We all love to look young and fresh, right? One of the minimally invasive ways to get rid of those worrisome smile lines, irritating forehead wrinkles, and crow’s feet is Botox. Botox has become as common as getting your unwanted hair removed.
However, exercise enthusiasts might have to think twice before booking their Botox treatment as it might not be compatible with the workout. So, do you wonder if you have to completely give up on all types of exercises after your treatment or can you do a little workout safely?
If yes, let us know if you can work out after Botox and how long you have to wait if you cannot. Also, give 50 Tips and Tricks on How to Look More Feminine a read.
Table of Contents:
- Part 1: Can You Workout After Botox?
- Part 2: When Can You Workout After Botox?
- Part 3: What Should You Not Do After Botox?
Part 1: Can You Workout After Botox?
While exercise can make you look younger, this will be the opposite if you exercise after Botox.
Speaking in the simplest words, you cannot work after Botox. It reduces the effectiveness of the treatment and makes your freshly treated wrinkles and fine lines get worse. Also, improve your diet with Best Anti-Aging Foods for Skin: What Eat to Look Younger.
While you might be able to do little exercise like walking, yoga, swimming, and pilates that does not make you sweat or increase your heart rate, you must not try anything that comes under that category of moderate to high-impact workouts.
These include running, jogging, weight lifting, cycling, planks, squats, and HIT workouts. The reasons to avoid these exercises are given as,
Asymmetrical Distribution of the Injection:
The function of the botox is to relax your facial muscles in a way that wrinkles and other signs of aging are reduced. People often get botox at a particular site. If you exercise, it will make you sweat and increase the sweat on the face.
Touching the face to wipe sweat along with increased blood flow leads to movement of the Botox injection from the treatment site to another site resulting in asymmetrical distribution. As a result, your facial features might look bad.
Bumps and Swelling
Bumps and swelling are normal after-affects of any facial botox treatment. They last for some hours to a few days and heal on their own.
An intense workout can increase the grade of swelling and bumps along with prolonging the healing duration. Therefore, you must not work out after getting Botox.
Bruises
Although Botox is minimally invasive, it still involves injections. Keeping the temperature of your surroundings low and avoiding exercise helps in a quick recovery of the injection site.
However, if you work out, increased blood flow to the site can result in bruises. The color of bruises changes from bright red to purple and blue making you look like you have been hit.
Discomfort
While botox sessions themselves might be a little uncomfortable, you feel better immediately after you are done with the treatment. But a workout adds to the discomfort at the injection sites and may even make it painful.
Part 2: When Can You Workout After Botox?
You must avoid every type of workout for 4 hours after the Botox. This includes light, moderate, or intense workouts. After 4 hours, you are allowed to do a little yoga, swimming, and walk.
In addition, you must avoid intense workouts for at least 24 to 48 hours after Botox. Avoiding exercise for 24 hours is enough in most cases. However, you might have to wait for another 24 hours if you have some underlying health condition.
Also, let us clarify that we are talking about the physical workout here, not the facial exercises. Facial exercises are encouraged after Botox as long as they are not too intense because they help in the absorption of the Botox neurotoxin into the skin.
Thus, try raising eyebrows, smiling, squeezing your eyes, frowning, and making different facial expressions after your treatment.
Let us now understand the fact that the intensity of treatment, the condition of the skin, environmental factors, and even genetics are variable among people. Therefore, you might suffer from some side effects even with little to no workout.
Under such circumstances, always contact your doctor, talk about your condition, visit him to let him examine you, and follow his advice so that you stay in the safe zone after your treatment.
Some indications to visit the doctor after botox treatment include,
- unbearable discomfort on the injection sites
- worsening of the injection marks leading to bruising
- Redness and inflammation
- pain
- difficulty in moving the muscles
- difficulty in eating
- Reduced visual field or blurring of vision
- Drooping of eyelids
- Blistering of the treatment area
- Increasingly asymmetrical appearance
Part 3: What Should You Not Do After Botox?
In general, you should not eat unhealthily, drink alcohol, lie down, bend your face, rub the skin, apply makeup, apply any skincare products, remove your facial hair, or take a hot shower for a few hours after getting Botox.
Moreover, we will talk about exercises and activities that you should not and should do after Botox.
The Exercises and Activities to Avoid
Here are some exercises that you must avoid for 24 hours after your Botox treatment.
- Weight Lifting: Weightlifting is an intense exercise that requires physical effort and involves almost every muscle in your body. Therefore, you should avoid it.
- Hot Yoga: While yoga is suitable, hot yoga is not recommended after Botox treatment as it can make the skin sweat and give you the urge to rub your face clean.
- Cardio: Everything that increases your heart rate is also the thing you should avoid after Botox. It can be running, rowing, cycling, jumping ropes, and more.
- HIIT: High-intensity workout increases the heart rate, blood flow, and sweating. Thus, it is also not compatible with Botox aftercare.
- Dancing: Dancing might look harmless. But it is also a form of HIIT and should not be done for up to a day.
- Swimming: This one is a little confusing. While swimming itself can be done after Botox, you should avoid it if you wear the whole swimming gear and do competitive swimming.
The Alternative Options
If you have never taken a day off from your gym, 24 hours might feel like 24 years. So, here are some exercises that you can try to pass some time. These are healthy and do not affect Botox results adversely.
- Pilates and Yoga: Pilates and Yoga are both low-impact exercises that neither make you sweat nor increase your heart rate. Thus, you can do both.
- Facial Exercises: From changing facial expressions to facial yoga, you can do it any time. Such exercises are recommended after Botox as they enhance the effects of Botox.
- Walk: We all should walk 10000 feet every day. So, Botox might tell you that walking is also an exercise.
- Gardening: Gardening is a calming activity to do after getting Botox. Just ensure that your face does not come in contact with the mud and you do not bend it either.
Conclusion
While Botox might be great for getting rid of wrinkles, fine lines, crow’s feet, and other signs of aging, you must follow the after-care tips of Botox. One of the most important aftercare tips is avoiding workouts for at least 24 hours after Botox.
Although intense physical workout is not allowed for a day, you can still do facial exercises, walking, gardening, yoga, and swimming.