Speaker 1: In the moment when your heart is racing and your
Speaker 1: blood is pumping, sweating feels so good. But for our
Speaker 1: guest Briann Hogan, the heavy sweating at hot yoga started
Speaker 1: to leave its mark on her skin.
Speaker 2: You know what, Like, as much as I wanted my
Speaker 2: skin to look good, I was getting so much out
Speaker 2: of my practice that it was more about let me
Speaker 2: try to find a solution so I can keep doing yoga.
Speaker 2: Wasn't really like, let me find a solution so I
Speaker 2: look good. Even though that was part of it, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to deny that, but it was also because
Speaker 2: I don't want to give up something that's making me
Speaker 2: feel good.
Speaker 1: Exercise is such an important part of our lives, whether
Speaker 1: it's a homeworkout, trips to the gym, or team sports
Speaker 1: in a rec league. We have to get our body
Speaker 1: moving to feel good. But the flip side are the
Speaker 1: hardships our physical triumphs can put on our skin. Hi guys,
Speaker 1: and welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I'm Nicole Berry
Speaker 1: and this is Skin Querries, a show all about our
Speaker 1: skin and its health as we grow in age. Our
Speaker 1: skin is really a record of a life well lived
Speaker 1: because there isn't one body part that I could think
Speaker 1: of that reflects our well being as clearly as our skin.
Speaker 1: So let's go on this journey together to really understand
Speaker 1: what's going on with our skin. Let's unravel the mysteries
Speaker 1: happening inside and out. Today we're talking about sweat and skin.
Speaker 3: I love to sweat.
Speaker 1: I've said this before on the show, but I would
Speaker 1: choose being hot over cold any day. I have a
Speaker 1: vigorous sauna practice, and I also love a great workout,
Speaker 1: so when I put the two together, I'm in heabit.
Speaker 1: That's why I've been doing hot yoga for over two
Speaker 1: decades now. For anyone who hasn't tried it, hot yoga
Speaker 1: is incredible because it combines yoga, which is great for
Speaker 1: relaxing my mind my body. It's a great physical stretch
Speaker 1: and really good physical activity. While combining it with a
Speaker 1: heated room which vacillates between ninety eight and one hundred degrees.
Speaker 1: It's steamy and sweaty and I love it. But on
Speaker 1: the flip side, because there can always be some flip side,
Speaker 1: is that there is a lot of sweat. We know
Speaker 1: that sweat is a natural condition. It's necessary for cooling down.
Speaker 1: It is really good for us, but it could lead
Speaker 1: to things like intense odors and possibly flare ups to
Speaker 1: a number of skin conditions such as plaquoriasis and acne,
Speaker 1: to name a couple. So this got me curious how
Speaker 1: good is sweating for us really? To get started, we
Speaker 1: went out to get a sense of how you get
Speaker 1: your heart pumping and your thoughts on skin and sweat.
Speaker 4: If I'm not playing sports regularly, then I'll like go
Speaker 4: to the gym regularly.
Speaker 3: I'll try to walk.
Speaker 4: When I can, but like you have to just like
Speaker 4: always like be cleaning yourself after you like work out
Speaker 4: because of sweat and like things like that, and also
Speaker 4: rubbing with like a sports bra or like the athletic material.
Speaker 4: It can be harsh into your skin.
Speaker 5: I think my skin, uh look much healthier when I
Speaker 5: am consistent doing exercise. I think I noticed some changes
Speaker 5: in the state of my skin. Not too drastic, but
Speaker 5: you know, just a little bit more GLOWI maybe.
Speaker 6: Yeah, We'll go to the gym like three four times
Speaker 6: a week, usually in cardio between. If you don't shower
Speaker 6: after or I find that a breakout, I just get
Speaker 6: oily and I just feel gross. I've always kind of
Speaker 6: struggled with acne and then skin problems anyway, So I
Speaker 6: found that when I was going to the gym more often,
Speaker 6: I would just have to shower more often.
Speaker 7: I've been on a bit of a skin journey myself,
Speaker 7: so I think being able to get a good sweat
Speaker 7: and really sort of helps, I don't know, unclog some
Speaker 7: pores and just refresh my face at least.
Speaker 1: It's so interesting to hear how some might think of
Speaker 1: sweating as simply the end result of exercise, something to
Speaker 1: be washed away and to be done with, but for
Speaker 1: others like me, it's also associated with adding a glow,
Speaker 1: being refreshing to our skin, and actually healing. I think
Speaker 1: it's because as much as we know exercise is so
Speaker 1: good for us, it can actually be hard on our skin.
