It’s bad enough managing eczema during the day, but have you noticed it gets worse at night?
If you have been wondering why this happens, discover the following factors and your mind will be put to rest;
- Temperature
- Bed clothes’ material
- Stress
- Dust mites
TEMPERATURE
Your body gets warmer in the evening as you prepare to go to bed. So it is a good idea to air your room to make it cooler. Or have a fan on.
Central heating is definitely a big NO as it will heat up your room and have you in a scratch-fest.
MATERIAL
Avoid wool and polyester throws, sheets and pillow cases. Make sure your pillow does not contain duck feathers as they can cause facial eczema. Woollen fibres can rub through your night wear and cause the dreaded itch.
Also, polyester is a non-breathable material that can rapidly heat up your body.
If you can remember that eczema sufferers get over-heated quickly, resulting in the itch-scratch-itch cycle throughout the night, you will do well to use cotton bedclothes or silk.
Also, remember to use night wear made from cotton or silk. If you tend to get sweaty at night, stick to cotton night wear.
Sleep without underwear to allow your nether parts to breathe.
FLOORING
When I moved to my new apartment years ago, my friends removed my carpet when I was having a scratch-fest.
I’m glad they did as it was full of dust even though I vacuumed every week.
I replaced the carpet with vinyl flooring. With a cotton runner in the hall way which I wash every few months.
Wearing soft slippers made all the difference to my feet and kept them cosy.
STRESS
College or working from home can give you a lot of stress, especially around exam time. In jobs where performance is important it can be very easy to pile up stress mentally and emotionally.
To combat it, putting on soft, soothing classical music does wonders for your psyche.
If you take a nightly bath – keep it lukewarm with dim lights to create a cosy cocoon to prepare you for bed.
NIGHT TIME BATH ROUTINE
You will need the following:
Dead Sea Salts 1 cup
6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of shea butter
1/2 cup of freshly ground jumbo oats
Forever Living Aloe Vera Gelly
Method:
1. With the bath tap running lukewarm water, add the Dead Sea Salts and 3 tablespoons of olive oil
2. Add 1 tablespoon of shea butter to the water and let it melt.
3. Add the ground oatmeal and swish it to disperse in the bath water.
4. To your skin (if the eczema is on your body) apply 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and massage it.
5. Get in the bath and soak for just 20 minutes.
6. Get out of the bath and let your skin air dry to damp for 2 minutes.
7. Slather your body with the Aloe Vera Gelly
8. Apply a tablespoon of olive oil mixed with 1 tablespoon of shea butter onto your eczema patches.
NOTE:
iF you have eczema on your face, apply aloe vera gelly followed by olive oil to your skin. If you are not allergic to coconut oil, this is an excellent ointment for your skin. DO NOT USE SHEA BUTTER ON YOUR FACE
9. If you are having a full body flare up and your eczema is chronic, put onTubifast bandages.
You can get them from your local chemist or pharmacy. Tubifast bandages can be used by children as well as adults. They come in different sizes for limbs, torso and even a child’s head (with holes for the mouth, nose, eyes and ears)
Make sure you get the right size.
If the eczema is weeping or raw – put on the aloe vera gelly, followed by the shea butter/olive oil mix, then wet Tubifast bandages.
Next, put on dry Tubifast bandages followed by a cotton T-shirt and leggings. Then normal clothes.
This is the way I got a good night’s sleep when I was having my last eczema flare up in 2016.
Because I followed this bath time routine and also did herbal colon cleansing, followed by a liver flush – I have been clear for 6 years.
For the record, I steer clear of highly processed foods and stick to natural plant foods for the most part.
I do it lightly roasted chicken and fish about twice a week. In winter I eat a lot of rice with all kinds of beans or lentils.
I also avoid food containing any kinds of flour. This means bread, biscuits and cakes. I make my own flourless baked fancies.
If you read my other blog posts, I am a huge fan of green juices and smoothies. These have kept my eczema at bay as I make them every day, drinking up to 6 glasses a day for breakfast.
The side benefit is that I look 20 years younger!!
DUST MITES
These are tiny insects that live on dead human skin flakes hidden in our mattresses, pillows and duvets.
These little creatures also leave their faeces in our bed clothes. This is why it is important to get a mattress protector which you can wash every 2 weeks in your washing machine.
Swap duvets which make you hot and sweaty, for cotton throws and cotton sheets. For those of you who sleep on your side, get a memory foam pillow for side sleepers. Change your pillows at least every 6 months.
The problem with washing pillows is that they may not completely dry inside and can grow mouldy, hence it’s better to just invest in a new pair every 6 months.
Conclusion
Eczema can get worse at night, but if you have satin clothes on, you will not only keep cool, but the satin keeps the moisture in your skin.
You wake up feeling peachy!
Evening baths with lukewarm water as described above will keep you moisturised and calm at night. You will also be put into a sleepy mood. Perfect for bedtime.
So that’s it!
If you have any more questions about how to keep cool at night, please let me know…In the comments section below.
As a nurse, I do know that eczema is an auto immune disease, and is very debilitating for those who suffer from it. At night it may be worse, because the body cools down, and if you may scratch in your sleep which damages the skin a little more. There are quite a few treatments that work reasonably well, both homeopathic and traditional medicine, and as each person is different, the treatments work individually, I feel for those who suffer from eczema. This article and the ones in the series with it. I am very educational, and I am grateful to the author for producing them.
