In the moment when your heart is racing and your blood is pumping, sweating feels so good. But for our guest Briann Hogan, the heavy sweating at hot yoga started to leave its mark on her skin.
You know what, Like, as much as I wanted my skin to look good, I was getting so much out of my practice that it was more about let me try to find a solution so I can keep doing yoga. Wasn't really like, let me find a solution so I look good. Even though that was part of it, I'm not going to deny that, but it was also because I don't want to give up something that's making me feel good.
Exercise is such an important part of our lives, whether it's a homeworkout, trips to the gym, or team sports in a rec league. We have to get our body moving to feel good. But the flip side are the hardships our physical triumphs can put on our skin. Hi guys, and welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I'm Nicole Berry and this is Skin Querries, a show all about our
skin and its health as we grow in age. Our skin is really a record of a life well lived because there isn't one body part that I could think of that reflects our well being as clearly as our skin. So let's go on this journey together to really understand what's going on with our skin. Let's unravel the mysteries happening inside and out. Today we're talking about sweat and skin.
I love to sweat.
I've said this before on the show, but I would choose being hot over cold any day. I have a vigorous sauna practice, and I also love a great workout, so when I put the two together, I'm in heabit. That's why I've been doing hot yoga for over two decades now. For anyone who hasn't tried it, hot yoga is incredible because it combines yoga, which is great for relaxing my mind my body. It's a great physical stretch
and really good physical activity. While combining it with a heated room which vacillates between ninety eight and one hundred degrees. It's steamy and sweaty and I love it. But on the flip side, because there can always be some flip side, is that there is a lot of sweat. We know that sweat is a natural condition. It's necessary for cooling down.
It is really good for us, but it could lead to things like intense odors and possibly flare ups to a number of skin conditions such as plaquoriasis and acne, to name a couple. So this got me curious how good is sweating for us really? To get started, we went out to get a sense of how you get your heart pumping and your thoughts on skin and sweat.
If I'm not playing sports regularly, then I'll like go to the gym regularly.
I'll try to walk.
When I can, but like you have to just like always like be cleaning yourself after you like work out because of sweat and like things like that, and also rubbing with like a sports bra or like the athletic material. It can be harsh into your skin.
I think my skin, uh look much healthier when I am consistent doing exercise. I think I noticed some changes in the state of my skin. Not too drastic, but you know, just a little bit more GLOWI maybe.
Yeah, We'll go to the gym like three four times a week, usually in cardio between. If you don't shower after or I find that a breakout, I just get oily and I just feel gross. I've always kind of struggled with acne and then skin problems anyway, So I found that when I was going to the gym more often, I would just have to shower more often.
I've been on a bit of a skin journey myself, so I think being able to get a good sweat and really sort of helps, I don't know, unclog some pores and just refresh my face at least.
It's so interesting to hear how some might think of sweating as simply the end result of exercise, something to be washed away and to be done with, but for others like me, it's also associated with adding a glow, being refreshing to our skin, and actually healing. I think it's because as much as we know exercise is so good for us, it can actually be hard on our skin. Gym equipment can give us calluses, swimming and chlorinated pools can dry out our skin and hair, and outdoor activity
can bring into play sunburns and bug bites. We have to take in the good with the bad, but we also can learn to do everything possible to mitigate skin.
Issues while breaking a sweat.
So today I'm going to talk to two experts about why we sweat how it affects us and how to maximize its extraordinary abilities. But first, let's talk to Briann Hogan about her journey. She is a writer, an author, and a podcast host. Brian knows what it's like to have skin issues get in the way of physical activity that she really needed.
I was in my mid thirties and I was moving to the middle of nowhere with my parents because I was just in a rut. I had been stuck, just not really feeling that good about myself.
Up until that point in her life, Briann had worked hard to establish herself. She had been living in New York City building a career. She had just published a book. But as many of us can relate, Briann hit a point where she just lost momentum. She needed a fresh start, even if it meant moving back to the country with her parents. With nowhere to go and little to do, she joined the local yoga studio.
I just needed to just do something and have some sort of a routine.
So I started to go basically like five days a week.
I just threw myself into it and there were like hour long sessions. I like exercise, but I also am very spiritual. So I like the blend of both the physicality of yoga as well as the devotion that yoga has in terms of spirituality. And so I find that when I've been in times where I've needed both, where I think I need to release something physically, but I also want to get in touch with myself internally, yoga has been the.
Thing for me.
And I like to push myself an exercise, so I don't like traditional, slow moving yoga. So if I'm going to do yoga, I was like, I'm going to go hot all the way. I'm going to like really just push myself to the brink. And also there's something about sweating that I think purges out everything, like emotionally and maybe even physically as well.
And it was working at first. It was great.
I mean I had to adjust to the heat and everything, but I actually adjusted pretty well, like my body overall, and I was like really happy about that, and I was loving the yoga, loving just having a place to go to. And then within I think a couple of I think within a month or so, I noticed that my skin wasn't as clear as it used to be.
Rand started to break out and it kept getting worse.
