When winter comes, itching all over the body bothers countless people. What is the specific reason?

As soon as winter comes, the number of people suffering from itchy skin will skyrocket.

After a refreshing hot bath, I suddenly feel that my body is getting more and more itchy; my legs and feet are so itchy under the newly warmed quilt that I can’t sleep; or I put on a newly bought black sweater to go to an appointment. , but my arms suddenly felt so itchy that I couldn't help myself...

These are experiences that many people have had, which makes us speculate: Is our skin itchy due to the "heat" in winter?

If you say this, friends who have suffered from chilblains in winter will jump out to refute it immediately.

Chilblains, an inflammation caused by exposure to cold and damp environments, usually causes the patient's fingers or toes to become red, itchy, or even blistered and ulcerated.

In the early stages of chilblains, the skin seems to thicken, harden and lose consciousness, but the faint itching coming from inside is very scratchy. If you can't scratch it, it may even cause the condition to worsen. It can be said that it is worse than the common "winter itch".

Chilblains

Cold can also itch, and heat can also itch. It seems that there is no effective universal treatment method for the itching that attacks us from time to time in winter?

That’s not necessarily true.

In fact, the "winter itch" on the skin that we often encounter and the pain and itch caused by chilblains are two completely different mechanisms of action. Through detailed analysis of specific problems, the best treatment and prevention methods can always be found.

What is the biggest environmental difference between winter and other seasons? Many people would say it is temperature, but for sensitive human skin, there is another point that has a greater impact, which is air humidity.

If you are in a dry environment for a long time, the upper layer of human skin will continue to lose moisture. The resulting dry skin is the main reason why many people experience itchy skin in winter. Dry skin is more likely to crack further in low temperature environments, thereby accelerating moisture loss and creating a vicious cycle.

In winter, not only is the outdoor weather cold and dry, but the use of indoor heating also causes a large amount of water to evaporate. Sometimes the indoor air humidity is even lower than outdoors. Therefore, while using hand cream to protect your skin outdoors, you should also pay attention to using a humidifier or moisturizing cream indoors with heating on to maintain skin moisture.

Another point that needs special attention is that "replenishing" the skin with water in winter is not worth the gain. When water vapor evaporates, it not only takes away the moisture of the skin itself, but the heat lost in this process may also cause frostbite and cracking of the skin.

So frequent hand washing and face washing will not make people moisturized and hydrated, but will only make people slowly crack...

Dry skin is not only caused by environmental factors, but also by our own internal factors.

The epidermis of mammals is a very important protective barrier, which can both waterproof and lock water, and can also resist most bacterial invasions. This is also an important level for the human body to maintain internal moisture balance and the ecological health of the skin.

As shown in the picture above, the water in the stratum corneum of the human epidermis protects our skin. Once the water content of the stratum corneum is less than 10%, skin problems such as dryness, itching, and cracking will occur.

Under normal circumstances, the sebaceous glands under the epidermis will continuously secrete oil. The non-volatile oils not only help lock in moisture, but also help resist the invasion of most bacteria.

In summer when the temperature is high, the skin sweats and produces a lot of oil. Sweat odor and oil are a big trouble in our lives. At this time, we can remove sweat and oil stains by taking frequent baths, using alkaline soap, and washing clothes in hot water.

But in the winter when the temperature is lower, the sebaceous glands almost enter a state of hibernation in daily life, and the small amount of oil secreted becomes a "scarce resource." In this case, bathing with hot water for a long time and using strong oil-removing alkaline soap will destroy the water-locking and protective ability of the skin surface.

Therefore, if you have obvious symptoms of "winter itch", you must pay attention to controlling the frequency, duration and water temperature of bathing, and avoid using alkaline soap or detergents. If it really doesn't work, as long as your body doesn't smell bad, why don't you try it for a few days without taking a shower? It's guaranteed that "the oil will cure the disease".

In fact, in the colder and drier north, it is normal to take a shower every few days in winter; but in the relatively warm and humid south, it is still easy to sweat and produce oil after a little exercise. , so many southerners maintain the habit of taking a bath at least once a day even in winter.

After controlling the importance of bathing, you also need to pay attention to the issues of intimate clothing and bedding.

In the final analysis, many skin problems are caused by microorganisms and bacteria. Excessive cleaning of oil and dry and cracked skin is equivalent to opening a gap for intruders. If the bedding is not clean enough, then thousands of little ones will start invading the skin as soon as they enter the bed.

Changing washing and drying quilts regularly and maintaining indoor hygiene can also effectively prevent skin itching.

In addition, clothes made of wool and synthetic fibers can easily cause skin reactions and cause itching. If you already have obvious symptoms of winter itch, it is recommended to change into clothes made of pure cotton or natural materials. Otherwise, it will be easy to get itchy and lose your grace when going out, which would not be good.

All in all, there may be many factors that lead to mild itching of the skin in winter, but the symptom itself is not a big problem - as long as you can resist scratching it.

But if you find that large areas of erythema or other abnormalities have appeared on the skin, it is most likely caused by subconscious scratching or excessive dryness, leading to problems such as secondary bacterial infection.

In order to prevent it from further developing into a difficult chronic skin disease, you should seek medical advice in time. You must not wait until winter is over and it will get better naturally.

As for the chilblain mentioned earlier, its cause is much simpler: it is a lesion caused by local blood circulation disorder after the body surface is damaged by low temperature. To put it simply, it is frozen. Generally, the affected area needs to be kept warm and protected for a week or two to slowly recover.

There is also a common misunderstanding that needs to be paid attention to about chilblains: the affected area is caused by blood circulation problems caused by damaged capillaries, so it needs to be kept warm while avoiding extreme temperature changes.

In other words, if the cold affected area is directly immersed in hot water, it will aggravate the injury of the affected area.

Back to the topic of winter itch. In fact, itching and pain are two very similar sensory experiences. Just like everyone's ability to tolerate pain is different, different people's feelings of "itch" are also inconsistent.

On Zhihu, an old man shared his "unique secrets" for dealing with winter itch. The general idea is to boil hot water and wash it directly from the feet up. The extreme itch will eventually turn into numbness. "So cool", my mind went blank and I was so happy that I forgot about the painful feeling of winter itch...

This is a bold and dangerous way to treat Ah Q's itch. We do not recommend that people with normal physiques perform this kind of operation for a long time. In contrast, another answer with a Versailles flavor is much more reliable:

"My family is very ticklish, so every year Let’s spend the winter in super-humid environments like New Orleans, Houston, Bangkok, Hong Kong, or Manila.

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