Exercise is essential in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, this lifestyle can be quickly interrupted when exercise and other physical activities lead to itchy skin. Luckily, by pinpointing the potential causes of your itch, you can get back on track to a regular running routine without the irritation.
Environmental Allergens
If you're running outdoors during seasons with high allergen counts or indoors in an unclean environment with dust and mold, itching may be associated with contact with these allergens setting off a histamine reaction in your body, which can cause the skin to itch. Environmental allergens and irritants can be in the air, such as with pollen or dust, as well as part of the natural habitat, such as poison oak and poison ivy that you may come across while running in nature.
Washing Clothes
The way you clean your clothing can also have an effect on itching while running. Some people have more sensitive skin than others. This means that the exposure to certain laundry detergents and fabric softeners can activate histamine in the affected area as chemicals from the cleaning products touch your skin. Histamine activates receptors which send a signal to the cerebral cortex in your brain, activating the need to itch. Changing up your washing routine to hypo-allergenic laundry detergents and fabric softeners can help reduce itching.
Fabric Choice
Choosing the right fabrics for workout clothes is critical to maintain your comfort. Certain fabrics restrict the passage of air between your skin and the environment, trapping hot air and irritating the skin. Some fabrics not only trap the air, but also have a texture which can irritate the skin, such as wool. When looking for workout clothing, choose fabrics like cotton or clothing made out of fabrics containing polypropylene, which are both soft on sensitive skin, and allow hot air to escape away from the skin.
Exercise Allergy
In rare cases, your itching may actually be associated with an allergy to exercise, also known as exercise-induced urticaria. This disorder is associated with an allergic reaction to the changes that occur to your body during physical activity, such as the increase in skin temperature and the production of sweat. The American Academy of Family Physicians also suggests that exercise allergies may be worsened by the foods you eat before you exercise. As such, keeping a food diary of what you eat before running may help determine which foods cause you to itch more during the workout. Taking an antihistamine may also help reduce the itching associated with exercise allergies by blocking the production of histamine.
Dehydration
If your body is regularly in a state of dehydration, this may also contribute to itching while exercising. Exercising also increases your risks for dehydration as the sweating process depletes your body of water reserves. Water is needed to keep your skin from drying out. Dry skin is commonly associated with irritation, which can lead to itching. Combat dehydration by aiming to include the National Institute of Medicine's water recommendation of 2.7 liters for women and 3.7 liters for men.
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