It seems wise to prepare for the season ahead. That may mean financially preparing for your high schooler’s potential college time, gradually cleaning up your office for your approaching retirement, stacking your wood, and making other preparations for the Winter season in a few months. We can do the same for our skin.
Though it’s the height of summer, I think this way as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine. On this note, have you noticed that your eczema or other skin disorders worsen in the Fall? You may understand this as related to the changing season, particularly the air becoming more dry or the reduction of sun exposure. Our bodies are different, but I’ve noticed this general trend with skin conditions and am preparing my patients to minimize such symptoms as best I can.
The Skin, the Lung, and Chinese Medicine
In Chinese Medicine, it’s been observed for thousands of years that certain organ systems in the body are more vulnerable during certain times of year. Historically, the average one of us was much more influenced by the surrounding natural world and affected by seasonal changes. Nowadays, we’ve been able to control our living environments with manufactured building materials, temperature regulation, plumbing, refrigeration, etc. Many of us work all day indoors, move shortly through the outside to our cars, and then drive to our homes to spend the evening. We may be cooling our homes, offices, and cars at the moment. Some of us spend most of the day amongst the elements, more exposed to the conditions of nature. Whether you work indoors or outdoors, or you garden during the summer months or not, the changing seasonal air we breathe and feel on our skin will influence our bodies.
The Lung system for the ancient Chinese was known to be vulnerable in the Fall time. It still is; we haven’t changed that much. Many of us get common colds in the transition from summer to fall, which may affect the respiratory system to varying degrees. To avoid this, it’s a good time to keep warm and to be extra careful not to overextend yourself, keeping your immune system strong. The Lung system includes, not just the physical lungs, but another part of us involved with eliminating waste products, the skin. Because they are physically different structures, we don’t necessarily think of the lungs and the skin as related in Western Medicine. However, from the Chinese medical perspective, they are part of the same system. And excessive dryness is a particular element that can be hard on the Lung. Not only may your asthma be more noticeable in the Fall, but if you have a pre-existing skin condition, the beginning of fall time may be an aggravating time for you. Addressing it toward the end of the Summer is ideal. This would mean using acupuncture, taking certain herbs, and eating certain foods during this time of year.
Certain Foods May Help Skin Disorders
The above description relating the skin within the Lung system is a bit simplified, generalized, and may be a little confusing. Seeking more individual guidance from an acupuncturist may be preferred, but for some general, at-home advice, here are a few nutrition thoughts. Eating hot foods can produce more heat and dryness in the body, which could aggravate skin conditions. Hot foods are considered spicy or deep-fried, as well as alcohol, onions, ginger, garlic, chives, shellfish, and lamb. Eat more cooling foods, like celery, cucumber, spinach, carrots, green tea, peppermint tea, eggplant, lemon, and pear. It’s not necessarily the temperature of the food that affects whether it has a warming or cooling nature, so these cooling foods can be made into soup or stew.
Integrative Treatment
I don’t mean to discount seeking care from your dermatologist because I’ve seen that the combination of therapies can sometimes be even more effective than the individual care provided. I personally have clinically found that skin disorders can be stubborn. These nutritional suggestions will be helpful for people who generally have dry skin, though I will commonly prescribe an herbal formula for several months for more chronic or severe conditions. Again, addressing this during the Summer or at the end of summer is ideal. By considering such foods and taking it easy during the transition of season, you may find some noticeable changes in the health of your skin.