Sleeping for Beauty

Sleeping for Beauty

Most of us “alternative healthees” accept the importance of healthy diet, exercise and natural skincare as precursors to good health and personal beauty.

For my seasoned clients, holistic skincare also includes rest and relaxation.

On entering the age of wisdom or Vata (spirit), did you expect to be free of the need to look "good"?

Actually taking care of our looks can be beneficial to our overall health.

Personally without the growing signs of aging on my face, I would probably inadvertently overwork my body to poor health. i.e. I am writing this at midnight; fueled by an organic green coffee happily consumed too late in the afternoon.

I follow healthy diet, exercise and grooming regimes but my lifestyle is negatively impacted by my workaholic tendencies. So my understanding of "Face Mapping" from Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine helps me to listen to my dehydration wrinkles, my overly sensitive skin and my puffy eyes, so that I begrudgingly schedule in rest and relaxation.

While my diet and skincare helps me cover up short term abuses – my haggard face screams at me, when I over do it; so my long term health is not irreparably affected.

When my feet are swollen, it’s "just" edema but when my eyes are puffy, I listen and curtail my nights at the computer so that my Kidney energy can regenerate. While I need to address the immediate needs of my eyes' dry delicate skin with a good eye cream;-- only adequate sleep will revive my kidney function and relieve my edema (get rid of my puffy eyes) before it becomes a diagnosable disease.

When I was diagnosed with digestive problems, I merely avoided the foods I was allergic to. I experienced some relief but nothing close to good digestion. But when I learned that the stubborn red, puffy cheeks and adult acne could be caused by a weakened spleen and low kidney energy; I finally found dramatic improvement to my poor digestion and my skin’s appearance.


One more example. I have had dry hands and feet since I was young. It was so unimportant to me that I did not even regularly apply cream to moisten them. But the dry skin on my face finally had me pursuing relief. Again it was my poor tired kidneys. So I finally listened to my dehydrated skin, ---relaxed and rested my mind body spirit more often.

But workaholics and high stressed people can experience poor sleep. And for those of us going through peri-menopause, decreasing Estrogen can intensify poor sleep and dehydrated skin.

So how can we end the cycle and increase our ability to get a good night’s sleep?

Lets start with what we suspect could be affecting our sleep.

If you have a tendency to overdo it with work; your over worked adrenals can disturb a good night’s sleep. The adrenals can also be the problem if you consume too much coffee or white sugar. So using coffee or sugary snacks to force your body to work longer will make your adrenals weaker in the long run.

If you are awakened by being too warm or in a sweat and you are in your forties of fifties; then suspect peri-menopausal symptoms. There are studies that indicate that in many cultures that eat a vegetarian based diet experience fewer or no peri-menopausal symptoms. I found that a vegetarian diet reduced my hot flashes and my resumption of meat comes with corresponding degrees of hot flashes. My TCM advised me that my hot flashes affected my kidney energy, so more incentive to change my diet.

Other problems that could disrupt our sleep are stress related. Chronic dehydrated skin; waking to urinate or waking with a thirst ; --can indicate low kidney function. The kidneys determine the body's hydration levels. Overwork and aging can weaken Kidney function. I recommend getting the help of a naturopathic doctor or TCM to boost Kidney function. But in the mean time make sure you consume enough healthy clean fluids like water fresh juices, soups and herbal teas to keep the kidneys in good working order.

Those of us who abuse our bodies with over work and then in our fatigue give into cravings for refined and fatty foods that challenge our liver can also experience disrupted sleep. Again I recommend getting the help of a naturopathic doctor or TCM to help us detox our livers and other elimination organs. But in the meantime eat a liver friendly diet of low fat and no refined foods.

While you explore how you can improve your sleep, you can give you body some rest and relaxation with exercises like yoga, tai chi and a meditative walk.

So – you see-- “Nothing moisturizes our skin like a great night's sleep”.

Bruising can lead to Better Health

During a training session, a staff member had brought up a client's concern about bruising more than usual.

She wondered if it warranted a visit to her Doctor, Naturopathic Doctor or Traditional Chinese Doctor.

She asked us the question even though we were clearly estheticians and not doctors because of our holistic approach to beauty. Our response while specific to the client can help you understand the inter-connectivity of your body's systems and how your body communicates with you.

Bruising is caused by the damaging of the capillary walls - i.e. impact. The ease or frequency of bruising will give a clue to the condition of the capillary walls. The condition of our capillary walls will affect our blood and lymph circulation which in turn will affect our overall health. Our immunity and vitality are affected by our blood and its circulation. A lymphatic system in good working order ensures we are disease free.

The condition of the blood and lymphatic system also affects the rate we age and is easily seen in the skin. Bruising is a sign of trouble that can be accompanied by any of -- red sensitive skin, acne, dry dehydrated skin; telling us that two of the most important systems of our body is in trouble.

The client was in her 50’s, the Vata time of her life, and was slim with dry skin, a dominant Vita nature. It is currently autumn; which is Vata time of the year. Therefore her capillary walls are probably more easily bruised due to the dominant condition of Vata in her life. Since one of the main characteristics of Vata is dryness, it is safe to guess she is bruising more now due to her age, the season and the inability for her dry skin to protect her capillary walls. Therefore she is bruising due to her blood vessels being more dry and brittle than usual.

It is common to dismiss her concern as part of aging, but it is more helpful to her if she understands that the bruising is occurring because her capillary walls are growing more delicate. And like dry brittle skin, we can slow down the process with a change in our daily habits.

