Review of my first week is interesting because I am now in holidays in USA (I am living in Europe). So it wasn’t that easy to be mindful of all that what Michael suggests.
To drink at least 7 glasses of water a day was easy for me because I am used to it to drink a lot of water every day. Normally I eat one apple a day, during this week it was also only one apple a day. Vegetables high in vitamin A and cruciferous vegetables I ate, but not 2 servings a day. Fish I ate three times this week. To reduce the vegetable oil is a little bit difficult for me because for salad every day I take a normal dressing which includes vegetable oil. I am not sure if olive oil is also vegetable oil? Nuts I never eat because I am allergic to it, chocolate I never eat. Cereal bars I did not eat this week.
The result of this week for me was no change in my skin condition. I feel if I am for a longer time in air condition (airplane, hotels. etc.) my Skin is getting worse. Also the weather changes, for example hot and sunny and you are sweating makes it worse.
Interesting comment about airplanes. I always have flare-ups after flights–in fact, my first real SD onset occurred after long transcontinental flights. I’ve always wondered if it’s a combination of stress possibly related to pressure changes, and dehydration…?
The point regarding the effect of air travel stood out to me as well.
Have noticed this effect myself as well. Haven’t really thought much of it and mainly attributed it to the air quality on planes.
Decided to investigate this topic further and found some relevant information. Here’s a quick summary of what I managed to find:
Relative humidity of the aircraft cabin drops below 10% (similar to relative humidity values found in desserts) within 2 hours after take-off and stays at these levels for the remainder of the flight [pubby id="22092950"]:
Stratum corneum (top lay of the skin) dehydration can be caused by extremely dry environment conditions and can lead to skin tightness, itchiness and compromised barrier function [pubby id="12406336,12013198"]
At the end of long flights (8-12 hours), skin capacitance (a measure of skin hydration) was shown to have decreased by an average of 25-26% and approach values seen in individuals affected by atopic dermatitis [pubby id="22092950,10233220"]
Interestingly, stress has a similar impact on skin barrier function and the skin at the nose creases (nasolabial folds) appears to be most susceptible [pubby id=“11176661”].