Will Running Make Your Skin Sag?

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, the TSC Him & Her show, when one of the hosts said she prefers walking to running because she *feels like* running makes her skin sag.

“That’s funny,” I thought. I’ve been running since I was 12 and my skin isn’t saggy. Then again, I’m only 28 so my skin probably will eventually sag, like everyone’s skin, even the people who get fillers and Botox and sit still and never go outside. That’s what skin does, despite our best efforts to stop it.

Learning whether her statement was true was as simple as turning to Google. “Does running make your skin sag?” I typed, receiving a mere 45 million results in less than a second. After reading approximately 3 articles, I came to the objective conclusion that running plays a very minor role in saggy skin, but don’t take my word for it.

Shape Magazine wrote that running can have a negative impact on skin elasticity. Dr. Annet King, director of training and education at Dermalogica said that, “cardio and running can cause more oxygen or free-radical damage, which can break or damage the skin’s supportive fibers (collagen and elastin).” But according to a 2008 study published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, only very strenuous exercise leads to signs of cell damage, while…