The Herbal Health Coach Health & Wellness Magazine - Summer 2021 Issue
The Herbal Health Coach Health & Wellness Magazine: Content
What's On and News
We are CLOSED from the 25th December to January 11th Inclusive
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy 2022
At Kurrajong Natural Medicine Centre we have extended out opening hours as people are returning to their workplace and not working from home as much.
We’ve Launched our New Website
We’ve been hard at work updating and renewing our old clinic website. Take a look at: KurrajongNaturalMedicineCentre.com.au. The old one is still up and running, but we’ve given it a brand new look, added new information and made it much easier to navigate – Check it out
NEW OPENING HOURS
Wednesday – Friday
09:30 am – 05:30 pm
Saturday
09:30 am – 12:30 pm
After Hours Appointments
Wed. & Thurs. $20.- surcharge applies to appointments after 5:30 pm
Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Closed
Online Yoga Classes, Medication and Relaxation videos are still available for free on our site. Just go to: https://theherbalhealthcoach.com/yoga-classes-options/and you’ll see the selection of videos and classes.
Yoga Classes have now finished for the year. Susan will contact everybody in the New Year as to times and days classes will restart.
Our Online Store is close to going Live. It will offer 4-Categories of products and services.
- Wildcrafted’s Natural Skin & Body Care Ranges
- Wildcrafted’s Herbal Creams, Lotions and Compounds, and
- Physical and Online Educational Courses
Stay tuned and watch this space…
Stress and It's Effects on Our Bodies and Mind
by Danny Siegenthaler with Adaptations from Tony Reid (2009)
Stress can cause just about every disease known to man and yet it is a little understood concept. This article attempts to shed some light into the effects of stress and how you can minimize its effect.
Health Impacts of Stress
Stress is a funny concept, try to define it – go on… I bet if all of you sent me your personal definition of what you perceive as stress, it would fill pages and you would all find that different things stress each of you differently.
For example, some of you might find driving stressful, some of you enjoy driving. However, this does not mean that driving is not stressful, at least for some of you.
So what is Stress?
Stress is any situation or circumstance, which if ongoing over an extended period of time will cause your body’s physiology to change.
Basically there are two forms of stress “good stress” and “bad stress” – an example of good stress is sensible exercise, which is a stress on you body’s physiology which will improve your overall health.
Bad stress on the other hand is an activity that will do the reverse – for example: worrying about money, or rather the lack of it… That can keep you awake at night, create anger, resentment and usually negatively impacts your relationships with your family and friends. It can also be working a job you hate, but for reasons, known only to yourself, you can not leave the job and feel you have to put up with it.
As a student of traditional Chinese medicine, during my course on Differential diagnosis, stress was listed as a cause for just about every disease known to man; and this right across the spectrum of medicine (orthodox and traditional forms).
Think about this for a second – stress has the potential to cause, or contribute to causing almost every disease known to medical science…. That’s amazing!
Signs & Symptoms of Stress
The illustration (on the right) shows how ongoing stress can increasingly lead to changes in performance and progress to physical and mental health issues. In particular, too much stress over an extended period of time will lead to exhaustion, anxiety (Burn out) and eventually a breakdown.
Chinese Medicine classifies mental disorders (lack of mental health) under Neurasthenia as follows:
At least 3 symptoms from the following five groups of symptoms:
- Weakness (mental or physical fatigue/decreased efficiency)
- Dysphoria (irritable, worrisome, inability to relax)
- Excitement – easily mentally excitable (accompanied by unpleasant feelings)
- Nervous muscular pain (e.g. tension headache, myalgia
- Sleep disturbances
In addition, the disorder is of at least 3 months duration and there is marked lowering of work, study or social functioning, which causes sufficient mental distress so that the sufferer seeks treatment.
Differential Diagnosis and Treatment from a Chinese Medicine Perspective
The following is derived from my own interpretation of the discussions on anxiety disorders in the TCM literature. The scope of these protocols includes the Western diagnostic categories of: neurasthenia, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder (AD) with anxious features and (of course) anxiety disorder NOS.
The pathogenesis of anxiety involves the Liver, Heart, Spleen and Kidney.
- Liver constraint: Prolonged emotional strain (e.g. suppressed anger, inability to vent feelings) leads to Liver constraint.
