August 2024

Seasonal Living

• Embrace Summer
• How To Avoid Heat Exaustion
• Summer Insomnia
• Herbal Summer Skin Care

Seasonal Living – Herbal Summer Skin Care

Summer is filled with days spent at the garden, beach, or hiking. Being outdoors exposes your skin to the light and warmth of the sun, which can damage your skin if it happens daily.

• Vitamin D Synthesis – When exposed to sunlight, the skin synthesizes vitamin D, which is crucial for calcium absorption, bone health, and immune system resilience.
• Immune Function –  The skin is part of your immune system, containing immune cells that help fight pathogens.
• Water Balance –  The skin helps maintain proper hydration by preventing excessive water loss.
• Excretion –  The skin helps eliminate waste products and excess salts through the sweat glands.

In the heat of the sun, the skin tends to lose moisture, compromising its ability to perform these crucial roles.

Dry Skin vs. Dehydrated Skin

Dry skin happens when the sebaceous glands, the small glands on your skin that release sebum, stop working. Sebum is an oily substance containing immune cells that cover the skin. When the sebaceous glands stop working, your skin lacks its natural oils layer. The lack of natural oil makes pores on dry skin much smaller, visibly flaky, and dull. Dry skin can be genetic or a reaction to medication.

Dehydrated skin results from less water and moisture content within the skin cells. It is usually temporary and is often described as dry underneath and an oily surface. Dehydrated skin conditions are mainly caused by external factors such as sun exposure, incorrect use of topical applications, harsh cosmetic treatments, saunas, and swimming, especially when chlorine is involved.

 Hydration keeps the skin soft and flexible. Oils help keep the water contained inside the skin’s cells, keeping them dehydrated.

Sunburn happens when prolonged exposure to sunlight and low humidity lead to dry, tight, red skin.

 Sweating can activate the sebum glands, encouraging them to produce more oil to prevent dehydration. However, too much sweating can wash the oils from your skin, leading to dry skin, which is not an effective barrier.

What to do?

When considering hydration for the skin, you want to consider both water and fat. Another important point is the quality of the food and drink you ingest. If your goal is to build health, you want to use high-quality building blocks.

Hydrate with water and fruits, and avoid dehydrating drinks like coffee and alcohol. While juices and soda are tempting in the summer, they contain sugar and lack the fiber that can slow sugar absorption in the blood. Eating cooling fruits that contain lots of water, like watermelons, peaches, and berries, can help cool and hydrate your cells, including your skin cells.

The type of fats you choose to use in your diet is crucial for the health of your skin cells and all other cells. Seed oils such as sunflower, safflower, and soybean oil are high in omega-6 pro-inflammatory fatty acids. I suggest ditching seed oils altogether and using olive oil, coconut oil, butter, and ghee for cooking and dressing.

 Cold-water, wild-caught medium—and small-size fish like sardines and salmon are good sources of omega-3 anti-inflammatory fatty acids. I suggest eating half a pound of wild-caught salmon every week.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble substance crucial to skin health. It’s naturally present in sebum and is a powerful antioxidant that protects skin cells from oxidative stress-free radicals and UV damage. Vitamin E also supports the skin’s healing processes. Avocados, sunflowers, almonds, beet greens, pumpkins, spinach, and asparagus are foods high in vitamin E.

Protecting your body from sun exposure

If you plan on spending long days outdoors gardening or hiking, protecting your skin from the sun is a good idea.Consider using a wide-brim hat, long-sleeved shirt, light, breathy fabric pants, and sunscreen.

Choosing your sunscreen

When choosing your sunscreen, opt for mineral-based sunscreens. Mineral-based sunscreens contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which physically blocks the sun’s rays from reaching your skin cells. These substances are non-toxic for your body and the environment.

Chemical-based sunscreens are absorbed into the skin cells, where they neutralize UV rays. Chemical-based sunscreens are toxic to the body and might irritate your skin. They are toxic to the environment, too, as they can harm coral reefs and marine life.

Topical sun protection

How you care for your skin in summer is crucial for its well-being.

• Avoid using alcohol-based cleaners and toners, as these will dry out the protective layer of sebum on your skin.
• Make sure that you are using a lotion and not just skin oil. Oil without proper hydration will further dehydrate the skin.

Taking care of your skin during the summer (and year-round) doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does require building a routine and following it consistently.