As we age, our faces can unfortunately belie our age. Years of stress, sun exposure and other environmental and lifestyle factors can cause our facial skin to lose its elasticity. While no part of our faces are immune to the signs of aging, lines and wrinkles often form around our lips and mouth. Fortunately, there are exercises that you can do to help tone and tighten the skin around this area, resulting in a younger, healthier appearance.
Manual Mouth Stretch
This exercise can help tone and tighten the muscles around your mouth by using resistance provided by your fingers. Stick both of your index fingers into the corners of your mouth and pull apart slightly until you feel a stretch in the muscle around your mouth. Hold this stretch for a couple of seconds and then tighten the muscles around your mouth as if you were trying to pull your fingers together. Hold this contraction for about five seconds and repeat for 25 to 50 repetitions.
Lip Tightening
Another exercise that can help you tighten the skin and muscles around your mouth involves simply sucking on your finger. Stick a finger in your mouth and suck on it as hard as you can while simultaneously pulling your finger out of your mouth. The sucking motion combined with the pulling out of your finger provides resistance to your muscles, helping firm and tighten the muscles around your mouth and lips. Repeat 10 times.
Mouth Tightening Exercise
Using both hands, place the tips of your middle and index fingers on the outside of the middle of your top lip with a quarter-inch of space between the fingers of each hand and your thumbs resting under the middle of your chin. Hold this position and then curl your bottom lip over your top teeth while simultaneously pulling down with your fingers to provide resistance. Hold this contraction for about five seconds and repeat.
Mouth Circles With Smile
This simple exercise is performed by forming an "O" shape with your mouth while smiling as hard as you can with the corners of your mouth. The formation of the "O" helps the round muscle around your mouth contract while the smiling motion helps tighten your cheek muscles. The website HealthGuidance.org recommends that you hold this position for three seconds and repeat five times.
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