- Heart deficiency: Loss of emotional balance or control, too much thinking or mental work depletes the Heart (Qi, Blood or Yin)
- Spleen deficiency: Excessive physical work, worrying or thinking
- Depletes the Spleen Qi.
- Kidney deficiency: Prolonged fear reaction depletes the Kidney
- (Qi, Yin or Yang)
Liver constraint may be associated with Liver Blood deficiency, which may affect the Heart, leading to Heart Blood deficiency. Alternatively the Qi stagnation associated with Liver constraint may readily develop Heat, which rises up to disturb the Spirit in the Heart.
Spleen deficiency results in reduced Qi and Blood production. This may impact on the Heart, leading to Heart Qi and/or Heart Blood deficiency.
Kidney deficiency may manifest in Kidney Yin deficiency. The concomitant deficiency Fire rises up to agitate the Spirit in the Heart. In addition, there may be loss of co-ordination between the Heart and the Kidney as a result of this imbalance.
The pathological processes originating in the Liver, Spleen and Kidney, described above, may be regarded as the primary or underlying factors (ben) in the pathogenesis of anxiety. The final target of these pathodynamics is the Heart together with the Spirit (shen). Thus, the manifestation (biao) of anxiety is directly related to the core syndrome-patterns of Heart deficiency and/or Heat disturbing the Spirit in the Heart.
What You Can Do to Help Yourself
1. Seek help:
Talking to someone you trust about what’s making you anxious could be a relief. It may be that just having someone listen to you and show they care can help in itself. If you aren’t able to open up to someone close to you may contact your healthcare professional or Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ or Black Dog Institute: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/anxiety/help-support/
At Kurrajong Natural Medicine Centre our highly qualified and experienced team of practitioners are happy to develop a personalised treatment programme with you. Simply call (02)4573 0784
2. Sleep, Diet & Exercise:
- Try to get enough sleep. Sleep can give you the energy to cope with difficult feelings and experiences. See our page on coping with sleep problems for more information.
- Think about your diet. Eating regularly and keeping your blood sugar stable can make a difference to your mood and energy levels. See our page on food and mood for more information.
- Try to do some physical activity. Exercise can be really helpful for your mental wellbeing. See our pages on physical activity for more information.
3. Relaxation/Mindfulness/Meditation:
Relaxation/Mindfulness – taking time to be out in nature and have some ‘Me-Time’ away from the daily stressors is very important to maintain a balanced emotional state. Meditation is a learned tool that can help you gain insight into your mind-body state and recognise why you become anxious when exposed to certain triggers or stressors.
The 5-Elements In Chinese Medicine:
Heart and the Fire Element/Summer Season
by Danny Siegenthaler
The Fire Element (Heart) belongs to the season of summer. It is considered to be the most important of all the Internal Organs, sometimes described as the ‘ruler’, ‘emperor’ or ‘monarch’ of the Internal Organs.
The Heart’s main functions are to govern Blood and blood vessels and to house the Mind (Shen). Its functions can be summarised as follows:
- It governs Blood
- It controls the blood vessels
- It manifests in the complexion
- It houses the Mind (Shen)
- It opens into the tongue
- It controls sweat
Other Heart Relationships
- The smell of the Heart is scorched
- The colour of the Heart is red
- The taste of the Heart is bitter
- The climate of the Heart is heat/summer
- The sound of the Heart is laughing
Below is a table showing all of the 5-Elements and their correspondences:
ELEMENT |
WOOD |
FIRE |
EARTH |
METAL |
WATER |
DYNAMIC |
Potential activity |
Actual activity |
Undifferentiated world of possibility |
Potential result |
Completion of activity |
YIN-YANG |
Young Yang |
Mature Yang |
Balance |
Young Yin |
Mature Yin |
DEVELOPMENT |
