Spring clean: How to support skin health in Spring time

You know that one friend who suddenly gets red blotches on their skin or look like they’re blushing even when there’s no embarrassing situation? Well, that’s me. And these flare-ups tend to show up more around this time of year. Why is that?

There is a lot of focus on skincare during the Winter months, but Spring time brings us a unique set of challenges. This is a huge time of adjustment and the key to maintaining healthy skin is found in adapting with the seasonal changes.

At this junction, we experience frequent shifts in humidity. We can go from days with low humidity and have our face blown off with the remnants of Winter wind which dries out the skin or find ourselves starting to sweat a little as the humidity rises. This latter environment is the perfect breeding ground for conditions such as acne or fungal infections.

Spring time also brings an increase in airborne allergens, particles, and pollutants (including all those cleaning products we use around the home) that can irritate the skin. If you're prone to Spring time allergies, you may notice an increase in redness, rashes, itchiness or hives around this time of year.

And then there is the temperature change. As the weather warms up, we might notice our skin becomes more sensitive, easily breaks out or becomes oily and congested. This is because sebum production goes up in hot weather (1, 2). On its own, sebum is not a problem because it has antibacterial and antifungal functions (3, 4). But, when it combines with dead skin cells and dirt particles, it can clog the pores, leading to congestion and acne.

So, what’s the strategy?

From an Ayurvedic perspective, we are transitioning from the cold stagnation of Kapha season into the warmer, more fluid, Pitta season. We are basically thawing out. As this Kapha energy defrosts and melts, we feel its effects, particularly if we've had a Winter with rich foods and drinks. These can accumulate without causing much disturbance in the cold Winter months because we need these denser quality meals. But as we journey into Spring, the heaviness of these foods as well as the lethargy of Winter, can make things feel sluggish and this includes our drainage pathways (think liver, lungs and bowel movements) which then impacts our breathing (rise in respiratory allergies), digestive health and skin.

What can we do to manage this? Ayurveda recommends including bitter leafy green vegetables in our diet as this supports liver function and this is echoed by modern research too (5, 6, 7). When the liver is working well, it is able to detoxify correctly, metabolise excess hormones, and break down excess histamine which is a common culprit of hypersensitivity reactions (8). We can also support the liver at this time by reducing the amount of heavy foods we eat as well as foods that are known to increase histamine (tomatoes, cured, fermented or smoked foods).

Ayurvedic texts also tell us that now is the time to break a sweat as this process generates heat and movement, both important for detoxification. Take part in more dynamic exercises or sun salutations in yoga to break up any stagnation. Another way to create heat, is to take advantage of the longer days in Spring time and seek sunshine. In Ayurveda, movement and sunshine are understood to be Langhana therapies. This translates to therapies that are lightening or reducing for the body rather than building. For the skin, light therapy has been used for centuries worldwide to treat numerous skin conditions. As a general rule, it is better to avoid the piercing midday sun and spend time in the gentler early morning rays and sunset.

And now that things are warming up, we can start to move to lighter meals rather than dense, heavy foods. Choose seasonal vegetables and clarifying soups with spices to support digestion. As a bonus, specific spices like turmeric are known to inhibit histamine release (9).

According to Ayurveda this movement and lighter diet positively impacts our mind too (nutritional psychiatry) enhancing our energy levels and enthusiasm. Spring is viewed as the natural new year, a time for making plans and renewal, rather than January when we are still in the depths of darkness and hibernation. To enjoy the season to its fullest, we need to flow with its changes and these Ayurvedic tools are easy to put into action but can make a huge difference to our skin and our overall health.

References:

1. Kim et al. (2019) Influence of exposure to summer environments on skin properties. Journal of European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology, 33(11)

2. Youn et al. (2005) Regional and seasonal variations in facial sebum secretions: a proposal for the definition of combination skin type. Skin Research & Technology, 11(3)

3. Csosz et al (2015) Highly abundant defense proteins in human proteins as revealed by targeted proteomics and label free quantification mass spectrometry. Journal of European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology, 29(10)

4. Schittek et al. (2001) Dermcidin: A novel human antibiotic peptide secreted by sweat glands. Nature Immunology, 2

5. Johnson et al. (2013) Diets containing traditional and novel green leafy vegetables improve liver fatty acid profiles of spontaneously hypertensive rates. Lipids in Health & Disease, 12

6. Li et al. (2021) Does a high intake of green leafy vegetables protect from NAFLD> Evidence from a large populaiton study. Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Disease, 31(6)

7. Linqiang et al. (2020) Indole alleviates diet-induced hepatic steatosis and inflammation in a manner involving myeloid cell 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphotase 3. Hepatology, 72(4)

8. Fernandez-Reina et al. (2018) What we know and what we need to know about aromatic and cationic biogenic amines in the gastrointestinal tract. Foods, 7(9)

9. Haftcheshmeh et al. (2022) Therapeutic potency of curcumin for allergic diseases: A focus on immunomodulatory actions. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 154