Your lymphatic system plays an important role in helping your body get rid of waste and toxins. One of its main function is to transport lymph throughout your body. Lymph is a clear-to-white fluid made of: White blood cells, especially lymphocytes, the cells that attack bacteria in the blood.
And lymph nodes are the filters along the lymphatic system. Their job is to filter out and trap bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, and other unwanted substances, and to make sure they are safely eliminated from the body. (1)
Lack of activity or sitting down for too long can decrease the effectiveness of your lymphatic system and lead to toxin overload. Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent this.
Aside from exercising and rebounding, dry skin brushing ranks among the top techniques used for stimulating your lymphatic system. It’s effective and cheap.
How Does Dry Skin Brushing Work?
The largest organ for detoxifying the body is your skin. In fact, almost a third of your body’s toxins are expelled through your skin’s pores (2). Dry skin brushing unclogs pores, which in turn allows your body to excrete toxins that would otherwise be trapped.
Dry Skin Brushing: How To Do It
- Purchase a natural bristle brush. (the longer the handle the easier it’ll be to use on your back)
- Remove all clothes and stand naked in a bathtub. (this will save you time on cleaning up the dead skin)
- Start brushing at your feet and move in long sweeping motions toward your heart. (always brush toward your heart)
- Brush several times in each area, overlapping as you go.
- Take care as you brush over more sensitive areas, like breasts. Your skin will become less sensitive the more you dry brush.
- Once you’ve brushed your entire body, jump in the shower.
- After getting out of the shower, pat dry skin and apply rose hip or coconut oil.
Try to do this twice a day for best results. Once in the morning and a second time in the evening. (3)
Health Benefits of Dry Skin Brushing
- Stimulate Your Lymphatic System
- Exfoliation
- Increase Circulation
- Reduce Cellulite – “When we’d heard dry skin brushing was an effective method for reducing cellulite, we knew we had to include it in our anti-cellulite road test. Sure enough, it was indeed one of the more successful ways to smooth away less-than-perfect spots on your legs.” (4)
- Stress Relief
- Improve Digestion and Kidney Function – “…many naturopathic doctors use dry brushing to help with bloating because massaging the lymph nodes helps the body shed excess water and toxins. One of the immediate effects of dry brushing is smoother skin, but it can also help improve digestion, kidney function, and more.” (5)