Germination |
Growth |
Ripening |
Harvest |
Storage, Seed |
SEASON |
Spring |
Summer |
Late Summer, Monsoon |
Autumn |
Winter |
CLIMATE/PATHOGEN |
Wind |
Heat |
Damp |
Dryness |
Cold |
VISCUS (SOLID ORGAN) |
Liver |
Heart |
Spleen |
Lung |
Kidney |
BOWEL (HOLLOW ORGAN) |
Gallbladder |
Small Intestine |
Stomach |
Large Intestine |
Urinary Bladder |
EMOTIONAL QUALITY |
Self-assertion, Righteous indignation |
Joy, Enthusiasm |
Orderliness |
Instincts, Drive towards survival |
Will, Drive |
PATHOLOGICAL EMOTION |
Anger |
Over-excitement |
Obsession, Worry |
Sadness, Grief |
Fear, Timidity |
HUMAN QUALITY |
Planning, Decision making |
Clarity of Consciousness |
Ideas, Inspiration, Understand, Focus of attention, Working memory |
Taking in, Holding on & Letting go |
Long term memory, Concentration |
TISSUE |
Tendons and Nail |
Blood and Blood vessels |
Muscle, Fat |
Skin and Body hair |
Bones and Marrow |
SENSE ORGAN |
Eyes, Vision |
Tongue, Speech |
Mouth, Taste |
Nose, Smell, Touch |
Ears, Hearing |
FLUID |
Tears |
Sweat |
Watery saliva |
Nasal mucus |
Mucoid saliva |
SOUND (OR TONE OF VOICE) |
Shouting |
Laughing |
Singing |
Crying |
Groaning |
COLOUR |
Green |
Red |
Yellow |
White |
Blue, Black |
INJURED BY EXCESSIVE |
Walking |
Staring |
Sitting |
Lying |
Standing |
FLAVOUR |
Sour |
Bitter |
Sweet |
Pungent (Spicy) |
Salt |
WESTERN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENCE |
Hepatobiliary system, Emotion and Stress-related disorders |
Cardiovascular system, Brain and Psyche |
Digestive system including Pancreas |
Respiratory system |
HPA axis, HPG axis, Urogenital system, Congential disorders |
Foods that benefit the Heart
Tomatoes | Watermelon | Rhubarb | Cumin | Cow Milk |
Beef | Red Apple | Red Lentins | Longan Fruit | Goats Milk |
Cherry | Beets | Longan Fruit | Red Dates | Egg Yolks |
Saffron | Radish | Red Dates | Chili | Coffee |
Red Beans | Strawberries | Chili | Cumin | Tea – Green tea |
The Heart governs Blood
The Heart governs Blood in two ways:
The transformation of Food-Energy [Qi] (Gu Qi) into Blood takes place in the Heart – when you eat, the Stomach breaks food energy into two categories (1) pure energy, and (2) turbid energy. The Pure-energy is directed to the Spleen and then rises up to the Heart, the turbid energy goes to the bowels
In addition, the Heart is responsible for the circulation of Blood just the same as in Western medicine (although in Chinese medicine, other organs, notably the Lungs, Spleen and Liver, also play a role in the circulation of Blood)
A healthy Heart is essential for a proper supply of blood to all the body tissues. When its function is impaired (i.e. Heart-Blood is deficient), the circulation of Blood is slack and the hands may be cold.
The relationship between Heart and Blood is important in another way as it determines the strength of constitution of an individual.
Although our constitution is primarily related to the Essence (Jing) and the Kidney, it is also partly determined by the relative constitutional strength of the Heart and Blood. If the Heart is strong, Blood in ample supply and its circulation good, a person will be full of vigour and have a good constitution.
If however the Heart is constitutionally weak and Blood-deficient, a person will have a poor constitution and lack strength. A constitutional weakness of the Heart is sometimes manifested with a shallow, long crack in the midline of the tongue and a weak pulse on both the Heart and Kidney positions.
The Heart controls the blood vessels
The Heart and the complexion
The Heart is reflected in the facial complexion:
- Dull pale facial complextion = Heart Blood deficiency
- Bright white facial complextion = Heart-Yang deficiency
- Purplish or dark facial complextion = Heart-Blood stasis
- Red facial complextion = Heart-Heat.
The Mind of the Heart
According to Chinese medicine, mental activity and consciousness ‘reside’ in the Heart. This means that the state of the Heart (and Blood) will affect the mental activities including the emotional state. In particular, five functions are affected by the state of the Heart.
