6 Easy Health Tips To Keep Your Sagging Skin From Becoming 'Turkey Neck'
Because aging happens to everyone.
getty What is "turkey neck," and how can you get rid of it when it occurs?
Women frequently refer to the sagging or drooping skin below their chin as turkey neck, becuase of the way it hangs. While sagging skin is a common problem with aging, most women want to avoid "turkey neck" by following a healthy skin care routine.
Your neck tends to lose elasticity as you age, and simple skin care can help keep it young and healthy looking. There are other factors involved, like your posture and strengthening the muscles, too, which will help you avoid "turkey neck" as you get older.
"Turkey neck" comes from holding your neck and head the way a turkey does, down and forward. And while a skin care routine can help keep the skin from sagging too much, it may be your neck posture that's causing the biggest issues.
When you do that, back-of-your-neck muscles tighten and the front-of-your-neck muscles loosen. That's how your brain controls your muscles.
When you tighten one of a pair of muscles (like your biceps and triceps upper arm muscles), your brain tightens one muscle and automatically relaxes the others. That is what happens in your neck.
If you want to prevent (and maybe correct) turkey neck, you need to become aware of your postural shape. Then you may notice that you're holding your head forward.
To some extent, you can bring your head back in line by tucking your chin and lifting your chest. That shifts some muscle tone to the front of your neck.
But don't overdo it — that "tuck and lift" action is to your easy limit, only — not a hard tuck and lift.
Find your "easy limit" by moving your head forward and back a few times to learn where your "springy" limit is. You'll know what that means when you find it.
- Sit upright (don't use the back support of a chair) and glide your head and neck forward, so your weight shifts forward, and then glide back and forth so your weight shifts forward and backward.
- Feel how your spinal curvatures change as you move. How your balance changes.
- Feel for the rise of tension (or "springiness") as you reach the limit of your balance forward and as you reach the limit of your balance backward.
- Now you can choose a sensible amount of "tuck and lift" that's comfortable for your head.
- Every time you catch yourself sitting or standing with your head and neck forward (the formula for turkey neck), Tuck and lift your neck and chin to a comfortable limit.
- Don't make yourself all stiff to do it. Sit and sway side to side or stand or turn or bend into any position until you find that gentle limit.
Don't let turkey neck happen when all it takes to correct is a gentle tuck and lift of your head and neck.
Just so you know that's just an elementary move. Next comes changing your posture so you don't need to make a point of doing a "tuck and lift" all the time.
Lawrence Gold is a Wellness Coach and certified Hanna somatic educator who wants to help people age as gracefully as possible. For more information about how he can help you with injuries, aging, and stress, reach out to him at his website.