Dr Eva Melegh is sharing simple Christmas stress skincare tips to keep you feeling comfortable and confident all festive season

Christmas is a time for rejoicing and spending time with family and friends, but it can also bring a lot of stress due to house guests, large family gatherings, large meal preparation, last-minute Christmas shopping and travel plans.

One of the first places where stress is likely to appear is on your skin and having irritating or uncomfortable skin issues over the festive season is a sure way to make an already potentially stressful time much worse.

“Skin typically suffers at Christmas for anyone with problem skin conditions due to increased levels of stress, temperamental weather, stuffy indoor environments and increased alcohol and fairly extreme changes in diet,” says dermatologist Dr Eva Melegh.

“Atopic skin conditions, red and sensitive skin, acne prone skin, scaly skin and cold sores are all recurrent and chronic skin conditions that can flare up during the festive season, adding to heightened Christmas stress.”

Dermatologist Dr Melegh offers five ways to combat Christmas stress via your skincare.

Boost good skin bacteria for better mental health

A new study has discovered a direct link between improved skin quality and better mental wellbeing, measured via levels of good skin bacteria.

The new study examined skin from the face, scalp, underarm and forearm of over 50 participants. The study found that higher levels of a beneficial strain of the skin bacteria Cutibacterium, which is important for building and maintaining skin barrier function, was directly linked to improved mental health lowered stress and better sleep. Cutibacterium bacteria showed consistent associations with psychological wellbeing across multiple body locations but its presence in higher levels on the face was the area most effectively linked to reduced stress.

Skincare products that contain prebiotics feed good skin bacteria. This is one of the most effective ways to increase levels of good bacteria on the skin.

Increased good skin bacteria also helps prevent inflammation and infection from acne lesions.

Clarol Silver Serum, which contains a silver ingredient that feeds good skin bacteria while being repellent to bad skin bacteria, including acne bacteria. Used daily it can quickly alter the bacterial balance of the skin towards an abundance of good skin bacteria.

Reduce inflammation for less redness and itching

Reducing inflammation in the body can significantly help reduce inflammatory skin reactions like rosacea flares as well as atopic itchy skin flares and psoriasis flares.
Taking a super antioxidant in the run up to Christmas can significantly help calm down inflammatory skin responses.

Reservatrol is one of the strongest antioxidants available and is a natural compound found in plants like red grapes, peanuts, and berries. It’s known for its anti-inflammatory properties and can be taken as a daily supplement.

Experts also suggests that anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and cumin can also help reduce inflammation.

Taking a probiotic or eating probiotics foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh and kombucha, can also significantly help to reduce inflammation.

Calm down skin sensitivity

Studies confirm that people with sensitive skin suffer higher levels of disrupted sleep and chronic emotional stress.

To calm down skin sensitivity in the run up to Christmas, avoid skincare products, scents or aftershaves that are highly perfumed. Perfumed products are a leading cause of skin reactions and irritation. The stronger the scent of the product the more likely it is to cause skin sensitivity when used regularly on skin.

Avoid washing your face regularly with water when you cleanse or clean your skin. Water is a caustic substance that can be quite harsh on skin. It also contains chlorine which can increase the risk of the skin becoming intolerant to the chlorine content of water if it’s exposed to tap water several times a day. Instead use a cleansing oil or water-free cream cleanser to clean your skin of cosmetics and dirt.

After shaving, the skin is particularly vulnerable to sensitivity. If the skin becomes inflamed after shaving due to skin reactions to products, then this leads to skin barrier function damage and eventually dryness and flaking skin, which in turn increases the sensitivity of the skin.Wearing a barrier de-sensitising base cream without any chemicals or perfumes in it can significantly reduce the skin’s reactionary response.

Kalme Undercoat, is a light base cream that contains a specific de-sensitising ingredient that can help reduce skin sensitivity by up to 70% and should be worn under all cosmetics as well as used after shaving.

Dampen Itching

Itchy skin can be hugely disruptive to sleep, which can then trigger a whole cascade of symptoms from a lowered immune system to depression and emotional stress.
The reason why vulnerable or affected skin becomes itchier at night is that the body releases more heat at night and blood flow to the skin increases.