- Mental activity (including emotions)
- Consciousness
- Memory
- Thinking
- Sleep
If the Heart is strong and Blood abundant, there will be a normal mental activity, a balanced emotional life, a clear consciousness, a good memory, keen thinking and good sleep. If the Heart is weak and Blood deficient there may be mental–emotional problems (such as depression), poor memory, dull thinking, insomnia or somnolence and in extreme cases, unconsciousness.
As you can see, the Heart has a major role to play, not only from an allopathic view point, but also from a Chinese medicine perspective.
Eating Seasonally to Optimise Your Health
by Danny & Susan Siegenthaler
Eating seasonally is more important than one might think; the fruits and vegetables that are ready to eat in any one season not only are fresh and still full of nutrients, but they carry the energy of the season. This is important as our bodies require that exact energy.
Summer is the season of yang, a time when the body undergoes vigorous metabolic (body energy) processes. Several thousand years ago, The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor put forth the principle that one should cultivate the yang energy in spring and summer, while protecting the yin energy in autumn and winter.
TCM teaches us that summer belongs to fire, one of the five elements. Fire is symbolic of maximum activity or greatest yang, which means that it is a time of heat, outgoingness, and moving outward in nature and in our lives. In human anatomy, the heart, mind, and spirit are ruled by the fire element. Thus, top priority should be given to the heart, mind, and spirit for staying healthy in summer.
Summer is about abundance, and this is definitely the case with foods. Fruits and vegetables abound in summer, and we are lucky to have a multitude of choice when it comes to what we eat. Because it is the season of maximum yang, it is important to stay cool and hydrated. There are many foods that are beneficial to eat during this season.
All foods in Traditional Chinese Medicine have a temperature, and energetic properties so in summer, we eat cool, yin foods that are moistening to balance the heat. Many raw foods are seen to be cooling in nature, so summer is the perfect time to indulge in salads, which are full of raw vegetables, very cooling and hydrating to the body.
Eating more foods with pungent flavours and reducing bitter flavours help to strengthen the lungs – responsible for sweat so helps to maintain the normal sweating mechanism. Foods with cooling properties also clear heat, can reduce toxins and help to generate body fluids. Generally, most vegetables and fruits are cooling, eating them raw makes them cooler still, and many seafoods are also cooling in nature.
Below is a list of foods that correspond to the Summer Season:
Summer fruits include:
Bananas | Figs | Cherries |
Lychees | Mangoes | Apricots |
Berries | Limes | Melons |
Passionfruit | Grapes | Nectarines |
Peaches | Plums | Pears |
Oranges | Pineapple | Strawberries |
Summer vegetables include:
Asparagus | Beans | Cucumbers |
Avocados | Eggplant | Potatoes |
Capsicum | Sweet corn | Zucchini |
Celery | Onions | Lettuce |
Tomatoes | Peas | Squash |
Radish |
Chinese cabbage |
Corn |
Food is medicine and the ancient Chinese used food and its healing properties to build up the body when deficient, cleanse it when toxic, and release it when in excess.
3 Key Steps to Radiant Beauty
by Susan & Danny Siegenthaler
Beauty is so subjective, yet both men and women are constantly striving to achieve that ‘Body Beautiful’. This is promoted through the media, where we are constantly bombarded with images of beautiful men and women who, by implication, are successful because of their good looks.
Beauty however, is much more than just skin deep and true beauty comes from within. There are simple steps, which anyone can follow to look and feel more beautiful. Beauty is much more about how you feel and project yourself, than it is about the size of your waist, number of lines on your face or darkness of your tan. It is about the projection of health, vigour and confidence.
So how can you achieve this radiant beauty?
Simple. There are 3 key steps you need to incorporate into your daily life to bring to the outside the beauty within.
Step 1 – Diet
Yes, it is an old cliché, but you are what you eat. Your skin, eyes, weight, looks and even your emotional state are influenced by what you eat. Eat rubbish, and you’ll feel like rubbish, and that is what you’ll project to the people around you. This sounds hard, and many of you will not believe this to be true, but the fact is that if your diet does not consist of a well rounded, nutritionally balanced intake of good quality food, sooner or later your body will reflect this.
So what is a well rounded, nutritionally balanced diet?