Speaker 1: Gym equipment can give us calluses, swimming and chlorinated pools
Speaker 1: can dry out our skin and hair, and outdoor activity
Speaker 1: can bring into play sunburns and bug bites. We have
Speaker 1: to take in the good with the bad, but we
Speaker 1: also can learn to do everything possible to mitigate skin.
Speaker 3: Issues while breaking a sweat.
Speaker 1: So today I'm going to talk to two experts about
Speaker 1: why we sweat how it affects us and how to
Speaker 1: maximize its extraordinary abilities. But first, let's talk to Briann
Speaker 1: Hogan about her journey. She is a writer, an author,
Speaker 1: and a podcast host. Brian knows what it's like to
Speaker 1: have skin issues get in the way of physical activity
Speaker 1: that she really needed.
Speaker 2: I was in my mid thirties and I was moving
Speaker 2: to the middle of nowhere with my parents because I
Speaker 2: was just in a rut. I had been stuck, just
Speaker 2: not really feeling that good about myself.
Speaker 1: Up until that point in her life, Briann had worked
Speaker 1: hard to establish herself. She had been living in New
Speaker 1: York City building a career. She had just published a book.
Speaker 1: But as many of us can relate, Briann hit a
Speaker 1: point where she just lost momentum. She needed a fresh start,
Speaker 1: even if it meant moving back to the country with
Speaker 1: her parents. With nowhere to go and little to do,
Speaker 1: she joined the local yoga studio.
Speaker 2: I just needed to just do something and have some
Speaker 2: sort of a routine.
Speaker 3: So I started to go basically like five days a week.
Speaker 2: I just threw myself into it and there were like
Speaker 2: hour long sessions. I like exercise, but I also am
Speaker 2: very spiritual. So I like the blend of both the
Speaker 2: physicality of yoga as well as the devotion that yoga
Speaker 2: has in terms of spirituality. And so I find that
Speaker 2: when I've been in times where I've needed both, where
Speaker 2: I think I need to release something physically, but I
Speaker 2: also want to get in touch with myself internally, yoga
Speaker 2: has been the.
Speaker 3: Thing for me.
Speaker 2: And I like to push myself an exercise, so I
Speaker 2: don't like traditional, slow moving yoga. So if I'm going
Speaker 2: to do yoga, I was like, I'm going to go
Speaker 2: hot all the way. I'm going to like really just
Speaker 2: push myself to the brink. And also there's something about
Speaker 2: sweating that I think purges out everything, like emotionally and
Speaker 2: maybe even physically as well.
Speaker 3: And it was working at first. It was great.
Speaker 2: I mean I had to adjust to the heat and everything,
Speaker 2: but I actually adjusted pretty well, like my body overall,
Speaker 2: and I was like really happy about that, and I
Speaker 2: was loving the yoga, loving just having a place to
Speaker 2: go to. And then within I think a couple of
Speaker 2: I think within a month or so, I noticed that
Speaker 2: my skin wasn't as clear as it used to be.
Speaker 1: Rand started to break out and it kept getting worse.
Speaker 2: So I started to notice the pimples starting to come
Speaker 2: around my jaw line, my cheeks, and my forehead and
Speaker 2: my temples, and I never really had pimples like that before.
Speaker 2: My parents even said something to me, which I thought
Speaker 2: was a little bit rude, but I thought, I guess
Speaker 2: that means there's something really different with my face, and
Speaker 2: so I was really self conscious about that. I also
Speaker 2: started to notice pimples around my chest and like across
Speaker 2: my back, so it was all like all over my body.
Speaker 3: I was self conscious about it.
Speaker 2: And so I was getting new makeup for myself, which
Speaker 2: I never really wore foundation or concealer a ton before.
Speaker 3: So now that was another thing where I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm going.
Speaker 2: To get like acting prone makeup to cover up my
Speaker 2: pimples and not only just for my face but from
Speaker 2: my body. But it looks, you know, it's there, Like
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not fooling anyone. It's like, you're like,
Speaker 2: there's pimples there, but I'm just trying to convince myself
Speaker 2: that they're not there, but they're there. And yeah, it
Speaker 2: didn't make me feel attractive, and I definitely was self
Speaker 2: conscious about my skin. I never really had major major
Speaker 2: skin problems as a teenager, and I exercised before, so
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't know, my skin is breaking
Speaker 2: out the way that it was breaking out, And.
Speaker 3: I was like, is it my diet?
