This article looks at the important of a healthy liver for acne healing including tips to help boost your liver function for less spots and healthier skin.

After your heart, your liver is the most important organ – it has so many important jobs to do such as detoxification, metabolism and filtering, regulating and storing blood. It’s easy to assume that an unhealthy liver is only a concern for alcoholics, but stress, poor diet and over-medication are really common in this day and age and all this pressure can cause the liver to become “sluggish” and it may be struggling to function properly without you even realising it!

The importance of a healthy liver for acne healing

What we put on our skin, the food we eat, the air we breathe…let’s face it. We are exposed to an obscene amount of chemicals on a daily basis and it’s the job of our poor old liver to filter out these toxins. If your liver is struggling to detoxify your bloodstream adequately, toxins must find an alternative route of excretion and that alternative route is probably through your skin.

If your liver is struggling to detoxify your bloodstream, you may find yourself breaking out

I came across an interesting article on Sensible Health which outlines the main functions of the Liver which I have listed below.

Circulation: Transfer of blood from portal to systemic circulation, activity of the liver’s reticulo-endothelial system (kupffer cells) in the immune system. The liver stores and regulates the blood and is responsible for nourishing every cell in our body. Every part of the body depends on blood from the liver for nourishment and sustenance.
Excretion: Formation and secretion of bile for digestion and cleansing of blood; removal of ammonia from blood; excretion of substances filtered from the blood by the liver such as heavy metals or dyes.
Metabolism: Carbohydrate, protein, lipid (fat), mineral and vitamin metabolism; manufacturing and storage of many nutrients such as glucose and vitamins; production of heat through metabolism.
Protection and detoxification: removal of foreign bodies from the blood (phagocytosis); detoxification by conjugation, methylation, oxidation and reduction.
Production: formation of urea, serum albumin, glycogen and blood coagulating proteins such as prothrombin, fibrinogen and heparin; erythrocyte (red blood cells) destruction.
Regulation of hormones: inactivation and elimination of hormones through the bile or urine. Since oestrogen and androgens are both growth hormones which stimulate cell division, elevation of their levels in the blood due to the liver’s failure to remove them efficiently can cause their accumulation in tissue. This in turn may lead to abnormal growths such as uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, breast cysts and breast cancer, prostate enlargement or prostate cancer. Excessive oestrogen is also the most common cause of painful menstruations and hormonal acne.

Get fit!

Exercise stimulates blood circulation. When blood circulates better, all organs function better. Stretching and deep breathing kind of exercises early in the morning provide the most benefit for anyone with sluggish liver. According to Chinese medicine, the liver works hard to filter our blood between 1 to 3 am during our sleep. A fair amount of blood may be still retained in the liver when we wake up in the morning if the liver is congested. Early morning exercises help to bring the blood out of the liver into the circulating system. One of the symptoms for the excess blood retained in the liver is waking up in the morning with stiffness or numbness in the fingers or dizziness due to lack of blood circulation.

Stress less!

Stress congests the liver and constricts the blood vessels. It causes poor blood flow and the whole body becomes sluggish. The liver is the most emotion sensitive organ and its weakness is often connected to emotional sensitivity. Individuals who are emotionally sensitive are more prone to weak liver even if they do not have a poor diet or are not taking medication regularly.

Want to start loving you liver? Check out my gentle ways to cleanse + support your liver.

Peace, Love & Clear Skin