Five lifestyle changes I've done to help manage my hormonal acne
Fighting acne is no walk in the park. It takes a lot of time, effort, and frustration especially when you’re dealing with the hormonal kind. I never had to deal with acne growing up. But I developed hormonal imbalance as an adult and this manifested itself on my skin.
I’ve tried every wonder ingredient out there for skincare products and while they did help, they were not addressing the problem at its root cause. I don’t want to keep treating acne, I want to stop it from even forming. What really helped me was a visit to my gynecologist while we were living in Berlin to see whether my problem was truly internal. Spoiler alert: It was. He did tests on my hormone levels and told me to work on balancing them out. It’s a lot of work and one of the main things my doctor constantly advised me on was to fight inflammation within my body to help bring balance to it. This is done by making some lifestyle changes.
Since I started becoming more mindful with bringing inflammation down, I’ve seen major improvements in my skin - from its texture to hormonal breakouts actually slowing down. So if you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing seems to be working out for you, then you might give these tups a chance!
Less coffee, more water
While coffee is known to be anti-inflammatory, a recent study from Stanford University showed that it can also trigger the increase of catecholamines — especially with people who suffer from anxiety. Catecholamines are neurotransmitters involved in stress response and a prolonged increase can lead to inflammation.
As someone with anxiety, I was asked to slow down on the coffee and drink more water instead. It also keeps my skin hydrated from the inside. I love caffeine but I now just keep it to one cup a day.
Go for turmeric tea
It takes a bit of getting used to when it comes to taste but turmeric is definitely something that you should be incorporating in your diet. My favorite way of doing so is having curry and having it for tea.
Curcumin, the main active ingredient in turmeric has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidants. Supplements made from curcumin are gaining such popularity because of how it can be as powerful as a lot of anti-inflammatory drugs without the side effects. So I take my turmeric tea as I wind down during evenings.
Add tomatoes and fatty fish to your diet
I love to eat, try out new flavors, and I’m not strict when it comes to diets. Since I also write and create content about food, I can’t just eliminate food groups that easily. So what I do is I try to add more anti-inflammatory types of food in my diet and choose dishes in restaurants that have them as ingredients. My favorites are tomatoes and fatty fish like salmon – especially when they come together in one plate.
Lycopene in tomatoes is known for its good anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also a carotenoid which means it’s better absorbed by your body when you eat it with a source of fat like fatty fish or olive oil. I used to leave tomatoes on my plate but I trained myself to like the taste and I now drink tomato juice as well. Since then, I noticed that when I break out, my hormonal acne is a lot less red and painful.
Salmon is rich in Omega-3 that brings down inflammation. Other types of food to consider incorporating in your diet are berries, broccoli, ginger, and dark chocolate.
Try to avoid stress
Definitely easier said than done but I do try. I was told that prolonged elevated stress levels lead to inflammation and that messes up your hormones. As we all know by now, these internal battles that your body is having will eventually manifest on your skin – from acne to premature signs of aging. So take that self-care break. Carve out time for yourself and do something that will relax you.
One thing that I started incorporating into my day that has significantly added to my relaxation time is doing face massages morning and night. It de-puffs the face in the mornings and helps me wind down during evenings. It’s those few minutes in my day as I apply my skincare where I just let my mind go completely blank, just focusing on how I’m draining my lymph nodes and keeping wrinkles at bay.
Get more done during the day
My doctor couldn’t stress enough the importance of having enough sleep as we need this time to help the body heal and repair itself. Insomnia is not your friend when you’re trying to lessen inflammation so he advised me to start doing my most strenuous tasks during the day time.
This way, you are signaling your body that evenings are for relaxation and whatever inflammation occurred during the day, your body can now take the time to repair it. Physically and mentally demanding activities done at night will significantly decrease your chances of having a good night’s sleep.
Take note that all these switches take time to show their effects and consistency is key. Should you wish to see quicker results, you can always ask your doctor about hormone therapy.