Diets come in all shapes and sizes. Everyday we read or hear about another miracle diet that will loose us those extra kilos, make us look a million dollars and so on… Unfortunately, most of these diets do not work, at least not for the majority of people who try them. This is not always the fault of the diet, but often this is due to the fact that the celebrity who is promoting this diet has a completely different lifestyle to the one we have. They can afford to spend hours in the gym, have personal trainers and have the cash to buy the high quality foods, vitamins, herbs, etc.
Another aspect is time pressure. Often it is a lack of time that prevents us from doing what we know we should be doing, but simply do not have the time to do. Or do we?
According to the AC Nielsen Co., the average Australian spends and average of 5.5 hours a doay o their smartphone and that’s not including time watching TV each day! Now that is a lot of time that could be invested into more productive activities.
So let’s look at what you should be eating.
The first thing is, do not go on a diet. Yes, that’s right, do not go on a diet. Rather look at what you are eating and make better choices. First, stop purchasing highly processed foods like TV dinners and the like, stop buying junk food during the day to have a quick lunch or even to substitute a sound breakfast. It does not take any longer to cut up a banana and add it to some natural yogurt together with some oats, nuts and grains, than it does to get into the queue at your local fast food outlet. The quality of food however is as different as day and night. The natural breakfast will provide you with much higher nutritional value than anything you can get from a fast food outlet.
Secondly, when doing your shopping, focus on buying fresh fruits and vegetables, organic if you like, but that’s not necessary. Focus on making meals rather than buying them already made. Ready made meals have preservatives and other additives you do not need and that may not be good for you. Stick to making the meals yourself. Take some of the TV time and invest it in your health.
Thirdly, it is better for your body to eat small meals frequently rather than one large meal at night, as so many of us do. Remember that you do not need a lot of energy to sleep, but you do need energy to tackle your day-to-day activities. It is therefore best to eat the largest meal of the day in the morning and decreasingly large portions subsequently during the day. Use fresh fruits and nuts to provide you with healthy, quick little snakes that will sustain you during the day. Come dinner-time, make meals that are light and easy to digest. There are hundreds of books out there that will provide you with recipes that are easy to make, healthy and of high nutritional value.
Finally, keep this in mind when preparing meals. Use small quantities of many foods. For example, try to exceed 15 different fruits and vegetables every day. This does not mean you need to eat 15 pieces of fruit/vegetables, but rather small portions of more than 15 wholesome foods. In a muesli for instance, use rolled oats, dried or fresh banana, apple, pears, berries, add different nuts such as almonds, pecans, hazel nuts, walnuts, add a handful of pine seeds, raw oats, raisins and sultanas. Then, when making your salad use lots of different vegetables, don’t be afraid to experiment. You see how easy it is to achieve variety of over 15 different foods in anyone day. In addition, don’t forget to have fish 2 or 3 times a week.
Yes, it’s a change in the way you are used to doing things, but these sorts of changes are exactly what is needed if you want to achieve that ‘body beautiful’. Are you prepared to pay the price? If not, don’t bother reading on. If yes, then there are some additional steps you can take to bring you closer to where you want to be.
Step 2 – Exercise
Err, I hear you say. Not that again. I don’t have time to go to the gym… I hate going to the gym… Well, so do I, but exercise is the one thing that will keep your body fit and help you to achieve physical well being. Don’t go to the gym unless you feel comfortable in that environment and you like being there. There are equally good ways you can get exercise all the way through your day, without necessarily taking time out to go and do exercise.
How? Easy. Park your car a block or two away from the office, shops, or where ever you’re going and walk the extra distance. You’ll probably find it easier to find a parking spot and that is reducing your stress levels already.
At the office, walk over to a colleague instead of sending them an email or texting them. Take the stairs to walk up to your office. When it comes time for lunch, take it, go outside and take a little walk.
At home, maybe you could go for a walk after dinner instead of watching the box or sitting in front of the computer. Not 3 hours, 30-40 minutes is all you need to help strengthen your cardio-vascular system. Your skin will look healthier, your body will feel healthier and guess what, you’ll actually start to look healthier too. This is all you need to do to get started. If you want to get fitter and maybe increase your muscle tone, you might want to re-think the gym idea, or some other form of exercise you enjoy. This is the key YOU MUST ENJOY THE EXERCISE other wise you will not continue to do it for very long and any little reason not to do it will be good enough.
