It's winter: temperatures drop, brightness decreases, humidity increases, winter ailments abound. In nature, animals hibernate, plants go to sleep. In the privacy of our homes, to fight against seasonal depression, we all tend to “compensate” with cocooning, screens, comfort food … It's also the end of year holiday season. Consequence: we move less, we eat fatter and sweeter, we are even more exposed to blue light to the detriment of daylight. Whether we like it or not, these circumstances, all in all quite banal, weaken our immune system and our skin's ability to defend itself against the cold.

At Days of Confidence, we wanted to bring together in a mini-guide all our practical advice to equip yourself on these two issues, so that the cold season is no longer a bad word for you!

5 tips to boost your immune system naturally

1. Set your rhythms to those of nature

For Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), winter is the season of the kidney, considered the body's fundamental energy reserve. It is a period conducive to rest, to introspection. It is above all a question of recharging one's batteries before being able to direct one's energy outwards when spring arrives. The very first advice to strengthen immunity during this period is therefore to maximize your recovery time: advance bedtime, cut screens 1 to 2 hours before going to sleep in favor of reading or body care, allow yourself regular moments of relaxation… Your body will thank you and will have less need to bedridden you several times during the season to get its due! When it comes to waking up, which is often more difficult in this season, light therapy lamps are your allies.

2. Practice energizing kidney friction

Who says kidney season says need to support this precious organ. Remember to rub the kidney-adrenal zone daily after the shower, from the back of the lower ribs to the middle of the back, without forgetting to breathe deeply. This stimulates blood circulation locally, which accelerates the work of these glands. For even more efficiency, this gesture can be done using an ad hoc anointing composed of a dab of neutral vegetable oil (jojoba, sweet almond, apricot kernel, avocado, etc.) enhanced with 3 to 4 drops of Black Spruce or Scots Pine essential oil, toning and cortison-like. Be careful, these essential oils are contraindicated during pregnancy and in children under 6 years old. Seek medical advice in the event of adrenal, pituitary or thyroid pathologies.

3. Encourage warmth and movement

Until then you're in for rest, friction... But how can we bring life back to our bodies in the heart of winter? Very prosaically, favoring warmth and movement.

A few ideas to help you along:

• cover up, especially along the path of the bladder meridian: protecting the head remains a must to guard against germs;

• gentle movements: yoga, qi gong… to recirculate all of the body's energy;

• daily use of the hot water bottle: on the kidneys to energize them, on the liver in the event of congestion in the ENT sphere, under the feet to help you fall asleep;

• the practice of hot baths and hot foot baths: in the evening, in water at 39 degrees, with or without relaxing Epsom salt to warm up, relax and clear your head;

• regular visits to the sauna and/or hammam: to activate emunctories, sweat and evacuate toxins.

4. Adopt a nutritious, digestible and warming diet

We don't cut it: boosting your immunity also goes through food.

Primum non nocere : first, do no harm. That is to say, do not overstretch the immune system through food. As we know, an excessive intake of sugars and simple carbohydrates monopolizes the immune system, too frequent alcohol consumption also monopolizes it, an excess of salt or a pro-inflammatory diet in the broad sense weakens our immune cells. And, conversely, an insufficient food intake or even nutritional deficiencies are also harmful for our defense systems. More than ever, it's time to eat everything smartly! Without excess, by favoring homemade from quality and seasonal products, by compensating for festive and rich meals with one or two days at low digestive cost... Nothing very complicated, trust the calendar of the primeur and your voucher meaning, avoid the ultra transformed, and everything will be fine, we promise you.

Bet on a rather warming diet. Make vegetable soup - traditional or "raw", in the form of a vegetable juice to which a little boiling water is added at the last moment, for even more vitality - or farandoles of grilled vegetables with spices a evening habit. Sanctuarize breaks to concoct hot drinks to boost immunity: infusions of elderberry or echinacea, decoction of ginger; vegetable milk flavored with turmeric, cinnamon, raw cocoa, matcha tea. And remember to find pleasure in the plate, it's also good for morale, and therefore for immunity!

5. Supplement intelligently

In parallel with these lifestyle tips, the cold season invites us to supplement ourselves intelligently with the help of food supplements or suitable superfoods.

For what ?

• because certain micronutrient needs are reinforced by weather conditions, repeated exposure to viruses and oxidative stress (vitamin D, zinc, vitamin C, magnesium, omega-3, antioxidants, etc.);

• because the food of modern times, even organic and in short circuit, is less nutritionally rich than that of our parents and our grandparents because of the impoverishment of the soil, the standardization of seeds... We know by example that to obtain the nutrients of an apple of 1950, it would be necessary to eat 100 of them today!

At Days of Confidence, we have developed an Immunity Complex , based on the chameleon plant: Houttuynia cordata, Arginine, Glutamine, vitamins D3, K2 and zinc, combining the absolutely fundamental nutrients that we are very often deficient in to help you maintain your immunity at its optimal level. Take 3 capsules a day in the morning with a glass of water for 20 days.