How can she improve the condition of her capillary walls? First she needs to maintain moist skin so it can better protect the blood vessels from external damage from the weather, sun and impact. This is where I repeat myself about the importance of moist skin-- so to prevent me from boring every one – please go to http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-am-too-young-to-be-aging.html to explore ways to keep your skin dewy and moist. Doing this will not only reduce bruising and improve circulation but you will look way more youthful.

A holistic program to maintain better circulation would include regular exercise, healthy diet and daily dosha balancing. You can learn about your doshas at http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/04/ayurvedic-doshas.html and how to balance them at http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/05/enjoying-weather.html

Or get it all in one book “Beauty 2.0” at Pure + simple http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1605&category_id=257&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27#Excerpt

or at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-2-0-Holistic-Natural-Modern/dp/0981262406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258332847&sr=1-1

Now if you are bruising more frequently but you do not believe it is due to weaker capillary walls, then I recommend looking at the changes in your daily activity that causes the frequency and the impact of what is causing the bruises ;)

A bit of Cancer with that younger looking skin?

How much risk are we willing to accept for the pursuit of an misguided perception of or a narrow definition of beauty?

What are you willing to risk to get rid of that annoying wrinkle between your brows?

• Are you willing to inject something called bovine toxin into the coveted area of your third eye to try and get rid of it?
• If the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) warned you that it can cause muscle weakness, blurred vision , droopy eye lids and more, would the short term result be worth the long term risks?

Would you still do it if statistics showed that only about 40% of people who try botox continue to use it? Are you so driven about the short term gain that you would not even care? The low rate of repeat injections is due to first time recipients are not screened properly as botox is successful only in removing the wrinkle caused by repetitive motion or due to negative side effects experienced.

Are you objective when choosing methods to remove that darker spot on your cheek?

• Does the inexpensive route of bleaching creams feel both budget friendly and convenient.
• Did you know that when you choose this method of skin lightening that you have inadvertently chosen to risk getting skin cancer.
• Did you know that the spot only disappears for as long as you continue to use the cream?
• And would you trade hyperpigmentation for hypopigmentation? Vitilago can be triggered by the continual stress of lightening agents on skin cells.
  
  

Many of us are unhappy with the blotchy or wrinkly skin that seems to creep up on us as we age. Hyperpigmentation is caused by chronic skin inflammation caused by sun exposure, irritation and hormonal fluctuations. Due to over sun exposure in our childhood and harsh skin treatments in our teens; some of us are seeing hyperpigmentation as early as in our twenties.

Wrinkled skin comes with the dehydration and poorer circulation of aging. Poor skincare and lifestyle along with careless sun exposure are the main causes. Poor lifestyle choices can be neutralized with nutrition and skincare.

There are many choices to reduce hyperpigmentation and they will also reduce other signs of aging. They range from Intense Pulse Light, Microdermabrasion, Acid Peels to the inexpensive lightening cream. These options offer different degrees of relief from hyperpigmentation depending on the brand of equipment used and the skin characteristics of the client.

The humble lightening moisturizer looks like the one with the least risk, but this is not the case. The most common active ingredient in lightening creams is hydroquinone. The use of hydroquinone is banned or restricted in many countries but allowed in Canada and in the USA. Hydroquinone is the most effect skin lightening agents for non- hormonal hyperpigmentation. But used in effective doses, it has also been known to be a cytotoxic agent that is mutagenic and cancer causing. But the foolishness of its use is more apparent as users risk hypopigmentation (vitilago) and Onchronosis,hyperpigmentation accompanied with skin lesions.

While hydoquinone substitutes like Kojic Acid have not been proven to be health risks, there is controversy. So as the ingredients on the label changes, commonsense still cautions that using anything daily that can change the colour of our skin (by disrupting basic cellular processes like melanin production) will probably not be a good solution longterm.

So better solutions for lightening skin would be skin peeling and light therapy which work more on the physical removal of the guilty mutated skin cell. All methods mentioned will also reduce those wrinkles. Choosing the right method for you requires consideration of your skin-tone and ethnic background.

The most cost effective in the short run is chemical peeling. You can do skin exfoliation daily at home with an alphahydroxy peel (best for light hyperpigmentation). go to http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=552&Itemid=27 to find some excellent natural skin peels like Pure + simple Lactic Acid in a base of kelp. Or visit a professional clinic or spa which can use higher percentages for darker, deeper hyperpigmentation.

For medium skin tones like Asians, the use of microdermabrasion causes less risk increased hyperpigmentation or of possibility hypopigmentation with the added benefit of skin rejuvenation. I recommend sea salt over aluminum crystals as the medium used in your microdermabrasion treatment. It is definitely safe and the sea salt helps skin hydration.

Intense Pulse Light is successful for the darker more stubborn pigmented areas for all skin tones and you get wrinkle removal as a side benefit. I discovered that there is a noticeable difference in safety, number of treatments and in the final results with the different brands of machines when we did our research to purchase our Intense Pulse Light Machines.

I prefer preventative measures which include using sun screens and non -irritating skincare so anti-aging the smart way starts in our younger years.

Be wise about sun exposure by balancing the benefits of vitamin D with the risk of skin aging and skin cancer. The magic formula is dependent on skin tone. Light skin tones need more Vitamin D and are more quickly damaged by sun exposure. Taking Vitamin D as a supplement is also recommended for everyone in Canada to ensure healthy bones and skin. See http://our-metamorphosis.blogspot.com/2009/07/anti-aging-stage-3-4-sagging-skin.html for more info on vitamin D for skin anti-aging.

So when looking to improve your appearance understand the emotional element before you do your research. No amount of make over will replace real self esteem. And if our self confidence relies too much on our appearance, we may make irrational and risky decisions that have long term impact on our future well-being.