It may take you a bit of experimenting to find out what form of exercise you do like. Maybe it’s riding a bike, swimming, yoga, tai chi, bush walking or mountain climbing. Or maybe it is playing a sport such as tennis, squash, football or what ever. They key is to find something you like doing, that way it is no longer exercise it’s become a hobby.
At this point there is another sub-key, if you like and this is the adequate intake of water. Our bodies require 2 litres of water each and every day to function normally. If the body does not get 2 litres of water, it will start to become de-hydrated. Dehydration is very subtle at times and may be not obvious to you, but you will start to get dry skin, possibly become constipated and the body will not like you for neglecting its needs.
Sooner or later it will let you know one way or the other. So, don’t tempt it, give it what it wants and make sure you consume at least 2 litres of water daily, more if you do physical work or exercise vigorously. Remember that water helps to flush out toxins from your body, which are better off out than in and you will feel better for it.
Step 3 – Skin care
Yes, skin care is important. Your skin is the defence between your external environment and the inside of your body. It performs a vital function in protecting you from harmful substances and microbes and it help in the elimination of toxins as well as in temperature regulation.
A daily skin care regime is vital for a healthy, vibrant appearance and should be followed by men and women alike. I’ve covered this topic in detail in an other article, which is entitled ‘Daily Skin Care Regime – Why is a Daily Skin Care Regime Important?’ however, let me reiterate the most important steps. The key steps in a daily skin care regime are: Cleansing, Toning and Moisturising. On a weekly basis you should also include exfoliation and possibly a deep cleansing clay mask to help rid your skin of excessive dead skin cells and remove the deep seated dirt lodged in the pores of your skin.
Make use of a natural skin care system, rather than using mass produced skin care products, which frequently contain potentially harmful, synthetic chemicals. Many of these chemicals are absorbed by your skin and have been shown to have the potential to cause more harm than good.
This comes back to using natural substances rather than highly processed ones. Apply this concept not just to the food you eat, but what you put on your skin as well.
Following these simple steps you are slowly but surely moving toward radiating true beauty from within.
How Do Different Seasons Affect Your Skin
Unless you live in the tropics where the climate remains relatively constant throughout the year, you will experience seasonal changes and so does your skin. Even the tropics experience a change, namely the wet season (summer) and the dry season (winter). So let’s start with these two.
In Summer, the temperature is generally higher than in winter and we often resort to cooling the environment around us by the use of air conditioning or at least using fans to circulate air which helps to cool us off a little.
In the case of fans, the circulating air helps to evaporate water (perspiration) off our skin and in so during, the skin is cooled and this helps to cool the body. The loss of water through perspiration has a dehydrating effect on our skin unless we drink increased amounts of water and other re-hydrating fluids.
Similarly, air conditioning moves / circulates air, which has the same effect as the fans, but in addition, an air conditioner removes (some) water from the air and cools the air at the same time, creating a dryer, cooler environment in the air conditioned space.
An other factor of consideration is that heat tends to cause opening of the skin’s pores. This in turn allows for increased sebum secretion (oil secretion) and thus our skin can get a little more oily than usual. As a consequence, the stale oil on the skin combined with environmental dust and other pollutants can lead to blocked pores and result in black heads or acne pimples.
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So what does that mean to our skin?
If your skin type changes from normal to oily during summer, then you should also change your skin care system to treat oily skin, rather than using the system for normal skin. It is important to remember that with the changing of the seasons, your activity levels may change together with the types of foods you eat and the fluids you drink. They all contribute to your internal environment and this is reflected by your skin.
Remember your skin is a living, breathing organ that adapts to the environment and therefore you need to adapt your skin care approach accordingly.
The other seasonal extreme is Winter. In winter, the air is generally cooler – in some parts of the world it is freezing and thus our skin reacts just as it does in summer to the change in climate.
Unlike summer, during winter we tend to ad heat to our physical environment and like air conditioning, heating too dries the air reducing its moisture content. It is a principle of physics that if you are in a dry environment, your body will loose moisture to the dry environment. Hydration is therefore very important and necessary to stop your skin from becoming dry.
Dry and cracked lips are classic symptoms of dehydration that often appear during late Autumn and Winter. But the drying of the skin goes beyond the lips. Just like in Summer, your skin needs the right skin care regime to keep it moist and hydrated.
