Age Like a Man: Myths about Collagen

Healthy skin, joints, bones, and gut aren’t just for women. Men deserve a shot at collagen’s health benefits!

There are a lot of misconceptions regarding collagen and what it can do for a body. People don’t realize the many health benefits that come from collagen. There are also myths regarding who collagen is meant for. Most people think collagen is a women-only club. But in the spirit of equal rights, let’s dispel that myth and all the others as well.

Myth Number One: Collagen is for Women Only

People think of collagen as a beauty product for women, but collagen can give a guy a leg up in the world—literally. From relieving joint pain to aiding in the healing process, collagen is man’s best friend (and a woman’s too) for living without all the aches and pains.

Everyone moves. Think of collagen as an adhesive that holds the parts of your body together so those parts can function at their very best. Shouldn’t everyone want to function at their very best: men and women alike? Of course they should. And with collagen, they can. Bodies were made to move, whether it be to play sports, take your dog for a walk, bike to work, or chase toddlers around the house (something both men and women do), having a body that moves the way you want when you want is important.

If you’re an athlete who has suffered an injury, you might find that your joints ache. Movements as simple as getting out of bed in the morning can cause you grief. Collagen helps relieve pain from old sports injuries. A recent study shows how collagen not only speeds up the recovery process for athletes and people with old injuries but that it also can also help those with chronic pain conditions such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

Myth Number Two: Collagen is for Older People

Since collagen helps skin elasticity, it makes sense that your skin sags and wrinkles as you age and your collagen production slows down. This is one of the reasons why collagen supplements and beauty creams advertise the benefits of smoother skin. We all like to look our best. But youth isn’t just about looking good; it’s about feeling good. Add that to the fact that collagen production slows down around the age of thirty-five, and the mid-thirties is hardly what anyone would call old. By being aware of your personal collagen stores and doing what you can to assist your body in collagen production, you maintain your “feel-good, look-good” youth well before you consider signing up for Social Security.

Myth Number Three: Collagen is for Skin

Most people are aware of the desirable benefits of collagen in skin care. Many beauty commercials focus on the smoother, younger looking skin that comes from topical collagen ointments or from collagen health food supplements. But they don’t focus on all the reasons collagen is vital to a body because, while beauty may be only skin deep, collagen goes right to the bone. As one of the most abundant proteins in the body, collagen is found in your bones, tendons, muscles, digestive system, blood vessels, and (of course) skin. Collagen is an all-around body-building necessity.

But since we’re talking about it, vanity can come into play here as well. Collagen does help slow the sagging and wrinkling process, but did you know it also helps slow hair loss? That’s right; all you guys with receding hairlines now have a way to retain your beautiful locks.

Myth Number Four: Collagen Must Come from Animals

The thing that people really get wrong about collagen is that they believe it can only come from animal-derived sources. They utilize recipes for bone broth or buy supplements that come from the hide of an animal. People don’t realize that the body is capable of making its own plentiful supply of collagen. Sunwarrior’s vegan collagen building peptide powder provides your body with all the ingredients you need to make your own collagen, including that one vital ingredient people always seem to miss: vitamin C (which all of the bone broth in the world can’t give you and your body cannot make collagen without it). By making your own rather than ingesting the collagen from an animal, you allow your body to function at its best.

To recap, here are a few of the main benefits to collagen:

• Helps prevent injury by keeping tendons and ligaments strong
• Helps in recovery from injuries by contributing to the repair of tendons and ligaments
• Helps prevent hair loss
• Strengthens bones, teeth, and fingernails
• Contributes to skin elasticity and slows the wrinkling/sagging processes in skin
• Helps heal the digestive tract by repairing the mucous lining
• Relieves chronic pain in joints

Whether you’re a woman or a man, you don’t have to age like everyone else. You can look great and feel great for your whole life. So . . . jump, dance, run, LIVE at your very best by allowing your body to replenish its collagen stores the way nature intended.