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I changed my toner.
I tried a serum, too.
I even tried supplements.
All I thought about was “adding.”
But maybe what I really needed was an environment where my body could keep making it on its own.
Make it, rather than top it up
In front of the drugstore shelf, I hesitate a little.
“With collagen,” the label says.
If I keep taking it, will anything change?
Collagen peaks in your twenties and decreases year by year after that.
Supplementing it from outside matters too.
But an idea drawing attention lately is the “collagen bank” — keeping up your ability to produce collagen from a young age, and maintaining that environment over time.
Before you draw on it, build it up first.
One effective way to do that, now drawing attention, is exercise.
Exercise sets the stage for collagen
“I really should exercise,” I thought, and sat at my desk again today.
Aerobic activity such as walking, and strength training, are thought to help create an environment where collagen is more readily produced, by promoting blood flow and activating cells throughout the body.
Research from Ritsumeikan University and elsewhere has shown that exercise may improve the structure of the dermis and increase the skin’s elasticity.
It is also said to have a positive effect on the collagen environment not only in skin but in joints and tendons.
Rather than occasional bursts of intense exercise, moving your body every day and keeping your circulation good — a steady habit is the key to staying in a state where collagen is readily produced.
But keeping it up is hard.
That, more often than not, is the biggest problem.
Two enemies of a collagen-friendly environment
Even an environment that nurtures collagen has its enemies.
One is UV light.
The other is stress.
On the commuter train, I let out a sigh.
Deadlines have piled up, and I’ve been tense all week.
Under heavy stress, the body releases a hormone called cortisol, which can speed up the breakdown of collagen.
Even on days without sunburn, as long as the stress goes on, the conditions for producing collagen quietly crumble.
Nurturing it quietly, indoors
After work, on a whim, I pushed open the door of a pool hall.
There is no UV light in a pool hall.
Because it is an entirely indoor sport, you can move your body as everyday light exercise while avoiding the risk of photoaging.
About 3,000 steps in two hours of play — a comfortable amount of exercise for building a collagen-friendly environment, too.
The forward lean of the stance works the muscles that support the spine, and settles your posture.
The area around the shoulder blades, moving with every shot, helps circulation, carrying nourishment out to the skin and to the far ends of the joints.
And the time spent focused on a single ball quietly settles the mind, and eases stress.
Setting the stage for collagen while stepping back, little by little, from UV light and stress.
Pool has time like that in it.
Being able to move your body while staying out of the sun is another charm of an indoor sport.
👉 No tan, no skin on show, makeup still on.
Building it up without noticing
Shoot, walk, get down again.
I hadn’t come to exercise.
I hadn’t come for beauty, either.
And yet on the way home, my body feels somehow lighter.
Maybe those two hours were a deposit for my future self.
Why not make billiards your next beauty habit?
👉 Before the serum, walk.
👉 See the Yokohama Billiard Hall Guide
References
- Varani, J. et al. (2006). Decreased collagen production in chronologically aged skin: roles of age-dependent alteration in fibroblast function and defective mechanical stimulation. The American Journal of Pathology, 168(6), 1861-1868. doi:10.2353/ajpath.2006.051302
- Nishikori, S. et al. (2023). Resistance training rejuvenates aging skin by reducing circulating inflammatory factors and enhancing dermal extracellular matrices. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 10214. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-37207-9
- Kjaer, M. (2004). Role of extracellular matrix in adaptation of tendon and skeletal muscle to mechanical loading. Physiological Reviews, 84(2), 649-698. doi:10.1152/physrev.00031.2003
- Fisher, G. J. et al. (2002). Mechanisms of photoaging and chronological skin aging. Archives of Dermatology, 138(11), 1462-1470. doi:10.1001/archderm.138.11.1462
- Chen, Y. & Lyga, J. (2014). Brain-skin connection: stress, inflammation and skin aging. Inflammation & Allergy Drug Targets, 13(3), 177-190. doi:10.2174/1871528113666140522104422
