Exercise, as we know, is one of the best things a person can partake in to increase their overall health and well-being. But did you also know that exercise has the potential to increase your beard growth and hair volume as well? In today’s article, we’ll be deep-diving into the question of whether a consistent active lifestyle and exercise helps increase beard and hair growth.
Today, we’ll be discussing how exercise helps your beard grow, which chemicals exercising stimulates to make that occur, and what kinds of exercise work best to stimulate the hair follicles. So stick around!
If you’d rather watch a quick and easy video on this subject, Dan C Bearded explains the nuances of exercise and beard growth on the Volt Grooming YouTube Channel!
Does Exercise Help With Beard Growth?
The short answer is, YES! Exercising absolutely helps stimulate beard and hair growth, although it won’t happen noticeably. Rather, it will take quite some time and consistent effort. Let me explain…
The benefits you receive by exercising consistently will eventually lead to an increase in hair and beard growth, but not overnight. In fact, it will probably be months before you begin to notice a change in the nature or density of your beard growth, and at that point, you may not find the effort particularly worthwhile.
The point is, although exercise absolutely enhances your ability to grow a beard, a beard should not be your sole motivation to exercise. If so, then chances are you’ll lose the motivation to stay consistent enough before you start to notice results. But, the question then becomes, how is it possible for exercise to help with beard growth?
How Being Active Helps You Grow A Beard
Living a more active lifestyle can help your beard in two main ways: Through an increase in certain hormones that are responsible tor typical “male” characteristics such as facial hair, and through an increase in the efficiency of your cardiovascular system (blood flow). Let’s dive into each and determine how exercise helps your beard growth!
1. Exercise Increases Testosterone and DHT
The first, and main, way that exercise and activity helps you grow a thicker and fuller beard is by increasing the levels of testosterone and DHT (dihydrotestosterone) in your body. These hormones are responsible for typical male characteristics such as, but not limited to, muscle mass, strength, fat distribution, facial hair growth, red blood cell and sperm cell production and more. Obviously the one we are most concerned with here is the growth of facial hair.
For example, it’s been discovered that there is a linear correlation between the amount of DHT you develop and the speed of your facial hair growth. DHT is a byproduct of testosterone that is activated in the oil glands of the hair follicle. Put simply, if you are trying to increase your facial hair growth then increasing your testosterone levels will, in all likelihood, help tremendously. One way to do that most naturally is by exercising regularly, although it is a slow moving process.
2. Exercise Increases Blood Flow
One of the lesser (more secondary) ways that exercise increases beard growth is by increasing your blood flow efficiency. Blood stores and transfers the vital nutrients that your hair follicles need to grow facial hair. Thus, by being able to do so more efficiently and with more volume, your facial hair potentially increases.
This is, in fact, the same reasoning used and proven behind why derma-rollers and micro-blading has been effective. Small needles puncture or irritate a certain area of the skin where you’d like to stimulate hair growth, causing a flood of blood to the area for reparation purposes. That blood also brings with it an abundance of nutrients that are readily captured and utilized by your hair follicles to produce more hair in the area.
Now, let’s discuss which exercises in particular are best for improving overall beard growth and density.
Best Exercises For Beard Growth
The best exercises for beard growth are going to be those that amplify the effects mentioned above: Increasing testosterone and blood flow. But, there is another trick to increasing beard and hair growth, although it does require a specific style of exercise.
Stimulating AR (Androgen Receptors) in hair follicles makes them more sensitive to the hormones that help them produce facial hair. The more sensitive they are to these hormones, the more hair they are likely to produce. Studies have suggested that certain exercises are more likely to stimulate these receptors than others are. by focusing on those exercises, your ability to grow a beard increases dramatically over mundane or minimal intensity exercises.
For example, walking barely does anything to stimulate these receptors, but heavy compound movements, weightlifting, and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) dramatically increases them.
Overall, one of the major benefits of consistent exercise for men is an increase in the quantity and quality of beard hair. Exercising increases testosterone and DHT, both necessary hormones for the stimulation of hair follicles. However, the best exercises to perform in order to stimulate hair growth are high-intensity ones.
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