• Choose small, reachable goals for improving your diet, increasing physical activity, and practicing gratitude to boost your mood.
• Try each self-care challenge for one week, noting in your journal how you feel each day and at the end of the week.
• If you find that a change benefits your skin or your overall well-being, make it a habit.

MyPsoriasisTeam members often discuss how aspects of their lifestyle, such as diet, exercise, mood, and stress, affect their psoriasis symptoms — for better or worse. In addition to sticking to your prescribed treatment regimen, taking self-care steps to improve your nutrition, stay active, and practice gratitude can help you work toward improving your psoriasis and your overall health. One MyPsoriasisTeam member fed up with her symptoms wrote, “I can’t take any more pain from this, so today I’m going to create an action plan of changing foods, increasing exercise, and giving up alcohol.”

Add a comment below: What lifestyle changes have made a difference in your psoriasis?

While it’s overwhelming to think about adopting a whole new self-care regimen all at once, it can help to think about making small changes, one at a time, to see what works and what doesn’t. Setting reachable, short-term goals is a good start. Tracking the results can help you figure out which changes can make a difference in your psoriasis and your well-being. Keep track of your accomplishments — big or small — in a journal, or comment down below.

Take the Self-Care Challenge to start making small, positive changes that can add up to better health. Pick a diet goal, an exercise goal, and a gratitude goal from the sections below. During the challenge period, write down how your goal (or goals) went each day, and whether you applied prescribed topical medications and took oral or injected treatments as directed. Keep notes on how you feel and how your skin looks and feels each day and at the end of the week. Patterns may become clear. If a change seems to help, keep doing it, and consider adding another for the following week.

Sign Up for the Self-Care Challenge

In a study published in 2017, researchers surveyed 1,206 people with psoriasis and found that 86 percent had tried modifying their diet to improve their health.¹ There is no one food, diet, or supplement that is proven to help everyone with psoriasis.²

Many foods have been identified as common triggers that worsen inflammation and symptoms in some people. There are also certain foods, supplements, or diets reported by many people with psoriasis to improve their symptoms. In the 2017 study, researchers identified which foods, supplements, and diets participants reported as being associated with skin improvement. Results are shown in the table below.¹

Add a comment below: What diet changes have you tried?

Diet changes require advance planning and should be discussed with your doctor first. For this diet challenge, keep to a simple, short-term goal. Choose one or more of the goals below, and try it for one week to start.

• Don’t drink alcohol.
• Avoid dairy products.
• Eliminate nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, or paprika).
• Avoid beverages with added sugar, corn syrup, or other sweeteners.
• Make vegetables and fruits at least half of every meal using the simple and visual plate method.
• Add vitamin D or omega-3 supplements, or both, after consulting your doctor about what is a safe and effective dose for you.

If you do end up having a serving or two of an item you’re trying to avoid, it doesn’t mean you failed. Even limiting your consumption may have benefits. Just take note if there are situations or times of day when you get a craving or a food is harder to avoid.

Write in your journal each day of the challenge about how you’re feeling. By the end of the week, consider whether there is any change in your psoriasis symptoms or overall feeling of well-being. If there is a positive change, extend your goal for another week, and another. Whether you extend your first goal or not, consider choosing another challenge for the next week. You may discover more than one beneficial change you decide to make permanent.

Remember, even if you have tried changing your diet in the past, there may be a trigger food you have yet to identify or a modification that will help improve your psoriasis. You may need to try different options. Keeping a food journal can help you identify how specific foods, diets, or supplements affect your psoriasis and general health. One study showed that monitoring what you eat each day helps with losing weight, too.³ You can write in a traditional journal or track your meals using an app — there are many to choose from — or write in the comment section below.

Many MyPsoriasisTeam members report positive results when they set goals and make diet changes in addition to taking prescribed medications. One member wrote, “In five months I have lost 40 pounds. I eat sensibly and less and work out each day. My snacks are now fruit or granola bars.” Another member announced, “Starting to diet and exercise to see if that improves my psoriasis. So far so good!”

Exercise can be a challenge for people with psoriasis for many reasons, including self-consciousness about plaques. “I love to swim but have been too embarrassed to go to the YMCA since my psoriasis is all over my legs,” wrote one MyPsoriasisTeam member.

Exercise can be difficult due to fatigue, pain, itching, or joint problems caused by psoriatic arthritis. “They tell you to exercise, but I'm too sore or swollen and, of course, so tired. How do you guys do it?” asked another.

Most people with psoriasis don’t get anywhere near the amount of physical activity recommended for cardiovascular health, despite being at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.⁴ A good start is to choose a reachable goal that will simply get you moving every day. First, speak with your doctor about what activities are safe for you. Choose one of the goals below, and try it every day for a week.

