‘Dance’ the wrinkles away: Pola Orbis finds link between exercise habits and skin condition

Dubbed the BI-HA-DANCE, the 20-minute routine incorporates exercises practised by rhythmic gymnasts. It consists of a series of stretches and light exercises designed to be accessible and easy to complete indoors.

Pola Orbis collaborated with Japan’s national rhythmic gymnastics team, also known as Fairy Japan Pola, to develop the routine.

The company is an official partner of Fairy Japan Pola and supports the team by coaching them in make-up and skin care.

The routine was designed by Kotono Tanaka, a former member and captain of Japan’s national rhythmic gymnastics team who competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and London Olympics in 2012. Tanaka retired from the sport in 2013 and currently serves as the ambassador of the team.

Researchers tested the BI-HA-DANCE on 11 subjects aged 35 to 39 who do not have the habit of exercising regularly.

They claimed that the number of spots and wrinkles by 7% and 35% respectively after eight weeks of performing this exercise routine.

The researchers hypothesised exercises triggers the release of myonectin, a hormone which is believed to suppresses melanin that causes pigmentation.

Additionally, the researchers collected saliva samples from the subjects to measure stress by observing amylase, an enzyme used as a biomarker of stress. They found that stress decreased after four weeks.

Is exercise the key to beautiful skin?

Pola Orbis developed the exercise routine after conducting a study from July 2019 to February 2020.

It utilised the data collected from APEX, the company’s personalised skin care brand and found that exercise could improve the appearance of wrinkles, pores and even acne.

According to Pola Orbis, APEX has accumulated 18.7 million cases of data in the 30-year history of APEX.

Recently, the brand underwent a massive rehaul and relaunched in July 2019 with a new skin analysis system that uses static imaging and AI video analysis to assess skin condition.

In addition to the high-tech skin assessment, consumers also answer questions regarding their skin, lifestyle as well as their beauty tastes to form their personal profile.

Consumers who undergo this skin analysis can get fitting for skin care products from 8.62 million combinations.

For this study, over 200,000 APEX customers were analysed. The researchers split the subjects into two groups based on their exercise habits and observed the difference in their skin in terms of pores, wrinkles and acne.

Each factor was scored by on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest score for pores and wrinkles, and one being the highest score for acne.

Researchers found that those that engaged in regular exercise had less noticeable pores, wrinkles and were less likely to have acne.

In addition, the study also measured stress which is believed to be able to influence the condition of skin.

The study found that those who exercised frequently reported lower levels of stress than those who do not.