Photo by Joanne Francis on Unsplash
This blog post was originally sent as a Moonday Note, part of my weekly love letters that share ideas, musing, tips, tricks, and all things holistic skincare, nature based living, and tending to your temple. You can sign up to receive Moonday Notes here.
This week's smoky skies in Colorado have me thinking a lot about how to support my body during times of greater environmental stress, which honestly, summer is no matter where you live.
My morning walk today was almost unbearable with the smoke in the air, so I cut it quite short. It was a visceral reminder that we live in constant relationship with our environment.
While many of us are simply breathing the smoke, others in our state (and elsewhere) are living through profound loss and uncertainty. I'm holding close this week the people who have been displaced, the firefighters on the front lines, and all of the animals who are also navigating this disruption to their homes 🌲🦌🦅.
I also want to note, that as I talk about the importance of supporting your body, I don't want this to come across as "you are one exposure away from disaster, you need to go buy more things to be safe."
Your body is resilient and already equipped to metabolize environmental stress.
In a recent episode of my podcast called "The Sun IS Medicine" I touched on the mass messaging that runs rampant online, that the whole world and everything in it is so fragile and we are just one disaster away from everything falling apart.
When I get wrapped up in this type of messaging, it can easily put me into a state of constant vigilance and fear which does nothing but make me unable to care for myself and others.
All of that to say, we want to support our temple without falling prey to the idea that care means panic.
Supporting ourselves is about giving our bodies the nourishment and resources they need to do what they already know how to do rather than being afraid of the world.
Here is a master list of the things I think about when there is smoke in the environment, or really any time there is more exposure to environmental toxins… like a smoggy week in the city, pollen season, a long flight, a dry stretch of weather.
Hydration & mucosal clearing
- Sipping warm water throughout the day keeps mucous membranes doing their job instead of drying out and getting irritated by smoke particulate.
- Neti pot rinses the nasal passages of the fine particulate they're catching all day.
- Nasya is a practice of applying oil or ghee to the nasal cavity. It lubricates and soothes nasal tissue that smoke leaves parched, especially on top of an already-dry climate.
- Humidifier puts some moisture back into the air you're breathing and that your skin is in contact with
- Face steams with rose hydrate and soften the sinuses and your skin too! Just be sure to apply an oil to your skin after.
- Facial mist throughout the day give little hits of hydration for skin when it's losing moisture quickly.
Fods & Herbs
- Raw honey, locally-sourced if you can (and never heated) provides a coating and support for dry respiratory tissue, plus it is a rich source of antioxidants depending on the floral source where the bee's pollinated.
- Stewed fruits because cooking breaks down cell walls, which can make certain antioxidants more bioavailable (like how lycopene becomes more absorbable once tomatoes are cooked), plus they are incredibly moisturizing for the whole system.
- Matcha contains whole-leaf catechins like EGCG are specifically useful against the oxidative stress that comes from smoke and particulate exposure, and the L-theanine gives you alertness without adding more stress to an already-taxed system.
- Dark berries are one of the simplest, most whole-food-dense antioxidant sources you can eat.
- Meat stock is mineral-rich and rebuilding, plus it is lower histamine than a long-simmered bone broth, meaning a little less stress on the body.
- Cilantro is commonly used in herbal practice to support the body's own clearing of heavy metals and particulate-associated compounds, helping usher out what smoke exposure brings in.
- Marshmallow, fennel, hibiscus, mullein tea this is my go-to recipe for wild fire season, I keep it on hand at all times. Do note, that it needs an overnight steep in room temp or cool water. This blend is a soothing, mucous-membrane-supportive trio, gentle on lungs and throat.
Topical
- Antioxidant-rich skincare is important for supporting the skin barrier from the outside the same way you're supporting it from within.
- Double cleansing at night because we want to actually get particulate off skin rather than let it sit overnight when our skin is in it's most important repair and regenerate process.
- Balms or occlusives help seal in hydration and create a physical buffer between skin and whatever is in the air, especially useful when smoke is heavy.
Rest & Repair
- Lymphatic massage helps the body's own drainage and clearing systems keep moving.
- Moderate, non-taxing movement we want enough movement to keep circulation and lymph flowing, without asking a stressed system for more than it has right now.
- Prioritizing sleep and a consistent bedtime because this is when your body does its real repair work, and it matters even more when it's already processing extra environmental stress.
Environmental
- Air quality monitoring is a practical way to decide how much time outside makes sense today, not a source of anxiety. You can check this on the weather app of your phone.
- Air purifier indoors is great for filtering the air you're breathing at home, distinct from the humidifier's job of adding moisture back.
- Keeping windows closed during peak smoke hours is a simple, free, and low-effort way to keep particulate out of your space in the first place.
- Air-supporting plants indoors like snake plant, pothos, and spider plant are all low maintenance and beginner friendly plants that assist in indoor air cleansing.
Easing Off
- Alcohol one less thing asking your liver and system to process right now.
- Excess sugar same idea… keeping the load lighter while your body's already got extra work to do.
- Fried and heavily processed foods like processed meats, fast food, packaged snacks put more pressure on your system without replenishing with high quality nutrients.
- Excess screen time and scrolling take a toll because cortisol and oxidative stress are linked, so chronic low-grade stress activation compounds the stress your body is already experiencing. Also, screens in the evening suppress melatonin production, and sleep is when a lot of your body's actual repair and detox processes happen.
