Dr. Ronald Hoffman Has Ten Natural Solutions for Winter Skin Dryness

New York, NY, February 04, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Winter is the time of year when people most often complain of dry skin. But renowned Integrative Physician Dr. Ronald Hoffman has some concrete measures people can take to combat the problem in his recent article, 10 natural solutions for winter skin dryness.

“It’s a matter of simple physics. Skin naturally holds moisture, and cold winter air doesn’t hold as much moisture as warm, humid summer air,” says Hoffman. “The problem is compounded with wind chill which acts like a restroom hand drier. The result is that water is literally sucked out of your skin.”

Hoffman offers these tips to help people combat winter dry skin:

1) Take fish oil. Topping the list of natural skin moisturizing nutrients are the omega-3 fatty acids, linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

2) Try GLA. Oral supplementation with GLA–an omega-6 oil that prevents moisture loss.

3) Don’t turn your home into a desert! The average humidity in the Sahara Desert is around 15 percent. In winter, the humidity in your house or apartment can dip below 10 percent. Overheating your dwelling makes things worse. Keep the thermostat set to 65 or less and consider using a humidifier. Houseplants, too, put moisture back into the air.

4) Protect your skin with gloves. Don’t wait for frostbite to set in before donning your gauntlets.

5) Shower… less! Trick question: Frequent application of soaps dissolves away the protective oil layer on your skin surface. Washing less leaves the superficial sebaceous oils intact.

6) Slather on the coconut. Virgin coconut oil is a great skin moisturizer.

7) Try manuka. A product of New Zealand, Manuka Therapy Cream is Hoffman’s favorite skin moisturizer. As an added benefit, research supports its antiwrinkle effects. A study published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that manuka oil protects against photo-aging and collagen loss.

8) Apply hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid plays a critical role in skin health with its unique ability to hold in moisture (1,000 ml of water per gram of hyaluronic acid).

9) Check your thyroid. One of the cardinal signs of low thyroid is dry skin.

10) Make sure you don’t have allergies. Dry skin might be due to eczema or atopic dermatitis; a dermatologist can perform a patch test to see if your skin is reacting to any one of a panel of common substances such as fragrances, preservatives, lanolin, rubber or metal from jewelry.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman is a pioneering complementary medicine practitioner, Director of the Hoffman Center for Integrative Medicine based in New York City, and host of the popular and long running syndicated weekly radio program and podcast Intelligent Medicine. Read the full article at the Intelligent Medicine website.