of your face, so it's something most people would like to avoid. Here's a breakdown of why weakened facial muscles cause wrinkles, sagging, and expressionless features.

Increased wrinkles and sagging

When facial muscles weaken, wrinkles and sagging become more likely to occur. Unlike other muscles, facial muscles are attached directly to the skin, not to the bones. As a result, when these muscles weaken, they become less effective at supporting the skin, leading to the appearance of wrinkles and sagging. This can ultimately make a person look older.

Reduced facial expressions

Another effect of weakened facial muscles is a reduction in facial expression. When your facial muscles weaken, your face becomes stiff, making it difficult to raise the corners of your mouth, leading to a blank or neutral expression. This makes it difficult to convey true emotions, which can cause disadvantages when communicating with others.

Facial muscle exercises: The best way to tone your face

There are several factors that can cause facial muscles to weaken. If muscles aren't used, they naturally deteriorate over time. That's why training them is recommended. Strengthening your facial muscles can help reduce wrinkles and sagging and make your facial expressions more vibrant.

What you can expect from facial muscle training

Effective facial muscle training can relax the muscles, promoting blood circulation and the flow of waste products, which has the effect of improving sagging. The effects can be maximized by combining facial muscle training with daily skin care or in your spare time, so please try incorporating facial muscle massage.

How to train facial muscles

When training your facial muscles, be sure to focus on the muscles you want to train. Until you get used to it, try placing your hand on the muscles to check if they are moving properly. It is also recommended to visually check your movements in a mirror. It is also important to make facial muscle training a habit and continue doing it. Start with a small number of repetitions and focus on muscles that you feel are not used on a daily basis.

How to massage facial muscles

Now, let's check how to massage the facial muscles. Here, we will introduce how to massage the "orbicularis oculi muscle," "corrugator supercilii muscle," and "frontalis muscle," which are the facial muscles that are constantly tense and prone to stiffening. It's easy to do, so please give it a try.

How to massage the orbicularis oculi

This massage targets the muscles around the eyes. If you spend long hours staring at a computer screen or frequently check social media on your smartphone, this massage can be very beneficial.

1. Take an appropriate amount of massage oil or lotion in your hands. This will reduce friction on the skin and increase the effectiveness of the massage.
2. The orbicularis oculi muscle is a circular muscle surrounding the eyes. Gently stroke around the bony areas around your eyes in circular motions, feeling the muscles relax. Use gentle pressure that feels comfortable, as the skin on your face is delicate.
3. Repeat step 2 for 3 to 5 times, ensuring that the entire orbicularis oculi muscle is relaxed.

How to massage the corrugator supercilii and frontalis muscles

This method is effective for reducing wrinkles on your forehead and between your eyebrows. It helps loosen stiff muscles, giving you a more youthful appearance.

1. Take an appropriate amount of massage oil or lotion in your hands. This will reduce friction on the skin and increase the effectiveness of the massage.
2. Gently pinch your eyebrows between your fingers and apply light pressure.
3. While focusing on the corrugator supercilii muscle, use your fingertips to gently stroke from the inner part of your eyebrows outward.
4. To relax the large muscle in your forehead (the frontalis), gently stroke upward from above your eyebrows to your hairline using your fingertips.

4 recommended “facial muscle training exercises”

Here are four recommended exercises to do in conjunction with facial muscle massage. Do each of the four exercises three times as a set, using slow and relaxed breathing.

1. Mouth Area Training

This exercise targets facial sagging by moving your mouth as you say vowel sounds "A-I-U-E-O." Move your mouth widely and hold each position for 5 seconds. Try to focus on key facial muscles like the zygomatic minor, zygomatic major, levator labii superioris, and levator anguli oris, which are the major facial muscles around the mouth.

1. Open your mouth wide while looking up slightly, and say "A".
2. Raise the corners of your mouth slightly, and say "I".
3. Push your lips forward while squeezing your cheeks, and say “U".
4. Open your mouth wide with your lips curled inward, and say “E".
5. Thrust your mouth forward and say "O".

2. Mouth and Eye Area Training

Exercising the muscles around the mouth is a great way to combat marionette lines, which can make you look older. At the same time, you can also work the facial muscles around the eyes, killing two birds with one stone.

1. With your eyes and mouth closed, thrust your lips forward and breathe through your nose for 3 seconds.
2. Open your eyes, keep your mouth closed, and puff out your cheeks. Do this 5 times.

3. Eyelid Training

Stretching your eyelids is recommended for preventing sagging and wrinkles around the eyes.

1. While counting to 5, slowly lower your upper eyelid and hold it just as it touches your lower eyelid.
2. From as it is, count to 5 and slowly pull up the eyebrows and hold for 5 seconds.

4. Jawline Training

1. Slowly turn your face upwards until you see the ceiling.
2. Push your lips up and stretch your face. Hold for 5 seconds.

Key points to remember when doing facial exercises

When training your facial muscles, there are four points you should keep in mind to maximize the effect.
Try to keep each of them in mind as you work on your facial muscles.

Combine Facial Muscle Massage and Training

It’s recommended to perform facial muscle massage and training together. Massaging the muscles first improves blood circulation, making the training that follows more effective. Incorporating both facial muscle massage and training into your daily skincare routine can maximize the benefits.

Maintain Proper Posture

Proper posture is essential when doing facial muscle training. Poor posture can prevent you from effectively targeting the right muscles, reducing the overall impact of the exercises. Even if you're working out, poor posture can prevent muscles from stretching properly, making it harder to see results.

When correcting your posture, be mindful of issues like slouching, rounded shoulders, or forward head posture, and align your back and shoulders with a wall to ensure proper form.

Avoid Overtraining

Even if you want to prevent the weakening of your facial muscles, avoid overtraining. Excessive training can cause muscle pain and affect facial expressions and wrinkles. Furthermore, excessive muscle stretching can cause accumulated damage to subcutaneous tissue, which can result in sagging skin. Be cautious not to overdo the same training at once.

Consistency is Key

Facial muscle training won’t produce noticeable results if only done occasionally, so consistency is vital. The ideal frequency and number of repetitions vary from person to person, depending on your goals and current condition. As a guideline, start with a small number of repetitions per set, focusing on muscles that you don't use on a daily basis. When training your facial muscles, it is important to feel the changes every day by looking at yourself in the mirror and touching your muscles. Checking your movements in the mirror and making corrections will lead to more effective training.

Prevent facial sagging with facial muscle massage and training

Many people are concerned about sagging skin on the face, as it affects how old you look. Sagging skin not only affects the skin, but also the muscles deep inside the skin, so training your facial muscles can help improve the condition. At the same time, it is also important to take care of your skin and keep it healthy. Facial muscle massage and training can easily become a habit if combined with daily skin care. We encourage you to incorporate these practices into your self-care routine to address facial sagging.