Everyone knows that sleep is essential for your body to function properly. If you are an eczema sufferer, getting a good night’s sleep can go a long way to healing your skin.This is also true of your body’s ability to heal itself. More than 95% of all bodily repairs are performed while you are asleep.  If you do not get enough sleep every night, your body will be more focused on staying alert and performing basic functions like metabolizing food.

It will consider healing your eczema wounds as a secondary task which can be ignored for more important duties. If you want to heal your eczema quickly, you must get enough sleep.

Of course, the nature of eczema does not often provide you with ideal sleeping conditions. The itching skin can be terrible, especially with no daytime tasks to distract your mind from concentrating on the desire to scratch.

The pain and open wounds make it difficult to get into a comfortable sleeping position.

Overall, the eczema can leave you up all night, tossing and turning, and not healing. If eczema is interfering with your sleep, the best defense is a good offense. In this case, the cure for eczema related sleep loss is a lot simpler than you may think.

Stop The Itching

The constant itch of eczema is the main complaint of sufferers who are losing sleep. It is all they can do to stop themselves from scratching.

It wakes them throughout the night and keeps them from falling asleep. If they do scratch, they worry about what the damage will look like in the morning.

Step One

Get a high quality pillow, comforter/quilt, and sheet set. It is amazing how few people know that having good sleeping essentials, those which are soft, breathable, and made from natural fibers, can reduce itching.

Step Two

Cool down your room, sheets, and pillow. The feeling of being warm, hot, or sweaty, is a main itch agitator because it gives the sensation of dry skin.

Lowering the temperature of your sleep environment can keep your skin feeling moist. The cold will also make your skin contract, drawing together the pores and making the nerves concentrate on the soothing chill instead of the lingering itch.

While some people choose to buy a room fan and chill their sheets beforehand, some more extreme cases of night time itching may also be treated by using icepacks, covered with a towel, in the bed.

Care For The Wounds

Your eczema wounds can be difficult. They are open and seeping, swollen, and painful. You worry that lying in bed will open the wounds further or lead to infection.

You try not to rest on your afflicted skin, but are concerned you may roll over on it in the middle of the night. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your wounds safe and still get a good night’s sleep.

Step One

Bandage severe wounds or those you are most concerned about. While it is best for eczema wounds to breathe, it is more important that you get plenty of sleep so you can heal.

Wet bandages, which are traditional bandages that are soaked in a zinc paste, are very effective. The zinc is both a healing mineral and moisturizer which will help repair your skin.

The moist bandage will keep the wounds soothed and eliminate itching. You can cover the wet bandage with a dry bandage and not have to worry about the wound for the rest of the evening. Smaller wet bandages can be used for facial and eyelid eczema.

Step Two

Apply plenty of safe moisture. If you think wet bandages are a little extreme or if your wounds are not very open and deep, a thick layer of moisture will do.

An ointment made of nourishing emollients, like coconut oil and vitamin E will be very effective. The moisturizing ointment will create a thin, but strong, layer of protection between your skin and your bedding.

It will prevent any seeping agitation from your bedding and it will keep dirt and germs out of your wounds. It will help reduce swelling and alleviate pain. Additionally, the moisture will give you great relief from your itching.

Eczema should not keep you awake at night. It is important that you not allow anything stand between you and a good night’s sleep. There is nothing more essential to keeping your skin and your whole body healthy.