I spend a lot of time training. I love it. But the other day, while I was jumping up and down, I noticed the skin on my face was, too. It all got me wondering: is exercise, with all its incredible health benefits, still somehow ‘bad’ for me? Or at least bad for my vanity?

Rebecca Treston, the incredible skincare expert and laser aesthetician at Dubai London Clinic who has made a name for herself restoring the skin of the UAE’s elite, says, “exercise is one of the quickest ways to age yourself.” Her specialty is layering energies to heal everything from sun damage to fine lines, and her schedule books out weeks in advance. Rebecca is friendly and approachable with radiant skin straight out of a Disney film. “Especially if you do a lot of cardio,” she adds.

Think of your skin like a building with layers of beams and internal support structures. When you lose fat or stress the connective tissues, the support structures shift. Exercising also affects collagen, says Rebecca. “What I do with lasers is restore the function and structure of skin. The connective tissue will be going away, so we need to stimulate collagen to pull up the skin. Also I strengthen the connection.” It’s like adding support beams to a house that, through wear and tear, has started to shift. “You can reverse damages and then stimulate the skin.”

It makes sense what Treston says; when I’m jumping in front of a mirror, I can literally see the impact of gravity sliding up and down and up and down my face. So if it decreases the strength of my skin, what is all that exercise doing to my tatas?

“In general exercise has a positive effect on breasts, the same as on any part of the body,” says Dr. Ghodratollah Nowrasteh, consultant general surgeon at Medicare Multispeciality Hospital, Al Safa. “Changes to the muscle behind the breasts (the chest muscles) will affect the appearance, but will have no direct effect on them.”

But will all the jogging, jumping, hopping and running cause the girls to go south? It can cause pain, Dr. Nowrasteh notes. But that’s usually happening in the chest wall muscle rather than in the tatas themselves.

As for exercise actually harming breasts, well, the jury is still out. Experts note the side-by-side, up-and-down movement could stretch skin and ligaments, leading to sag, but this happens normally over time anyways, making it hard to tell how much role fitness has to play. The benefits of exercise far outweigh potential droopage, so go for sports bras with plenty of support. I’m a huge fan of Nike’s clasp-in-front, zip-up number, and a few of the crop top sports bras from Lorna Jane, for high coverage support.

Photography by @chiclebelle

While I’m pretty diligent with changing my fitness clothes multiple times a day and washing them regularly throughout the week, I can’t say the same for my hair. I often swap out a proper head shower for dry shampoo, and I’ve been known to blast hair sweat with a changing room blow dryer. This is a very, very bad hair habit, note the professionals.

“When hair gets wet, it’s easily stretched and damaged. And the salts [in sweat] can cause hair to lose colour faster,” says Eric Spengler, senior vice president of research and development at Living Proof. The sweat is drying, leading to damaged, rather than luscious, locks.

I feel seen.

Experts recommend protecting hair with a leave-in conditioner before training, and when working out, skip tight ponytails. “Especially hair ties with metal in, as the metal could damage your hair,” says Jessica Zurowski, senior stylist at Pastels Salon. “The best ones are the invisible bobble. Braids are also great.”

As soon as the session is done, hop into the shower or even just soak your roots with cold water. And if you still find yourself researching for dry shampoo? Check out what it’s made of. A lot have a high alcohol content, which can be really damaging on the hair, particularly when stirred in with lots of sweat.

None of this means we should skip exercise; it’s great for overall health and longevity. For me, fitness constantly boosts my mood, so I’ll just be updating parts of my routine. It’s out with the dry shampoo — especially because my hair is feeling pretty rough these days — and in with more showers, better sports bras, and more consistent SPF for my 30-something skin.