• Go for a walk. Go once around the block or out to the mailbox, or walk the dog. Anything counts.
• Ride a bicycle or a stationary bike for five minutes. This may be easier than walking for people with psoriatic arthritis in their feet.
• Find a video leading a gentle form of exercise, such as tai chi, yoga, or qi gong. Follow for as long as you can. There are videos online developed especially for people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
• If you have access to a game such as pingpong, pool, or darts, playing will get you up and moving.
• Swim, perhaps challenging yourself to go out in swimwear as part of the Wardrobe Challenge.

Add a comment below: What form of exercise works for you?

Throughout the week, write down in your journal how easy or difficult it was to meet your exercise goal, and how you felt. At the end of the week, are you feeling better? If you’re able to meet your first goal, consider doing a few minutes more of activity each day next week. Keep adding and challenging yourself until you form a new habit.

MyPsoriasisTeam members often report that keeping active, while sometimes a struggle, has its benefits. “I walk every day, rain or shine,” wrote one member. “If I don’t, I get stuck and stiff. I say keep on moving as best you can.”

Psoriasis can affect mental and emotional health, as well as causing physical symptoms. Although grateful is the last thing you may feel during a psoriasis flare, finding things to be thankful for can be a surprisingly effective way to feel better. As one MyPsoriasisTeam member put it, “When things seem bleak, a little gratitude for life and all its challenges might be very helpful. I am going to celebrate my next breath!”

Add a comment below: Do you have a gratitude practice?

A 2020 review examined the results of studies on gratitude practices — appreciating what one has — as a way to improve health. Overall, researchers found that gratitude practices improve psychological well-being and may improve sleep quality. Some studies also indicated that practicing gratitude may have benefits for improving blood pressure, blood glucose control, and eating habits, but more research is needed to confirm these associations.⁵

Try incorporating a gratitude practice as a form of self-care. Choose at least one of the practices below and perform it every day for a week.

• Keep a gratitude journal where you record your other challenge results. In it, list at least three things for which you are grateful.
• Call, write, or text one person out of the blue to thank them for a past kindness.
• Choose a small stone and put it in your pocket. Whenever you happen to touch it or notice its weight, stop to think of something you’re grateful for.
• If you pray or meditate, express thankfulness as part of your practice.
• Write a positive review for a book, a product, or a local business that has helped you in some way.

Write in your challenge journal about how setting aside time to focus on gratitude made you feel. Is your mood lifted?

If this practice makes you feel better, keep it up and consider adding another. You might be surprised how much it helps. A member of MyPsoriasisTeam wrote, “Focusing on psoriasis can be so depressing. There is so much in life to explore. I feel gratitude that right now, I can think of other things without the constant itching that makes me crazy!”

Self-care is not one-size-fits-all. One person’s normal is another person’s stretch. If you don’t already do the following, consider adopting these goals for a one-week challenge:

• Use your prescribed psoriasis medications exactly as directed by your doctor.
• Follow American Academy of Dermatology guidelines for bathing and skin care.
• Find new techniques to help manage your stress.
• Wear whatever clothes are most comfortable or enjoyable — regardless of showing flakes or plaques. Read more about the Wardrobe Challenge.
• Speak openly with your doctor about how your psoriasis affects you, whether your psoriasis treatment goals are being met, and whether it’s time to re-evaluate your treatment plan. Read more about the Doctor Discussion Challenge.

In addition to sticking to a prescribed treatment regimen, making small changes and finding out what works for you may lead to breakthroughs that improve your psoriasis and quality of life. As one MyPsoriasisTeam member put it, “It's amazing how much a positive attitude, exercise, and the right foods and vitamins can do in so little time.”

References

1. Afifi, L., Danesh, M. J., Lee, K. M., Beroukhim, K., Farahnik, B., Ahn, R. S., … Liao, W. (2017). Dietary Behaviors in Psoriasis: Patient-Reported Outcomes from a U.S. National Survey. Dermatology and Therapy, 7(2), 227–242. doi:10.1007/s13555-017-0183-4
2. Wu, A. G., & Weinberg, J. M. (2019). The impact of diet on psoriasis. Cutis, 104(2S), 7–10.
3. Harvey, J., Krukowski, R., Priest, J. and West, D. (2019), Log Often, Lose More: Electronic Dietary Self‐Monitoring for Weight Loss. Obesity, 27: 380-384. doi:10.1002/oby.22382
4. Auker, L., Cordingley, L., Pye, S. R., Griffiths, C., & Young, H. S. (2020). What are the barriers to physical activity in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis?. The British journal of dermatology, 10.1111/bjd.18979. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.18979
5. Boggiss, A. L., Consedine, N. S., Brenton-Peters, J. M., Hofman, P. L., & Serlachius, A. S. (2020). A systematic review of gratitude interventions: Effects on physical health and health behaviors. Journal of psychosomatic research, 135, 110165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110165