5 Important Tips to Take Care of Your Feet During The Monsoons

Despite giving you respite from the scorching summer, monsoon brings in a number of health hazards too, including those related to your feet. Stickiness, sweat and moisture are common elements during this season that often promote development of molds and fungus. If your personal hygiene with respect to feet is not taken care of seriously, you can become prone to various feet-related woes. Here’re five crucial tips to take care of this body part that perhaps gets the dirtiest in rainwater.

1. Perfect footwear

Choosing the perfect footwear is absolutely crucial during the rainy season. While gum boots are a wise option, you should avoid wearing canvas or sports shoes as they get wet easily and remain so for a prolonged time. This, in turn, could create a highly conducive medium for the growth of fungi, bacteria etc. Ideally, you should try wearing strappy sandals or open-toed plastic sandals as they dry faster.

2. Thorough cleaning

Thorough cleaning is another thing that helps your feet do well in the monsoons. Make sure to clean and rinse your feet well twice everyday to avoid development of any fungal or bacterial infection. Try soaking your feet in lukewarm water with a little amount of salt added to it. It’ll offer relaxation and remove any dirt from your feet. Also, remove your footwear as soon as you step inside to help your feet breathe.

3. Exfoliation

While thorough washing of your feet on a regular basis is perhaps the best monsoon foot care tip, you should also consider exfoliation to clean the pores of your feet more deeply and to make the skin revitalized. You can try a mixture of herbs, salts, moisturizers orsimilar ingredients thrown into lukewarm water for the purpose.

4. Foot therapy

Foot scrubs, soaks and healing creams are widely available, and they work effectively to restore the natural smoothness of your feet. Foot scrubs come loaded with healing oils, likethose of sunflower and jojoba, together with vitamin E. Apart from making your footpad supple, they also replenish the lost moisture. A foot soak is something that needs to be added to warm water, after which its fresh aqua scent and salt beads would help to cleanse and relax your feet. If you have excessively rough and dry feet, or suffer from cracked heels, healing creams can help soften them and eliminate the cracks.

5. Nail care

Another important way to take care of your feet during the monsoons is to frequently trim the nails. When your nails are long, they will be difficult to keep clean, and become more prone to the development of bacteria and germs beneath them. So, it’s wise to keep the nails short by trimming them frequently in the rainy season.

The old adage that says “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is perfectly applicable to our feet. While we should always pay serious attention to our feet, monsoon is the season when feet demand more care and attention. Any negligence on your part may lead to infections that couldcreate a lot of discomfort and pain, and even take a lot of time to heal. So, put these tips into effect right away and enjoy the monsoons to the fullest.

Nutritional Deficiencies that Cause your Cracked Heel

Thick dry skin may start building up around your heel. The accumulated dry skin already lacks moisture, and when it is coupled with excessive foot activity, you end up with cracked heel. When you have heel fissure, it doesn’t really go well with your fashionable footwear. If left untreated, cracked heel can cause you great discomfort, severe pain, and even bleeding.

Generally heel fissures affect the outer layer of the skin, but in severe cases the internal layers of dermis can get affected too. The root cause of all these heel problems can be traced to certain nutritional deficiencies. Here we take a look at five key deficiencies – of vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin A

When it comes to promoting cell division and growth, vitamin A plays a key role: consume more of green vegetables, milk, eggs, carrots and orange to enrich your body with this important vitamin. Recommended daily consumption for adult women is 700 mcg, and for adult men 900 mcg.

Vitamin C

Cracks or wrinkles appear when free radicals begin destroying the structural support of elastin and collagen to your skin. Start taking more of citrus fruits and green vegetables to supplement your body with an adequate dose of vitamin C. Recommended daily consumption of this essential nutrient for different age groups of men and women ranges from 75 mg to 120 mg. Consumption of more than the recommended dose may lead to some other problems.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E serves almost the same purpose as vitamin C: it protects your skin cells from the harmful effect of free radicals. It acts as a powerful antioxidant, and can help keep the skin cells strong and smooth. Raise your daily consumption of nuts, green vegetables, whole-grain products and fortified cereals to replenish your body with more of vitamin E. Regular recommended consumption of vitamin E is 15 mg per day.

Omega 3 Foods

Your daily diet must contain a total of at least 4,000 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acid, in the form of salmon fish oil, cod liver oil, walnut, herrings, flax seeds, tuna, white fish, egg yolk, sardines, anchovies, etc. This is an important nutrient which assists your blood circulation. Omega-3 can help heal wounds, enhance skin integrity and reduce inflammation. Make sure that your diet contains all the three types of omega-3 fatty acids.

Zinc

Your body needs enzymes to improve the condition of skin cells, and zinc provides exactly the same. Daily intake of Zinc can benefit your body in multiple ways. It serves to keep your cells growing, and has a specific wound-healing capacity.

Adding zinc to your daily diet is not that tough, as there are many foods which contain this essential mineral. Take more of red meat, oysters, poultry products, whole grains and seafood to nourish your body with this essential mineral. Daily recommended intake for adult men is 11 mg, and for adult women 8 mg.

If your body misses any of the above nutrients, your heel will register the negative impact sooner rather than later. Do include these vitamins and minerals in your daily diet, following the guidelines. If your cracked heel continues to bother you even after revising your diet chart, it is best to consult a podiatrist for specialized assistance.