So I started to notice the pimples starting to come around my jaw line, my cheeks, and my forehead and my temples, and I never really had pimples like that before. My parents even said something to me, which I thought was a little bit rude, but I thought, I guess that means there's something really different with my face, and so I was really self conscious about that. I also started to notice pimples around my chest and like across my back, so it was all like all over my body.
I was self conscious about it.
And so I was getting new makeup for myself, which I never really wore foundation or concealer a ton before.
So now that was another thing where I was like, oh, I'm going.
To get like acting prone makeup to cover up my pimples and not only just for my face but from my body. But it looks, you know, it's there, Like you know, I'm not fooling anyone. It's like, you're like, there's pimples there, but I'm just trying to convince myself that they're not there, but they're there. And yeah, it didn't make me feel attractive, and I definitely was self
conscious about my skin. I never really had major major skin problems as a teenager, and I exercised before, so I was like, I don't know, my skin is breaking out the way that it was breaking out, And.
I was like, is it my diet?
Is it? I don't know, Am I not cleaning my soul properly? Like I was like, I don't know, like what's going on with my skin.
Anytime I've had a breakout, my first thought is yes, I hope it goes away. But at the same time, I think my lifestyle, my diet, just like Briann, but none of those typical methods were working. In this case. Briann was doing yoga to keep busy, but she also needed it. It was making her feel better in her body and her mind.
I just remember being super frustrated with my skin in the beginning, like I really was like I really did not like what was happening to my body, and I didn't want to give up the yoga because I think at one point my mom even suggested that she's like just not doing yoga, and I was like, I don't know if that's like the solution here, because I like yoga and no, I don't like pimples on my face. Or on my body. But I also don't want to give up something that I'm finding a lot of relief in.
It's helping my body, it's helping my mind, it's helping my spirit. So I did my own little wellness journey in terms of trying to heal it. You know, I got like tea tree oil, and I made sure that I was always cleaning myself after yoga, you know, washing my face after leaving the yoga class to go back home. But I made sure that every time I finished yoga, I would go to the change room and completely wash my face, like do the whole thing. Like it wasn't
even just like a little wipe of a towel. It was like I'm fully.
Cleansing my face with all the stuff.
Like if I knew I had to go somewhere after yoga, I would just take a shower at the gym and make sure that I was immediately changing out of my clothes, like right away, not having my clothes set on my body for too long, and making sure that I was cleaning.
The sweat because that was what it was.
So once I discovered that that was the connection, because it was starting to heal, and I wasn't breaking out as much. Like as soon as I was cleaning more and cleaning my skin, I was like, oh okay, like this is the answer to it.
It was the sweat all along. Briann was able to get her skin back on track by being extra vigilant. She made sure to keep her workout clothes fresh, she showered immediately after sweating, and she kept her yoga mat clean. I know that since I'm working out and sweating almost daily, I have to also be very vigilant about cleaning my workout clothes. In fact, it goes as far that I have to replace my workout clothes every few months since
I'm sweating in them so much. So brian cleaning her workout clothes really resonates, But sometimes it's not as simple as keeping our skin and clothing clean. Sweat is a hugely important function for our body, but it can also be so hard on our skin. Let's hear from the experts on how to care for it while staying active. Coming up after the break, welcome back to skin quarries.
So earlier we heard from Brianne. She wanted a fresh start and turned to hot yoga to help her mind and body, but her breakouts were holding her back, and it was the same sweat that was making her feel so good that was causing the problem. Even though it's incredibly common, acne can affect our confidence. It's often thought of as a teenage problem, and largely it is, but according to Yale Medicine, adult acne is one of the most common reasons women between the ages of twenty and
forty visit a dermatology clinic. We don't necessarily age out, So let's start with the basics. Doctor Thivi Marathapu, a board certified dermatologist, is here to cover what is sweat exactly.
So in our skin we have oil glands which produced the oil that keep pausekin moist, and if you go acne and things like that, you might produce a bit too much. And then on top of that you have sweat glands. And the purpose of sweat is excretion, but to keep us cool. Primarily, it's really temperature regulation. So we do eliminate substances in our body through our sweat. It's not the biggest way that we eliminate thing that
is normally through pea. That's going to be the biggest way that we get rid of stuff, but a little bit does come out through our sweat and it contains salts, so it can help to regulate the salts in the blood as well. Sweat can be smelly at times, as we all know, that's why we know wear deodorant, but that's because certain areas the body harbor more bacteria and
that's what changes the odor. But if you clear out those bacteria, you know, you can use certain washes like a benzyl peroxide for example, an acne wash that can reduce the smell and an odor that comes with sweat. Really, the main function is bodied temperature control, which is one of the major functions of the skin. So keeping your skin at the right temperature is done either through sweat
or the amount of blood flowed to the skin. And you'll know that because if you're hot, you might go red and that's because your body is pushing more blood into the skin so that you lose heat through the surface of the skin. So really it's mainly temperature regulation. But people do love to love a good sweat, don't and they feel really clean after a good work out. Good sweat you feel great afterwards, So I think there's
more to it than just temperature regulation. I think it's also a little bit of that excretion is really helpful.
