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Chapter 1: What are the effects of midlife hormone fluctuations on joint health?
Hello and a warm welcome to Age Better with me, Liz Earle. I am so glad Monday is here. I do love these shows because I get to hear from you and answer all your questions on health and well-being. And if you have a question that you'd like my help with, please get in touch. All the contact details are in the episode description and at the end of the show.
So then, coming up today, Lynn is worried she has damaged her skin forever. So I'm going to have some tips for her. Don't panic, Lynn. Now, does turmeric affect HRT? I'll be sharing my thoughts on that shortly. Then I will be discussing the collagen and cartilage connection and how best to add nuts and seeds to your diet.
And then finally, I'll be helping a listener, hopefully, who's discovered that she is a mouth breather.
Bye.
Well, we're going to start the show with Lynn's message and you ask, Hi Liz, I listened to your podcast and cringed because I've been doing at home microneedling and I put retinol on straight afterwards thinking I was doing some good. You mentioned in the podcast that you should never put retinol on after microneedling.
I've been using the Skin Diligent Retinol and Exosome Cream on alternate nights and I have burned my face recently. The microneedling obviously hasn't helped together with the fact that I forgot you should wear sunscreen. Have I ruined my skin forever? Will it eventually recover? Any tips to help the healing? Would my current body red light mask help or hinder?
I've stopped the retinol and the exosomes and after three weeks, it's feeling less sore but still peeling. I've been putting fushi rosehip oil on. And finally, the retinol and exosome creams were expensive, so should I throw them away? Or could I go back to them once if my skin heals, but use less often? Thank you for any advice you can provide, Liz. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. I do sympathize.
Yeah, it's tricky, isn't it? And I think with microneedling, I'm a big fan of microneedling, by the way. I've done podcasts on this before. I do think it's great, but you do have to be careful. I think bottom line, though, just to reassure you, it's very unlikely that you've permanently damaged your skin. OK, so the skin is an extraordinary organ.
It's incredibly resilient and very good at healing.
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Chapter 2: Do collagen supplements help with achy joints?
So let's just hopefully give you that as an initial piece of hope. Let's go through this bit by bit and then I think we can work out how best to help you here. So microneedling works by creating tiny controlled micro injuries in the skin using very small needles. And what they do is this microscopic puncture, not enough to draw blood, but just enough to puncture the epidermis.
What it does is it stimulates the skin's natural healing response. And in turn, that encourages the production of collagen and elastin and new skin cells. And that's why microneedling can significantly improve things like skin texture and scarring and fine lines.
However, immediately after microneedling, the skin barrier is, of course, temporarily compromised, which makes it much more sensitive and more permeable to anything applied on top. And that's why it's really recommended to use only very gentle hydrating products for the first 24 to 48 hours. Something like a simple barrier repair cream, just some simple ceramides or hyaluronic acid, for example.
So strong active ingredients such as the retinoids, vitamin C, exfoliating acids, all of that kind of thing should generally be avoided straight afterwards, unless perhaps in an aesthetic clinic in a medical setting. So let's just take a look at the creams that you've used instead of those gentler ones.
So retinol, a form of vitamin A, it's extremely effective, but it's very powerful, which is why it needs to be introduced gradually. Exosomes, that's another interesting area. It's a newer area of skincare. Exosomes are tiny signaling molecules that are released by cells to basically help coordinate cellular repair and communication.
In skincare, the research is still evolving, but they have huge potential for skin regeneration and healing. And I think actually I really like the Skin Diligent range. I think it's excellent and very well put together. So you're right in saying it's quite pricey. And I think if it was me, I would definitely keep those creams. And I'm sure that you will be able to go back to using them again.
And even if not in the short term, certainly in the longer term, but of course you could always use them on your neck and the backs of your hands as well, which will definitely benefit. So yeah, please do not throw them out.
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Chapter 3: What skincare tips should I follow after microneedling?
So as I say, skin is remarkably resilient and it does have this extraordinary ability to repair itself. So it sounds as though you have just temporarily damaged the skin barrier. And this is really common if the skin is exposed to too many active ingredients at once or after something like microneedling.
So I think the fact that your skin is already less sore after three weeks is a really good sign that the healing is underway. So I think at this stage, your focus should be on repairing and protecting the skin barrier. So super gentle cleanser, nothing that's foaming, just a cream or an oil. Take it off with a nice warm cloth. Keep the skin really soothed.
