Autumn is here: How to protect your lips and face in the autumn sun
Craving more chocolate with colder weather? Discover how to eat chocolate guilt free.
Dr Bianca Piscioneri
As the northern hemisphere celebrates Easter, Passover and other cultural festivals in spring, it can be confusing for us Down Under in Australia. For them, regardless of the cultural background and indeed since ancient times, spring has always been about brighter days, renewal, rebirth, a re-energising season after a long, dark and cold winter. Hence, the symbolic chocolate easter eggs and painting eggs in bright colours. This year, I added jewellery to the eggs I painted with my family for the sheer pleasure of life's little luxuries and to capture the autumn light of the sun's clear yet still strong rays which bounce off the sparkly jewellery on the eggs.
GGDS has pioneered the innovative concept of Life’s Little Luxuries. This was necessary for us based on years of experience and we could see that people needed help to bring the focus on how to live their best life each and every day, rather than postponing their happiness until the weekend or a holiday.
For us in Australia, it may be Easter time but it is also clearly well into the autumn season. A season for repose, to slow down, but we simply should not underestimate how a seasonal change can affect our moods, the perception of our well being and how we feel in general. We think it's important to understand how this type of seasonal change can affect the rhythms of our day and how it can create a sense of imbalance during the transitional time between seasons. With colder, shorter days, we may start having stronger cravings for more carbohydrate-laden and sugary foods. We may find ourselves reaching out any time of day, and often, for sweets such as chocolate.
Protect your lips from the sun and its UVA & UVB rays this autumn
Don’t get caught out by the cool warmth of the autumn sun and think that your lips will not burn. After hot summers, our autumn is a season where more people venture outdoors to garden, exercise, spend time with each other and make the most of the pleasant weather in nature. So often we are unwittingly more susceptible to sun damage on our faces, neck and lips because we simply don’t think to protect our faces with sunscreen. Autumn is also often breezy, which makes the sunlight more pleasant and appear harmless.
"Overall be mindful of the autumn sun all over your body!"
The wind dries out the lips easily. Having much thinner as well as reduced number of tissue layers compared to skin, the lips are far more vulnerable. UVA rays are always present regardless of the cloud cover and they do the most silent damage in ageing our lips and face.
In autumn, dehydrated lips are more susceptible to sunburn. Try our all weather protective, nourishing and hydrating lip care: the Hydra-Renew Lip Care with organic Sea-buckthorn orange berries. Read more about the special relationship these berries have with the sun how they can protect you from sun damage and in turn help to repair the tissues once the sun damage occurs. Overall be mindful of the autumn sun all over your body!
About Chocolate: the higher the quality the better; Always!
Chocolate has both fat and sugar, and this is maybe why it is so universally appealing in that it reaches what is called the Bliss Point, that is, sugar and fat combine in the right ratio to create a feel good effect. Sugar and fat are rarely together in one type of food in nature for us to find at random and in the correct proportions within that food. Chocolate delivers the experience of a velvety and smooth mouth feel, glides over the teeth and the experience for most people is a sensuous pleasure in the brain where endorphins are released. Similar types of substances are known to be released in people who are runners.
"Try eating chocolate all at once and at the end of a meal rather than small amounts as snacks through out the day..."
The higher quality and quantity of cocoa butter in the chocolate, the better effect it has. We often don’t feel like eating a lot of it either, thereby reducing the volume of fat and sugar we consume. Conversely, chocolate products with minimal cocoa butter content has much more sugar and vegetable oils, which do not produce the same satisfying effect, and so we often consume more of it.
Try eating chocolate all at once and at the end of a meal rather than small amounts as snacks through out the day. This way you allow the wonderful magic ingredients in your saliva to build up and to have time to buffer the mouth environment and to help protect your teeth. Also, you can help to train your brain not to reach out for sweet things to satisfy the first cravings of hunger. In other words, try not to reach out for chocolate when you are starving.
Enhance your mood with fragrances and remember to actively hydrate with water!
In our sunny autumn season, roses and other flowers are still pushing the last of their flowers even though botanically, it seems the summer is over. Take the time to take stock on how you feel. Stop often and try to listen to your body and mind. Take a self care moment each day and check if you are you are subconsciously clenching your teeth, pursing your lips or if you need to hydrate with water. Remember to drink water regularly through the day even if you don’t feel thirsty during the cooler weather in autumn. Your lips, skin and brain will appreciate it.
Play with our Parfums de Provence fragrances to enhance your mood throughout the day or in the evening. These fragrances are well suited to help you be creative by layering them as you like, and creating your own unique essences and scents. Rose de Mai, Mimosa and Lavande are all waiting to be explored this autumn season. Immerse yourself in their high quality botanicals, essential oils and absolutes.