I totally agree there is so much more to a good workout than just the physical aspect. Doctor Thivy will be coming back again in a later episode, but it's so interesting. One of our skin's major functions is cooling the body. The way it works is our sweat glands that doctor Thivy mentioned are activated by our body's heat. Once that happens, the glands bring water and salt to
the surface as sweat, which then evaporates and cools us down. Today, we are so lucky to have another expert Triple Board certified dermatologist, doctor Mamina Terragano, to tell us all about it.
All those practices, whether it's like using a saana yoga and specifically like hot yoga, like these things are really boosting your circulation. Right, yes, sweating with the heat, but that circulation, the heat going to your skin, you're bringing more nutrients essentially to your skin. When people have good, robust, healthy circulation, that's going to help their skin in general. So that is what I think is playing a big role with your glow.
Now that I have such a vigorous sweat regimen. My skin I've noticed is more glowy and has more vibrancy to it. So it makes sense that there's science behind it. But how is it that sweat is also hard on our skin?
Yeah, sweat can definitely aggravate certain inflammatory conditions. Sweat I've seen, in some cases exacerbate psoriasis. Sweat can also exacerbate things
in the acne family, whether it's regular acne or filiculitis. Okay, filiculitis can look a lot like acne, but the difference between acne and filiculitis is that filiculitis is from pathogenic bacteria, like bacteria that doesn't usually belong on the skin, or it's living in higher populations like staph oureus bacteria, whereas the acne bacteria bacteria that's supposed to be there, it's like natural bacteria that's just getting aggravated, maybe by sweat,
maybe by excess oil or excess skin. But sweat can certainly aggravate the hair follicles, which can then bring more inflammation and maybe activate some of the bad bacteria. For an ezema patient whose skin gets aggravated by sweat, there are a couple things that I counsel patient's on one.
You know, really with anyone with ezma, you want to make sure that the skin barrier is healthy, that it's intact, that it's repaired, because an impaired skin barrier is what's going to be more easily aggravated by sweat, So making sure that they're using the right emollients, moisturizers, skin barrier creams to nourish and protect and build that skin barrier. And the other is doing what you can to keep
your skin dry. So, like I know it's sometimes impossible if you're like playing the sport outside and right like you're in the middle of like a soccer game, you can't like go and dry off as easily, but keep doing what you can. And sometimes there's like certain powders that you can use that can help a little bit. But I think the biggest thing is like using creams that just protect that skin barrier.
As doctor Mamina says, there are ways to mitigate issues you're having with the activities that bring you joy. The best way to figure out what they are is first talk to your dermatologist. And coming back to Brian, she obviously didn't love breaking out as an adult, but it was the enjoyment of the activity that fueled her desire to solve the problem more so than just clearing up her skin.
What that experience taught me is that actually, I don't know, maybe it was a yoga but I was like, you know what, as much as I wanted my skin to look good, I was getting so much out of my practice that it was more about let me try to find a.
Solution so I can keep doing yoga.
Wasn't really like, let me find a solution so I look good, even though that was part of it, I'm not going to deny that, but it was also because I don't want to give up something that's making me feel good, not necessarily like what's making me look good.
Because Brianne was willing to be her own advocate, she worked out what the problem was and how to fix it. Briann is a writer, and like many of us, she incorporated her life into her work.
So I thought, you know, I think people do to yoga and they break out, and I was like, I want to write about it because I think I can't be the only one who goes to hot yoga and suffers like this. So I was like, I'm going to write about it because I'm sure other people are in my shoes and being like, what the hell, like, what's going on with my skin?
As a hot yogi veteran, we know there are certain principles they recommend, such as try not to wipe away your sweat since it acts as your natural cooling system, and hydrate as much as possible before and after your class. But if you are dealing with specific skin conditions, you can follow doctor Thivi and doctor Momina's recommendations. Rinse off that sweat as soon as you can, try to wear less tight fitting workout clothes that don't rub against your skin,
Towel off, and try your best to stay dry. If you're having issues or flare ups, see your dermatologist. There's no need to suffer silently or even worse, stop doing what you love.
I was super happy that I could still do yoga and be happy with my skin, So, I mean, I really loved yoga.
It was really great for me at that time.
And once I figured out what I needed to do in order to keep doing it like then, it was great.
I was like normal.
I was like, oh, this is how it should have been all along. But I mean, maybe that was my test. Like I feel, sometimes we have to do things in life for a test, and yoga is supposed to be this method of testing you and testing your mind and your strength, and maybe that was my test of like my skin. I have no idea, but I was glad that I was able to continue my practice without my skin having to suffer from it.
I find that so inspiring brand because you're really seeking out solutions while continuing to.
Do what you love.
Skin Graze is hosted by myself Nicole Berry, an executive produced by Yvonne Sheehand. Our senior producer is Tory Weldon. Our junior producer is reem Al mcgraby, with help from Austin Johnson. The show is mixed and features original music by Sam Sagan. If you enjoy the show, share it with your friends. You can also listen and follow on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And we'd love to know what you think, so make sure to leave a review. Until next time