Speaker 2: Is it? I don't know, Am I not cleaning my
Speaker 2: soul properly? Like I was like, I don't know, like
Speaker 2: what's going on with my skin.
Speaker 1: Anytime I've had a breakout, my first thought is yes,
Speaker 1: I hope it goes away. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I think my lifestyle, my diet, just like Briann, but
Speaker 1: none of those typical methods were working. In this case.
Speaker 1: Briann was doing yoga to keep busy, but she also
Speaker 1: needed it. It was making her feel better in her
Speaker 1: body and her mind.
Speaker 2: I just remember being super frustrated with my skin in
Speaker 2: the beginning, like I really was like I really did
Speaker 2: not like what was happening to my body, and I
Speaker 2: didn't want to give up the yoga because I think
Speaker 2: at one point my mom even suggested that she's like
Speaker 2: just not doing yoga, and I was like, I don't
Speaker 2: know if that's like the solution here, because I like
Speaker 2: yoga and no, I don't like pimples on my face.
Speaker 2: Or on my body. But I also don't want to
Speaker 2: give up something that I'm finding a lot of relief in.
Speaker 2: It's helping my body, it's helping my mind, it's helping
Speaker 2: my spirit. So I did my own little wellness journey
Speaker 2: in terms of trying to heal it. You know, I
Speaker 2: got like tea tree oil, and I made sure that
Speaker 2: I was always cleaning myself after yoga, you know, washing
Speaker 2: my face after leaving the yoga class to go back home.
Speaker 2: But I made sure that every time I finished yoga,
Speaker 2: I would go to the change room and completely wash
Speaker 2: my face, like do the whole thing. Like it wasn't
Speaker 2: even just like a little wipe of a towel. It
Speaker 2: was like I'm fully.
Speaker 3: Cleansing my face with all the stuff.
Speaker 2: Like if I knew I had to go somewhere after yoga,
Speaker 2: I would just take a shower at the gym and
Speaker 2: make sure that I was immediately changing out of my clothes,
Speaker 2: like right away, not having my clothes set on my
Speaker 2: body for too long, and making sure that I was cleaning.
Speaker 3: The sweat because that was what it was.
Speaker 2: So once I discovered that that was the connection, because
Speaker 2: it was starting to heal, and I wasn't breaking out
Speaker 2: as much. Like as soon as I was cleaning more
Speaker 2: and cleaning my skin, I was like, oh okay, like
Speaker 2: this is the answer to it.
Speaker 1: It was the sweat all along. Briann was able to
Speaker 1: get her skin back on track by being extra vigilant.
Speaker 1: She made sure to keep her workout clothes fresh, she
Speaker 1: showered immediately after sweating, and she kept her yoga mat clean.
Speaker 1: I know that since I'm working out and sweating almost daily,
Speaker 1: I have to also be very vigilant about cleaning my
Speaker 1: workout clothes. In fact, it goes as far that I
Speaker 1: have to replace my workout clothes every few months since
Speaker 1: I'm sweating in them so much. So brian cleaning her
Speaker 1: workout clothes really resonates, But sometimes it's not as simple
Speaker 1: as keeping our skin and clothing clean. Sweat is a
Speaker 1: hugely important function for our body, but it can also
Speaker 1: be so hard on our skin. Let's hear from the
Speaker 1: experts on how to care for it while staying active.
Speaker 1: Coming up after the break, welcome back to skin quarries.
Speaker 1: So earlier we heard from Brianne. She wanted a fresh
Speaker 1: start and turned to hot yoga to help her mind
Speaker 1: and body, but her breakouts were holding her back, and
Speaker 1: it was the same sweat that was making her feel
Speaker 1: so good that was causing the problem. Even though it's
Speaker 1: incredibly common, acne can affect our confidence. It's often thought
Speaker 1: of as a teenage problem, and largely it is, but
Speaker 1: according to Yale Medicine, adult acne is one of the
Speaker 1: most common reasons women between the ages of twenty and
Speaker 1: forty visit a dermatology clinic. We don't necessarily age out,
Speaker 1: So let's start with the basics. Doctor Thivi Marathapu, a
Speaker 1: board certified dermatologist, is here to cover what is sweat exactly.
Speaker 8: So in our skin we have oil glands which produced
Speaker 8: the oil that keep pausekin moist, and if you go
Speaker 8: acne and things like that, you might produce a bit
Speaker 8: too much. And then on top of that you have
Speaker 8: sweat glands. And the purpose of sweat is excretion, but
Speaker 8: to keep us cool. Primarily, it's really temperature regulation. So
Speaker 8: we do eliminate substances in our body through our sweat.