While in Summer normal skin may become slightly oily, in Winter normal skin will tend to become dry and in some people even increase in sensitivity. This is because the cold air will tend to close the pores rather than open them as happens during summer. So the bodies natural oils are not being secreted onto the skin and thus the natural oils that protect the skin are reduced and the skin will be more vulnerable.
Again it becomes necessary to increase the frequency of applying your moisturising cream and drink warming, hydrating fluids. You may want to consider using a nourishing night cream during this time, if you don’t already use one.
People suffering from Eczema/Dermatitis, which gets worse in Winter, need to pay particular attention to their fluid intake. I know from personal experience, that if I do not drink enough water, my skin soon lets me know and becomes very dry, itchy and irritated.
It easy to forget to drink water and other hydrating fluids during winter, because the temperatures are lower and the heat of summer which tends to make one want to drink cooling drinks is not there to remind us.
For people with oily skin types, Winter is often a ‘good time’, because the cold climate causes the skin’s pores to close and thus less sebum is secreted. Similarly, people with dry skin types tend to have a reprieve in summer when pores open and secrete more oils that lubricate the otherwise dry skin.
Again it is important for either scenario to adapt the skin care regime to the changes in the skin. So if you have ‘normal’ skin in winter (oily skin types), than use a skin care system suitable for normal skin. Conversely, if you have a normal skin type in Summer (dry skin types), than change the skin care system to suit. Your skin changes with the seasons and therefore so should your skin care system.
Often the ‘normal skin type’ or ‘true skin type’ is most obvious during the mid-Autumn/mid-Spring seasons. These seasons are usually mild, representing an ‘average’ of the seasonal extremes. It is then that your true skin type(s) is most easily determined.
I’ll give you an example. Most of the year round, my skin type is generally normal to dry from the neck down. My face has a tendency to a slightly oily T-Zone, while the lower half of my face and cheeks are slightly on the dry side and my neck is normal.
In summer, my T-Zone gets oilier and the rest of my body’s skin stays mostly normal, maybe with a slight tendency to dryness. In Winter, my oily T-Zone becomes normal, the rest of my face stays normal to dry, but my lower legs become very dry unless I stay on top of it and make sure I drink enough fluids and use plenty of moisturising cream.
Remember that most people have several skin types over their body and especially on their face. It is more common to see two skin types, as illustrated in the example above, than just one uniform skin type.
As I mentioned, mid-Spring and mid-Autumn are like the average of Summer and Winter and often during this time, your ‘true’ skin type is revealed. However you need to be aware that even during these two seasons your skin type may change as either Winter or Summer gets closer.
So get to know your skin and how it reacts to the changing seasons; adapt your skin care system and make sure you use natural skin care products to ensure you do not introduce potentially toxic chemicals into your body.
Did You Know?
Did You Know?
Did you know the human eye blinks over 4,200,000 times a year
Did you know a person produces enough saliva to fill 2 average size swimming pools during their lifetime
Did you know the average person sheds .7kg (1.5 pounds) of skin each year
Did you know the human body creates 2,500,000 new red blood cells every second
Did you know a soap bubble is 10,000 times thinner than the average human hair
Did you know an astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller returning from space (the cartilage disks in the spine expand in the absence of gravity)
Did you know there are over 97,000 km (60,000 miles) of blood vessels in the average person
Did You Know?
Did you know a cat has 32 muscles in each ear
Did you know cats spend 66% of their life asleep
Did you know Switzerland eats the most chocolate equating to 10 kilos per person per year
Did you know when lightning strikes it can reach up to 30,000 degrees celsius (54,000 degrees fahrenheit)
Did you know the longest street in the world is Yonge street in Toronto Canada measuring 1,896 km (1,178 miles)
Did you know about 90% of the worlds population kisses
Did you know toilets use 35% of indoor water use
Did you know Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day
Did you know African Grey Parrots have vocabularies of over 200 words
Find more ‘Did you know’ on https://www.did-you-knows.com
We hope you enjoyed our latest Edition of our Health & Wellness Magazine. We are always open to constructive feedback and ideas for future articles. If you have a particular topic you would like us to cover relating to yoga, alternative medicine, meditation, etc., please let us know and we will include it in an up coming Magazine
Namaste.