Rosacea-Ltd Examines Systemic Flushing
Systemic flushing or clock rosacea is a type of rosacea flushing that tends to occur at a particular time each day. The body does operate on a clock! Universally, hospital physicians have known for years that the lowest body temperature of the 24 hour day is usually around 3:00 to 4:00 A.M. while the highest temperature of the day is generally 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. The average rosacea sufferer does not have hospital waking and sleeping hours, therefore their temperature lows and highs may vary 3 to 5 hours each way. A high temperature for some may be as early as 3:00 P.M.
Flushing usually occurs when the body becomes fatigued and/or stressed which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. The key to this is the autonomic nervous system (more specifically, the sympathetic postganglionic efferent nerves). Any activation of these nerves causes vasoconstriction of body blood vessels -- except in the "facial blush/flush areas" where it induces potent vasodilatation or flushing with the resulting "rosacea flush."
A typical rosacea sufferer would flush in the fifth grade even if the answer was known when the teacher asked a question, and obviously the flushing would be noticed by the other kids. Again the sympathetic nervous system.
Stress and lack of sleep stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. A minimum of 8 to 9 hours of sleep are needed nightly to reduce stress.
Anxiety (fight or flight) stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. Increase in internal body temperature stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, whereas obviously a decrease in body temperature decreases the sympathetic system due to the parasympathetic system calming the sympathetic system.
The sympathetic nervous system is especially important to rosacea patients who tend to have one or more of the following:
Each of the following items below is part of a complex interaction of several systems. YOU MAY CLICK ON THEIR LINKS BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE SYSTEMS:
Sugar/carbohydrate flushing | Steroid flushing | Exercise flushing | Cigarette flushing | Adrenaline flushing | Shower/bath flushing | Alcohol flushing | Exfoliant-related flushing | Cold weather flushing | Food allergy flushing | Pollen/contact flushing | Asthma flushing