Essential oils can, again, be of great help to complete the protective arsenal:

• a few drops of Ravintsara, a powerful anti-infective, in olfaction on a handkerchief or in anointing diluted in a little vegetable oil on the inside of the wrists before going out (except the first 3 months of pregnancy, people with asthma and children under 6 years old);

• a drop of Lemon, purifying and protective, sublingually in the morning (except the first 3 months of pregnancy).

Here are two simple actions to support aromatherapy immunity on a daily basis.

5 tips to protect the skin from the cold

1. Change your skincare routine towards more protection

The cold tends to attack the skin, especially when it is dry, sensitive or reactive. We then encounter problems such as redness or tightness.

It is therefore important to provide the skin with richer care than usual to soothe and deeply nourish it and promote comfort. They will also be selected for their effect on microcirculation in order to reduce redness. We will also avoid active ingredients that are too powerful, potentially irritating, as well as too frequent exfoliations to favor softness.

Finally, even if the sun is less present than the rest of the year, an SPF 15 or 20 sun protection factor is still strongly recommended to protect the skin in an urban environment, SPF 30 to 50 for winter sports.

Within the Days of Confidence range, the Radiance Facial Cream is the versatile ultra-hydrating day care product you need for the cold season.

A perfectly versatile anti-aging ultra-protective nourishing care.

At bedtime, we can turn to the Soothing Facial Oil (pomegranate, jojoba, kukui, macadamia) which naturally accelerates the skin's lipid-replenishing process.

2. Moisturize the skin well from within

Because skin protection is an in and out process, it is essential to implement a number of dietary measures:

• maintain a good level of hydration: drink 1.5 liters of low-mineral spring water or duly filtered tap water per day, you are less thirsty in winter but it is a non-negligible parameter for beauty skin ;

• make sure you regularly consume polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), that is to say omega-3 and omega-6: they guarantee the elasticity and tightness of the epidermis. Where to find them? In small fatty fish from cold seas such as sardines, mackerel, herring, etc., in walnuts, in raw butter, in organic and virgin vegetable oils from first cold pressing of camelina, hemp, flax, in avocado etc.

• Vary your recipes with foods rich in collagen: first and foremost, homemade poultry broth, deliciously warming, or bone marrow. Good to know: eggs contain the amino acids precursors of collagen. On the plant food side, spirulina flakes, rich in glycine, are able to activate the endogenous production of collagen.

A targeted dietary supplement such as our Radiance Complex (Milk Thistle, Microalgae, Grape, Rose), which prevents oxidative stress and is designed to restore suppleness to the skin by filling in omega-3 deficiencies, is also welcome.

Take 2 capsules a day in the morning with a glass of water for 20 days.

3. Treat the extremities

In winter, the feet, hands and lips are more exposed to the cold than the rest of the body. To avoid chapping, take special care of them: cover them, exfoliate them (once a month is enough), moisturize them.

To wrap them daily, opt for a unique, rich and inexpensive product, 100% clean, such as:

• ultra-nourishing organic Shea butter, preferably from a fair trade sector;

• Rosehip vegetable oil, particularly healing;

• Wheat germ vegetable oil, specific for dry and tight skin.

4. Repair cracks and chilblains on an ad hoc basis

If, despite this, the extremities crack, cracks set in, it is good to know some emergency gestures to soothe these sores of the winter period.

The idea is to enrich the versatile product you have chosen to nourish the extremities with natural restorative active ingredients such as:

• Spike Lavender essential oil, healing and immune stimulating, not to be used during pregnancy and breastfeeding, in children under 7 years old or in epileptics, up to one drop per day;

• Cistus ladaniferous essential oil, regenerating, to be avoided during the first 3 months of pregnancy, during breastfeeding and in children under 3 years old and not recommended in the event of anticoagulant treatment, up to one drop per day ;

• Castor vegetable oil, softening and restorative, up to one tablespoon per day.

Also think about honey, and in particular Manuka honey, powerful healing, rather as a complementary poultice, once or twice a week.

If, during the cold season, your lips are continually chapped, do not hesitate to make a homemade scrub based on honey and sugar before applying your soothing mixture.

5. Balance the ground acid-base

Considered by naturopaths as an emunctory in its own right, the skin is able to eliminate excess acids on its surface on the one hand, via the sweat glands, excess mucus on the other hand, by intermediary of the sebaceous glands.

When there are too many acid-type toxins - otherwise known as crystals - the skin can no longer eliminate everything. It is generally dry, easily irritated and skin pathologies such as eczema, psoriasis or erythema (localized redness) may appear.

If you are unable to overcome skin dryness in winter thanks to our 4 previous tips, it may be worth starting work on the acid-base balance of your land to restore it permanently.

To learn more, read our article The benefit of the alkaline diet for the skin .