Naturally occurring corticosteroid hormones which dampen down inflammation and itching are also in lower production at night. At the same time there’s increased activity of cytokine at night, which are molecules that coordinate cells communication during immune responses, which can increase skin itching.

Avoid any clothing that rubs on the affected area and try and keep it as aired and dry as possible until the skin improves. Shower in tepid water rather than hot water to reduce evaporation. Ideally sleep naked and keep the area from getting sweaty whenever possible. If sweat does build up, try and shower the dry sweat off as soon as possible and re-moisturise afterwards.

Use a salve rather than a moisturiser as its stay longer on the skin and is more intensive. Hydrosil Turmeric Butter and Milk Salve, which contains a plant-based ingredient that mimics the action of steroids to quickly reduce itching, as well as anti-inflammatory turmeric and soothing hypoallergenic donkey milk.

The link between Iron deficiency and itchy skin

Iron deficiency can also cause itchy skin. If you are suffering from a few of the other symptoms of iron deficiency alongside having itchy skin, it’s worth checking your iron levels to see if they are low. Supplementing with iron can quickly help reduce itchy skin.
There is evidence to suggest that a magnesium deficiency can cause dry skin or make skin prone to dryness worse. Supplementation with magnesium can help reduce the inflammation caused by conditions which lead to dry and itchy skin, such as eczema, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

Melatonin is a hormone that your brain produces in response to darkness. Increased melatonin production can help aide better and more profound sleep and override restlessness from itchy skin. The amino acid tryptophan helps produce serotonin. Serotonin binds with certain enzymes to produce melatonin. Turkey contains tryptophan so a traditional Christmas lunch is a great way to boost melatonin. Daylight in the morning along with exercise also aids melatonin production.

Alcohol has the effect of widening blood vessels, sending more blood to warm your skin at night which can cause increased itching. Try and keep your alcohol intake to a minimum, especially before bed as alcohol is also a diuretic so can pull moisture away from the skin, causing dehydration and making skin even drier and itchier overnight.

Prevent viral activity

Stress, a lowered immune system from festive colds, stuffy hot environments, lack of restful sleep and dehydration can all cause the dormant herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores to wake up and cause an outbreak, making Christmas a prime time for a cold sore outbreak. Over 60% of the population carry the herpes simplex virus.

The dry and often intense heat from log fires is a sure way to quickly develop hot, dry and dehydrated lips. Heat and dryness are an assured combination to trigger a cold sore. Keep your distance from log fires and try and turn your face away from direct heat from log burning fires.

Sudden heat on the lip area from festive hot drinks like mulled wine and Irish coffees can trigger a cold sore as heat irritates the skin and causes micro inflammation which can activate the dormant cold sore virus in the skin around the lips. Try to only sip on cool temperature festive beverages, like champagne.

What triggers cold sores?

Any trauma to the lips can trigger a cold sore outbreak and aside from chapping from dehydrated lips, abrasive foods such salty festive snacks, are the easiest way to damage lips and risk a cold sore outbreak. Tiny micro cuts from crisps and crackers to the lips and corners of the mouth raise the risk of triggering a cold sore.

Salty nuts are a particular problem for cold sore prone lips. The cold sore virus requires arginine (amino acid) to replicate and thrive in your body. Depriving the virus of arginine can help reduce the duration and severity of a cold sore. Nuts are one of the richest sources of arginine so to ensure you reduce your risk of a cold sore outbreak, keep your mitts out of the nut bowl.

Studies have shown that liquorice root has a strong anti-viral action and is particularly effective on the cold sore virus. The key cold sore fighting ingredient in liquorice root is glycyrrhizic acid (GA). GA specifically targets the genes that are there to maintain the virus in its latent state by interfering with the production of special proteins that feed the infected cells.

Lip Q Liquorice Lip Balm is a natural, transparent and odourless lip balm containing a highly concentrated extract of liquorice root which, if applied regularly, according to a study carried out by the Herpes Virus Association, can help prevent the intensity and frequency of cold sore outbreaks.