A quick guide to winter skin care

Newswise — Winter months often bring in cold, harsh changes for skin and hair, but a few good habits can alleviate dryness as well as the discomfort of itchy skin. UT Southwestern dermatologists offer some insight on the role moisture plays, and how to keep your skin and hair healthy when the temperatures drop.

“The relative lack of humidity during the winter months coupled with indoor heating systems will significantly dry out skin,” said Dr. Stephanie Savory, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at UT Southwestern.

While a change in weather is the main culprit of winter skin care, Dr. Savory said aging also is a key factor.

“As we age, the oil glands in our skin as a whole are less able to keep up with the dryness in our environment. Thus, we dry out more easily than we did when we were younger,” Dr. Savory said.

Below are a few tips Dr. Savory suggests to help keep your skin and hair healthy during winter:

  • Take short, warm showers – Though they may feel good, long, hot showers can pull moisture from the skin and dry you out even more. Short (less than 10 minutes), lukewarm showers or baths with moisturizing soap are preferable in winter.
  • Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize – Within 2-3 minutes of emerging from the shower, apply a coat of a fragrance-free, moisturizing cream or ointment, not lotion, all over the body to lock in the skin's moisture. Sleeping with a humidifier in your bedroom will also help moisten the air.
  • Use a leave-in conditioner to protect the scalp and hair – Just like skin on other areas of the body, the scalp dries more easily in winter. If you notice more dryness or itching of the scalp outside of scalp disease such as dandruff or psoriasis, try a leave-in, deep conditioner a couple of times per week. If the symptoms don’t improve, see a dermatologist.
  • Always use sunscreen – There is still significant UV exposure on cloudy days and cold days. Everyone needs a daily sunscreen, gentle cleanser, and moisturizer to use year-round. Sunscreen not only helps prevent skin cancer such as melanoma, but it maintains the thickness of the skin, which contributes to a youthful appearance and can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and sunspots that often give an aged, sun-damaged look. Thus, sunscreen is important every day, even if it's cold, cloudy, or if you're only leaving home for a short while. Choose one that has UVA and UVB coverage, and is SPF 30 or higher.

In addition to giving your skin extra care during the winter, always pay attention to any spot that does not heal, is rapidly growing, is changing colors, or bleeds on its own. These are all symptoms that should be examined by a dermatologist.

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Media Contact: Remekca Owens
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Resolutions may help avoid neck and back painThree common New Year resolutions – diet, exercise, and better posture -- can help avoid common back and neck pain, UT Southwestern Medical Center rehabilitation specialists say.

Dr. Amy Phelan, Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UT Southwestern Medical Center, suggests checking with a physician before starting any diet or exercise program, but both can contribute to spine health. Being overweight stresses the neck and spine. Dieting can help reduce that, help maintain a healthy weight, and improve muscle tone and strength.

When sitting, the hips and torso should be balanced under the shoulders. When standing, try to stand straight with the shoulders back, which helps balance forces on your spine and allows it to do its job and support the body optimally.

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Media Contact: Gregg Shields
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Add up the dosage from OTC and prescription medicinesWinter colds and flu often lead people to reach for over-the-counter pain relief, so UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians say it’s important to follow maximum dosage warnings, adding up both over-the-counter and prescription medications.

There is no safe drug, only a safe dose,” says Dr. Carl Noe, who leads UT Southwestern’s Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management. “Exceeding the recommended dose of over-the-counter pain relievers is dangerous and can cause liver failure with acetaminophen, or kidney failure and internal bleeding with anti-inflammatories.”

Exceeding recommended dosages can happen accidentally by failing to add up different medicines you are taking, or by failing to account for medicines already in your system. For example, many people take a daily, low-dose aspirin as a preventive measure to reduce the chance of heart attack. That needs to be part of the total dosage of aspirin when they take a cold medicine.

Additional suggestions:

  • Mention over-the-counter medicines as well as prescriptions when you talk to your doctor.
  • Use your pharmacist as a resource to help you decipher what’s in your prescription. medicines and what over-the-counter medications could cause problems with that.
  • Alcohol can increase the toxicity of acetaminophen, so avoid the combination.
  • Don’t mix over-the-counter cold medicines. Stick with one to avoid confusion about dosage.

###Media Contact: Cathy Frisinger214-648-3404[email protected]

Exercise can help counter aging of the heartExercise of moderate to vigorous intensity four to five times a week across a lifetime can reduce the stiffening of the arteries and the heart that occurs with aging, according to research by UT Southwestern Medical Center.

People who exercise vigorously six to seven times a week – so-called Masters-level athletes – have hearts that are as pliable as the hearts of young adults.

“We found that a commitment to exercise at a level that gets your heart rate elevated for at least 30 minutes four or five times a week can prevent most of the decrease in left-ventricular elasticity that occurs with sedentary aging,” says Dr. Benjamin Levine, Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, who led the study. The study looked at the exercise history across 25 years of 102 healthy seniors. “This is important because the stiffening of the heart plays a key role in the development of many of the cardiac conditions that affect the elderly, such as hypertension, atrial fibrillation and heart failure.”

Dr. Levine says options for 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise can include classes such as Zumba, kickboxing or aerobics, or informal efforts such as walking or jogging on a treadmill, riding a bike, or swimming laps.

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Exercise also benefits the brainNew research continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of exercise in combating depression, which can resurge during post holiday months when people are getting back to routines, UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists say.

People who exercise frequently are significantly less likely to be depressed. Conversely, depressed people tend not to exercise as often or at all.

“Exercise is good for the mind as well as the body,” says UT Southwestern psychiatrist Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, program director for UT Southwestern’s Depression Center, though it is important to talk to your doctor before starting so exercise can be tailored to your health needs.

Dr. Trivedi and his team studied exercise alone in treating mild to moderate depression, and found that depressive symptoms were reduced almost 50 percent in individuals who participated in 30-minute aerobic exercise sessions three to five times a week − similar to that found with antidepressant medications.

Moderately rigorous exercise for 45-50 minutes four to five times a week is essential to capture the anti-depressant effect of exercise, he says. “I often tell patients that they should not be able to talk on the phone while exercising for them to get the appropriate intensity of exercise.”

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Media Contact: Gregg Shields214-648-3404
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