Deedee
I completely understand the struggles of eczema at night because my friend battles with it.
She has shared with me her nighttime strategies to cope, like using cotton and silk bedding, which helps manage temperature and reduce itching.
She also swears by soothing baths and a meticulous skincare routine to keep her skin moisturized.
It’s been quite a journey for her, but these practices have made her nights much more comfortable.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s battle with eczema.
The good news is that if she does a colon cleanse to get rid of toxins, the eczema will clear off withiin 3 months if it is very chronic like mine was.
I have been clear since 2017. Since I didn’t want other people to suffer like I did, I wrote this website with the view to helping others clear their skin – even infants.
My son also had exfoliative eczema at the age of 6 months to 2 years and I got him clear. I have also helped several of my friend’s children clear their eczema.
So if you both read my site articles, you will find useful remedies that work wonders for the skin. She is on the right track by moisturising her skin regularly.
However, a colon cleanse will definitely clear her skin up. Look out for Colonix by DrNatura. It is sold in the USA and is a company that has been going for more than 20 years. Their products are gentle and work, but are not a fad.
Let her do her research and find out for herself…God Bless and Good Luck!
I just read your article on why eczema tends to worsen at night, and it really resonates with my personal experience. As someone who has struggled with eczema for years, I can attest to the frustration of dealing with heightened symptoms during the nighttime. Your article’s explanation of the physiological factors, such as increased body temperature and decreased distractions, aligns with what I’ve observed in my own eczema journey.
In my experience, managing eczema at night can be particularly challenging, so I’m always on the lookout for practical tips and solutions. I’d be interested to hear about any specific nighttime skincare routines or products that you’ve found effective in alleviating eczema symptoms, as your insights could be incredibly valuable to fellow eczema sufferers like me. Thank you for addressing this issue, drawing from your experience, and offering potential solutions for a better night’s sleep with eczema.
I’m sorry to hear about your eczema bouts….besides the room temperature and cotton bedding and nightwear, it’s a good idea to take soothing lukewarm baths before you go to sleep.
Personally, I find that I nod off faster after having a relaxing bath.
Do read the other articles on my site as they contain information about juices, smoothies and cleanses that you can take to clear your skin faster.
I’ve been clear of head-to-toe eczema since 2016 due to keeping these practices.
So there is light at the end of the tunnel.
hey Stella,
thanks for the article. it was very informative and helpful. i’ve dealt with eczema for a while, and the nighttime struggles are real. your tips on room temperature, cotton bedding, and nightwear are on point. and that bath routine with dead sea salts and olive oil sounds soothing! i’ll definitely give it a try. thx for sharing your experience and advice 🙂
best, matias
Hi Matias,
Eczema can be a real headache, especially when we are told so many ways of getting rid of it.
The good thing is that my methods are proven to work as I have helped my infant son when he was a baby, and other people, clear their eczema.
Depending on how severe it is, your skin will take anything from several weeks to a year to clear up, but clear up it definitely can.
Once you do a bowel cleanse and liver flush. Read the liver flush protocol to find out more.
Til then, I wish you success in clearing your skin.
What a great article on eczema at night, it is very informative on what to do in detail to avoid a scratch fest. I do wonder a bit though if taking a hot bath instead of a shower is better, I always thought that hot water isn’t good for eczema, like on the contrary, I would try cold shower training, although I still can’t do it haha! Anyway, thank you for all these tips, I am surely going to take a look at the dustmite thing!
Hi Lizzy,
On my site, I have posts and articles where I talk about having Moor Mud baths and baths with oatmeal for eczema.
They are meant to be lukewarm baths. And the difference between having a shower and a bath is that in a bath, whatever you put in it soaks into your skin as you lie there in the bath.
However, a shower will just wipe off whatever you have on your skin. You actually want to have a bit of osmosis going on whereby oil goes into your skin or shea butter or whatever else you put in the bath.
Right now, I have a small stubborn patch of eczema on my foot and I take mud footbaths and full body baths every other day. The patch of eczema is getting thinner and the itch has diminished a lot.
Which is great!
As someone who has some ezcema, aloe vera has some benefits as there are calming effects. Aloe Vera has vitamin E, which helps soothe skin. I use it and the gel does have some benefits. The only downside is the coolness. I should try listening to classical music to calm myself down. It seems it does wonders to my mind. I would like to try to follow through.
Good for you Anshu, once you follow the remedies on my site, you will get better.
My site is very educational and will give you step-by-step instructions on how to clear your skin naturally.
Aloe vera is cooling, but that is a soothing property which most people with eczema appreciate. If you also cut down on sugary food and drink, you will find the inflammation from the eczema, will go down,
Hey thank you for this post!
My brother has eczema which used to be a lot worse however thankfully is now calmed down. We certainly noticed it was a lot worser during the evening or night and so was his asthma, which was quite a weird situation come to think of it. The list you have come up with here are really helpful as the reason for my brothers issue was the bedding and material so we searched for an alternative which did thankfully improved his situation.
Thanks again and have a great day!
Hello Sariya,
I’m sorry to hear your brother has eczema. More people have it these days…
Cutting out sugary food and drink is very important and will make a huge difference to the inflammation on his skin. It will be less red and itchy.
There are other articles on my site that can help him. All these remedies work – I have used them personally and have helped my friend’s children become eczema-free including my own son.
Meanwhile, take care.