I have been practicing yoga for over 17 years--well, intermittently. Several months ago, just for fun, I started
hot yoga practice. Have to admit that I
fell in love with the practice immediately.
I like practicing in the hot and humid environment—reminded me of the
place I grew up. And, I like the feeling
of the sweat pouring out every pore of my body.
However, after first few weeks of practices (when I essentially went to
the yoga studio every day), I noticed that I started to have breakouts on my
skin. Of course, I went online and
started researching on the hot yoga's effects on skin. Here is what I found.
Hot yoga is good for your skin, according to most of the articles
I read. The heat improves your pulse
rate. At a room temperature of 104
degrees, your pulse rate will increase by approximately 30 percent. The boost in pulse rate lets the heart pump
double about of blood every minute, which leads to increase blood circulation
to your skin. This leads to increased
nutrient supply as well as hydration to the skin.
In addition, the heat and exercise stimulate sweating. The sweat
might help shielding the skin from bacterial infection. Researchers at Eberhard-Karls University in
Germany found that sweat contains a protein called Dermcidin, which battles
harmful bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, also known as “Staph.” Some articles also suggest that the sweat detoxifies
the skin by washing out the “clogging pollutants and toxins” in the pores.
How about breakouts? My research
seems to indicate that breakouts are mostly caused by hygiene issues. When I first started practicing hot yoga, I
liked to let my hair loose and had to constantly remove hair strands from my
sweaty face, which led to my hands touching my face regularly during the
practice. Some articles suggested that habit
to be the primary culprit for the breakouts observed by some hot yoga practitioners.
Here are some tips I was able to find to help
manage hygiene issues relating to the hot yoga practice:
- - Wash your face and hands before
class.
- Be conscious of minimizing any
contact of your hands on your face.
- - Tie up your hair when practicing
hot yoga. I did notice that, ever since
I tied up my hair when practicing, I no longer have the breakout issues.
- - You will sweat profusely during
the practice. Resisting the urge of wipe
away the sweat (only wipe if you have sweat sting your eyes). This would minimize the contact of tower with
your skin. Also, keep a clean face cloth
for wiping your face only.
- - Use a clean full size towel to
place across the top of your mat. Also use
a fresh towel for each practice.
- - Always wash after your hot yoga
practice. For me, I always have a facial
after a hot yoga practice. The pores are
already open—it’s a perfect time for a deeply hydrating and nurturing facial.
Thanks for
reading.
Connie.
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