Speaker 8: It's not the biggest way that we eliminate thing that
Speaker 8: is normally through pea. That's going to be the biggest
Speaker 8: way that we get rid of stuff, but a little
Speaker 8: bit does come out through our sweat and it contains salts,
Speaker 8: so it can help to regulate the salts in the
Speaker 8: blood as well. Sweat can be smelly at times, as
Speaker 8: we all know, that's why we know wear deodorant, but
Speaker 8: that's because certain areas the body harbor more bacteria and
Speaker 8: that's what changes the odor. But if you clear out
Speaker 8: those bacteria, you know, you can use certain washes like
Speaker 8: a benzyl peroxide for example, an acne wash that can
Speaker 8: reduce the smell and an odor that comes with sweat. Really,
Speaker 8: the main function is bodied temperature control, which is one
Speaker 8: of the major functions of the skin. So keeping your
Speaker 8: skin at the right temperature is done either through sweat
Speaker 8: or the amount of blood flowed to the skin. And
Speaker 8: you'll know that because if you're hot, you might go
Speaker 8: red and that's because your body is pushing more blood
Speaker 8: into the skin so that you lose heat through the
Speaker 8: surface of the skin. So really it's mainly temperature regulation.
Speaker 8: But people do love to love a good sweat, don't
Speaker 8: and they feel really clean after a good work out.
Speaker 8: Good sweat you feel great afterwards, So I think there's
Speaker 8: more to it than just temperature regulation. I think it's
Speaker 8: also a little bit of that excretion is really helpful.
Speaker 1: I totally agree there is so much more to a
Speaker 1: good workout than just the physical aspect. Doctor Thivy will
Speaker 1: be coming back again in a later episode, but it's
Speaker 1: so interesting. One of our skin's major functions is cooling
Speaker 1: the body. The way it works is our sweat glands
Speaker 1: that doctor Thivy mentioned are activated by our body's heat.
Speaker 1: Once that happens, the glands bring water and salt to
Speaker 1: the surface as sweat, which then evaporates and cools us down. Today,
Speaker 1: we are so lucky to have another expert Triple Board
Speaker 1: certified dermatologist, doctor Mamina Terragano, to tell us all about it.
Speaker 9: All those practices, whether it's like using a saana yoga
Speaker 9: and specifically like hot yoga, like these things are really
Speaker 9: boosting your circulation. Right, yes, sweating with the heat, but
Speaker 9: that circulation, the heat going to your skin, you're bringing
Speaker 9: more nutrients essentially to your skin. When people have good, robust,
Speaker 9: healthy circulation, that's going to help their skin in general.
Speaker 9: So that is what I think is playing a big
Speaker 9: role with your glow.
Speaker 1: Now that I have such a vigorous sweat regimen. My
Speaker 1: skin I've noticed is more glowy and has more vibrancy
Speaker 1: to it. So it makes sense that there's science behind it.
Speaker 1: But how is it that sweat is also hard on
Speaker 1: our skin?
Speaker 9: Yeah, sweat can definitely aggravate certain inflammatory conditions. Sweat I've seen,
Speaker 9: in some cases exacerbate psoriasis. Sweat can also exacerbate things
Speaker 9: in the acne family, whether it's regular acne or filiculitis. Okay,
Speaker 9: filiculitis can look a lot like acne, but the difference
Speaker 9: between acne and filiculitis is that filiculitis is from pathogenic bacteria,
Speaker 9: like bacteria that doesn't usually belong on the skin, or
Speaker 9: it's living in higher populations like staph oureus bacteria, whereas
Speaker 9: the acne bacteria bacteria that's supposed to be there, it's
Speaker 9: like natural bacteria that's just getting aggravated, maybe by sweat,
Speaker 9: maybe by excess oil or excess skin. But sweat can
Speaker 9: certainly aggravate the hair follicles, which can then bring more
Speaker 9: inflammation and maybe activate some of the bad bacteria. For
Speaker 9: an ezema patient whose skin gets aggravated by sweat, there
Speaker 9: are a couple things that I counsel patient's on one.
Speaker 9: You know, really with anyone with ezma, you want to
Speaker 9: make sure that the skin barrier is healthy, that it's intact,
Speaker 9: that it's repaired, because an impaired skin barrier is what's
Speaker 9: going to be more easily aggravated by sweat, So making
Speaker 9: sure that they're using the right emollients, moisturizers, skin barrier
Speaker 9: creams to nourish and protect and build that skin barrier.
