Can Workouts Cause Breakouts?

What you need to know about workouts and breakouts. Credit: BigStock

Yep, there’s just no disputing it: Exercise is good for the human body. So you’d think that exercise would also benefit the body’s largest organ, its skin, right? But does working up a sweat actually do anything good for your skin—or make you more prone to breakouts?

Workouts and Breakouts: Is There a Connection?

While your heart, lungs, muscles and bones arguably gain the most benefit from working out, the positives of leading an active life aren’t a stranger to your skin. In fact, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), exercise increases blood flow to the surface of your skin and brings oxygen and nutrients to your whole body—your skin included.

Then there’s the other benefit of regular workouts: sweating. Sweat is made mostly of water, with small amounts of ammonia, urea, salts and sugar. When you sweat, these impurities are flushed from your skin. But what does that mean for people who are prone to acne? It might help, but it doesn’t necessarily hurt, say the experts at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado (CHC). Sweat in itself neither fights acne nor causes it; but the increased blood flow, unclogging of pores from sweating, and stress reduction that result from exercise may all benefit the acne sufferer, says the CHC.

Keep reading to learn how exercising can be tough on skin, along with seven skin care tips to avoid breakouts after your workout here! —Erin