Dark under eye circles are a beauty no-no and most women spend an extra few minutes in the morning applying concealer under their eyes to hide the dark blotchy patches. I’m no exception to this – I rarely like to leave the house without concealer. Lots of people have them (even men) and most would love to find ways to get rid of them or make them less noticeable.
There are many reasons why people get dark circles; poor sleep, not enough water consumption, heredity, stress and aging. If you get the occasional darkness under your eyes from a night of poor sleep or maybe some extra partying, a good night of rest and lots of water should do the trick. But for those with chronic dark eye circles there are a few natural options.
Dark circles are a sign of imbalances within the body. From a Chinese Medicine perspective, dark under eye circles can correspond to an imbalance in the Water/Kidney meridian or the Wood/Liver meridian. Every meridian corresponds to an emotion, taste, color, smell, season and sense organ. The Water meridian is associated with the color black and the Wood meridian manifests itself in the eye. Once the imbalance is determined, acupuncture treatments will treat the root cause and thus improve your overall health and decrease those dark circles under your eyes. In addition to acupuncture treatments, here are some tips for improving those dark circles:
- Consistent sleep (shoot for 8 hours) each night. It is very important that you sleep without being disturbed at all. This is good not only for the eyes but also for the whole body.
- RELAX. Stress and fatigue are two toxic enemies of a dark circle-free eye. Set aside time each day for you to unwind and de-stress.
- Drink plenty of water. This is an easy one but it makes a world of difference. On those mornings I wake up with noticeable dark circles it is usually because I didn’t get enough water the day before.
- Exercising is also very important as it increases blood circulation and keeps us healthy.
- Put some green tea bags on the area. Brew the tea, put the tea bags in the refrigerator and when they are cold, put them under your eyes for about ten minutes. The cold and the caffeine help to shrink the vessels under our eyes and the tannins in the tea reduce the fluid build-up and discoloration.