You're using that Fushi oil, which I love. I think Fushi is a lovely brand. I think their rosehip oil is excellent. And then you've got other really good brands for damaged or compromised skin like Bicera, which is also excellent if you want to go into some sort of more moisturiser type, more cream based formulation rather than just an oil.
But just stay clear of the exfoliating acids or the retinoids, of course, for now. And then you talk about red light. Yes, absolutely.
I think your red light mask might actually be helpful because red and near infrared light have been studied for their ability to support the skin's cellular repair and reduce inflammation and actually stimulate mitochondrial activity in skin cells, which is all very helpful.
So I think as long as the skin isn't extremely inflamed or broken, gentle red light therapy can absolutely help support the healing process in most cases. So bottom line, do not throw your expensive treatments away.
I think once your skin barrier has settled and it feels comfortable again, I would reintroduce them perhaps, but very gradually, maybe once or twice a week, using very small amounts, maybe not using them together, definitely not after microneedling and use them on nights when you're not doing any other treatments or using any other forms of skincare products. So, yeah, introduce them slowly.
Respect the skin's barrier. Give yourself and your skin a little bit of time to focus on repairing. Keep things simple. And I'm fairly confident that everything will heal up and return back to normal. So thank you for your question and giving me the opportunity of exploring it. Hopefully that's going to be helpful information for others listening, too. Well, on to Anonymous's message next.
And you say, hello, Liz. I want to take turmeric for all the great health benefits it provides, but I've heard it negatively impacts with HRT. Would you know anything about this, please? You know, this was a really interesting question for me because, to be honest, I have never heard anything on this.
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Chapter 4: How can I maximize nutrition from nuts and seeds?
One of my favourite occupations, really. Well, let's take a brief pause here. And when we return. How can collagen help your joints? What are some good ways to get the most nutrition from nuts and seeds? And how to balance nose and mouth breathing? Are you a nose breather or a mouth breather at night? Let's discuss.
Music
Chapter 5: What are the benefits of mouth taping for sleep quality?
Welcome back. Well, let's jump into Deborah's question next. And she messaged me on Instagram actually to say, Hi Liz, do you know if collagen supplements help to build cartilage? A few months ago, I was kneeling and playing with the cat. Love that. But suddenly it felt I was kneeling on shards of glass. My knees are really stiff after waking in the morning.
I now have to warm them up before walking down the stairs. I'm only 54 and feel too young for this. Is it menopausal? Thank you. Oh, sorry to hear that you're dealing with that. Knee pain. I know, I get it too. Really uncomfortable and frustrating.
So the description that you've given, particularly that sharp, sudden pain, does make me wonder whether that could be the result of a small injury to the knee, you know, perhaps involving the cartilage or the meniscus. So the meniscus is a cushion of cartilage inside the knee joint that helps absorb shock. And even relatively minor movements or pressure when kneeling can sometimes irritate it.
So, you know, morning stiffness and needing to warm up the knee before moving, even with something as simple as going downstairs. Absolutely can indicate a mild joint irritation or maybe early wear and tear in the joint. If your symptoms persist, definitely it would be worth seeing a physio or GP who could assess the knee and check whether imaging, for example, could be helpful here.
I would say that menopause, yes, it's the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it? Definitely it can play a role in joint symptoms because oestrogen has very important effects on our connective tissues and our cartilage and inflammation. So as oestrogen levels decline during perimenopause and menopause, many women notice increased joint stiffness and aches and pains and reduced joint lubrication.
In fact, I've got several friends who've been referred to rheumatologists and done all sorts of expensive scans and tests. taken medication for, you know, pre-arthritis conditions, etc., only to discover that actually topping up with a bit of body-identical oestrogen relieved all the symptoms and improved their joint pain. So definitely something to consider.
But I think hormonal changes, although they could definitely be contributing to how your joints feel, I don't think that that could necessarily explain the sudden sharp pain that you described. So I think having that investigated would be really helpful. There are various supplements that could also help.
And I write about this actually in How to Age, because obviously, as we age, more people do experience aches and pains. And I cover various things that I found through the data can be very helpful. So collagen is one. It's one of the main structural proteins in the body. It's a key component of cartilage and tendons and ligaments.
And when we take collagen peptides as a supplement, they're giving us the amino acids such as glycine and proline, which the body can then use as building blocks to support that important connective tissue. And then other things, for example, like glucosamine. There were some very interesting studies looking at knee pain and glucosamine. So do take a look at that.
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