Illness has a bigger impact on our body than we expect and act on. A lot of things happen when we are ill and our body has to work harder to fight that illness. Luckily the science of medicine is advanced and we can support our body in multiple ways. Here I'll discuss a few ways to support.
1. Hydration
The most obvious situation when hydration is important is when you throw up or have diarrhea. Whether you got the flu or have a more serious condition and you sleep a lot during the day, people tend to drink less than normally. While, especially when you're ill, you need to stay hydrated. And yes, it's really annoying that you have to go to the bathroom every ten minutes. Especially when your bed is cozy and warm and you're trying to sleep. But it's worth it as it supports your body and you don't want to have a dehydrated skin. Your skin shows when you're dehydrated and it feels dry and uncomfortable. Even for me with an oily skin, hydration is super important. Another way to hydrate is to hydrate topically. Put on a mask, use a serum or a cream. Do this only moderately and with care. I tend to commit fully to this kind of ideas, resulting in an over hydrated, extremely shiny, makeup swimming all over my face result.
2. Food
There's a lot going on in your body so your body needs support. You'll probably feel less energetic as energy is needed to fight hard. So extra calories are needed, but healthy calories. When we are ill we tend to eat comfort food. Nothing feels better when you're in bed watching Netflix and eating chocolate-chip cookies. Or grab some snacks for lunch instead of going to the grocery store to buy some fruits and veggies. Busted.. I'm guilty! I don't have to tell you that especially when you're ill fruits and veggies are extra important to make you feel better. Looking at my skin I can always tell whether I'm ill (... and that I've been eating junk food). It shows immediately. Vitamins and antioxidants help me to restore my skins health and increase the cell turnover to get rid of the blemishes. Also regulating your fiber intake is really important. A lot of medication impacts your gut, so with regulating your fiber intake you can regulate your bowel movement. Oral medication can affect your stomach, so different type of food (depending on the medication) can soothe your stomach. Feeling ill is bad enough without having the side effects of medication.
3. AM and PM ritual
When you feel very ill, skincare and self nourishment is not on top of your mind. So you get sloppy, for a good reason. Still it's very important to always do the basics. If you don't want to do the whole makeup removal routine in the PM, just don't put on makeup for being in and around the house (aka your bed). You still need to clean your skin to get rid of daily environmental aggressors, but if you cleanse with a micellar water it's just one step instead of multiple, as micellar water being a versatile product. Another step is to put on some hydration. It's the least you can do.
And last but not least, brush your teeth at least once a day. And may be you are now like, bleghh once a day, that's gross. I hope so! Your normal mouth care routine is better of course. But if you're seriously ill then at least brushing your teeth once thoroughly is better than not at all. Another tip that helps for a lot of people when they're nauseated in the morning: brush your teeth after breakfast instead of before. Food intake can ease the nausea.
4. Getting rid of intruders
When your body isn’t a 100% healthy it wants to get rid of intruders. One if the ways to do that is through the skin. With proper skincare you can support your skin against blemishes and inflammations. For example; When I have sinusitis it will immediately show on my cheeks. My skin is working extra hard to get rid of impurities through my pores resulting in black heads. So the skin needs extra attention to clear out the pores en to increase cell turnover. I tackle this by using a mild physical scrub, glycolic cleanser, kaolin clay mask and antioxidants. A physical scrub is normally may be not your go to product, at least it isn't mine, but it helps me to get smooth cheeks and get rid of dead skin. I only use this once a week, otherwise it's too aggressive for my skin. A glycolic cleanser I use twice a week, whereof once right after the scrub. I put it on damp skin and leave it on while washing my hear and shaving. The steam of the shower helps to be effective but not too intense. On other days I use a kaolin clay mask for 20 minutes which leaves my skin feeling remarkably softer. Antioxidant serum I use almost every day depending on how my skin feels, to reduce inflammation and support the skin to repair itself.
To read more tips and articles where we deep dive into this, stay tuned!
This is all from personal experiences, and won't guarantee that this is the best option for you. Every person is different and react different to influences, products and treatments.
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