Speaker 9: And the other is doing what you can to keep
Speaker 9: your skin dry. So, like I know it's sometimes impossible
Speaker 9: if you're like playing the sport outside and right like
Speaker 9: you're in the middle of like a soccer game, you
Speaker 9: can't like go and dry off as easily, but keep
Speaker 9: doing what you can. And sometimes there's like certain powders
Speaker 9: that you can use that can help a little bit.
Speaker 9: But I think the biggest thing is like using creams
Speaker 9: that just protect that skin barrier.
Speaker 1: As doctor Mamina says, there are ways to mitigate issues
Speaker 1: you're having with the activities that bring you joy. The
Speaker 1: best way to figure out what they are is first
Speaker 1: talk to your dermatologist. And coming back to Brian, she
Speaker 1: obviously didn't love breaking out as an adult, but it
Speaker 1: was the enjoyment of the activity that fueled her desire
Speaker 1: to solve the problem more so than just clearing up
Speaker 1: her skin.
Speaker 2: What that experience taught me is that actually, I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe it was a yoga but I was like, you
Speaker 2: know what, as much as I wanted my skin to
Speaker 2: look good, I was getting so much out of my
Speaker 2: practice that it was more about let me try to
Speaker 2: find a.
Speaker 3: Solution so I can keep doing yoga.
Speaker 2: Wasn't really like, let me find a solution so I
Speaker 2: look good, even though that was part of it, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to deny that, but it was also because
Speaker 2: I don't want to give up something that's making me
Speaker 2: feel good, not necessarily like what's making me look good.
Speaker 1: Because Brianne was willing to be her own advocate, she
Speaker 1: worked out what the problem was and how to fix it.
Speaker 1: Briann is a writer, and like many of us, she
Speaker 1: incorporated her life into her work.
Speaker 2: So I thought, you know, I think people do to
Speaker 2: yoga and they break out, and I was like, I
Speaker 2: want to write about it because I think I can't
Speaker 2: be the only one who goes to hot yoga and
Speaker 2: suffers like this. So I was like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: write about it because I'm sure other people are in
Speaker 2: my shoes and being like, what the hell, like, what's
Speaker 2: going on with my skin?
Speaker 1: As a hot yogi veteran, we know there are certain
Speaker 1: principles they recommend, such as try not to wipe away
Speaker 1: your sweat since it acts as your natural cooling system,
Speaker 1: and hydrate as much as possible before and after your class.
Speaker 1: But if you are dealing with specific skin conditions, you
Speaker 1: can follow doctor Thivi and doctor Momina's recommendations. Rinse off
Speaker 1: that sweat as soon as you can, try to wear
Speaker 1: less tight fitting workout clothes that don't rub against your skin,
Speaker 1: Towel off, and try your best to stay dry. If
Speaker 1: you're having issues or flare ups, see your dermatologist. There's
Speaker 1: no need to suffer silently or even worse, stop doing
Speaker 1: what you love.
Speaker 2: I was super happy that I could still do yoga
Speaker 2: and be happy with my skin, So, I mean, I
Speaker 2: really loved yoga.
Speaker 3: It was really great for me at that time.
Speaker 2: And once I figured out what I needed to do
Speaker 2: in order to keep doing it like then, it was great.
Speaker 3: I was like normal.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is how it should have
Speaker 2: been all along. But I mean, maybe that was my test.
Speaker 2: Like I feel, sometimes we have to do things in
Speaker 2: life for a test, and yoga is supposed to be
Speaker 2: this method of testing you and testing your mind and
Speaker 2: your strength, and maybe that was my test of like
Speaker 2: my skin. I have no idea, but I was glad
Speaker 2: that I was able to continue my practice without my
Speaker 2: skin having to suffer from it.
Speaker 1: I find that so inspiring brand because you're really seeking
Speaker 1: out solutions while continuing to.
Speaker 3: Do what you love.
Speaker 1: Skin Graze is hosted by myself Nicole Berry, an executive
Speaker 1: produced by Yvonne Sheehand. Our senior producer is Tory Weldon.
Speaker 1: Our junior producer is reem Al mcgraby, with help from
Speaker 1: Austin Johnson. The show is mixed and features original music
Speaker 1: by Sam Sagan. If you enjoy the show, share it
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can also listen and follow on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: And we'd love to know what you think, so make
Speaker 1: sure to leave a review. Until next time