Fall Flares: Why They Happen and What To Do About It
Sep 11, 2026
It's Fall Y'all!
With it, comes a lot of environmental and mental shifts, which can be a hard adjustment on the body and brain. It can drain all the good energy you've been gaining over the summer, and put an additional inflammatory load on your joints, muscles, digestive system and brain.
The antidote is routine, routine, routine, plus some savvy health moves to customize to your situation. Here is an explanation as to some of the influences and some thoughts on how to support yourself.
Environmental Reasons Why Autoimmune Disease Flares During Fall
Fall weather is like a Katie singing, "You're hot then you're cold..." which means you may be dancing your way around inflammatory triggers.
The barometric pressure is a big influence on fatigue and inflammation. This affects both northern and southern climates, whether you're in a hurricane or storm zone (dramatic drops in the atmosphere) or in the north where cool air becomes denser. Both can cause joint tissue to expand, swell and trigger extra pressure on joints, muscles, nerves and your brain.
Cooler weather will cause synovial fluids to thicken (synovial fluid is like motor oil that lubricates joints). With cooler weather, we drink less (vs hot summer months) which will contribute to dehydration (when you are dehydrated, your fatigue, digestive issues and pain worsens).
Lastly, cold weather can contract blood vessels, muscles and ligaments. Not only can this contribute to joint and muscle pain, it can contribute to headaches and migraines.
Lifestyle and Food Reasons Why Autoimmune Disease Flares During Fall
Schedules speed up with post-summer catch-up. This can add additional stress and fatigue as schedules can change weekly. The nervous system is usually the first system to respond, so integrating some grounding techniques and solid-structure routines will help counter the abrupt change in scheduling.
We also have the arrival of sugar themed holidays: pumpkin spice, Canadian Thanksgiving, pie season, Hallowe'en, US Thanksgiving and all the festivities of December!
With less daylight and cooler weather, we start to nest indoors. We're not moving as much and we're seeing less people socially, for fun. Social pain and physical pain are registered in the same part of the brain.
Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle Solutions For Fall With Autoimmune Disease
We can't control the environment, but we can control how we respond to it. This is where routine and some anti-inflammatory savvy moves can help starting now and into December.
Morning Mobility Routine For Sore Joints
It helps to warm your joints as soon as you wake up and throughout the day as needed – motion is lotion to help improve synovial fluid flow and circulation. Pain clinic experts all advocate for a daily morning routine that warms the joints before you do anything else (it's why your morning shower or bath feel soooo good).
A 10 to 15 minute mobility routine that targets your hot spots (head, shoulders, wrists, elbows, hips, knees or toes) will go a long way to helping you move with a little more grace later in the day. It also helps ensure excess fluid and waste are removed from joints and muscles and nutrients can make their way in for repair and recovery (movement delivers nutrients to cells).
No movement = hungry cells and poor detoxification. Which means, more fatigue, inflammation and poor healing.
If you want support with somatic and mobility based yoga sequences, The Integrative Autoimmune Membership has over 100 pre-recorded, plus live classes every month so you can build a routine that works for your body and areas that need the most support. Mobility and movement for fatigue and sore body parts is one of our areas of expertise!
Topicals (Natural and Medicated)
Ice Ice Baby. While it sounds counter intuitive for cooler weather, ice packs help reduce inflammation and swelling around the joints (barometric pressure) and can help numb the area (pain). Pain experts recommend icing frequently throughout the day if you're in a flare. This is harder to do on larger joints (hips), but larger packs can help.
Some people benefit from topicals like Voltarin (medicated to be used twice daily for benefits) or a natural product like Kaylala (herbal, also to be applied a couple times a day). Volatarin requires doctor insights because it's an NSAID, so you shouldn't be taking an oral plus this. Herbal topicals can be quite "hot" and then "cold" due to their ingredients of menthol, camphor or eucalyptus. This again works to help reduce inflammation in the affected area.
Magnesium sprays or salt baths can also help address a common nutrient depletion with autoimmune, but I recommend those for the evening.
Evening And Bedtime Routine:
Your body repairs and recovers while you sleep. With more environmental pressures, busier days and the time change, fall is a great time to revisit your bedtime routine and circadian rhythm, which is your body's natural sync with the sun. It will help build both physical and emotional resiliency leading into holiday season as it also influences your hormonal response.
What About Nourishing Your Soul?
This is a great time to make an effort to connect and see people. Your mood can be impacted by less interaction and less sunshine, so don’t wait until the holidays (which are rushed and often stressful).
Look for ways to get involved in your place of worship, community center, volunteering or set a weekly tea date with a friend or family member … girls night in can be good for the soul. In fact, you can start a soup or stew swap with them and feed you belly at the same time (with less cooking and more living).
Anti-Inflammatory Food Solutions For Fall With Autoimmune Disease
I've already mentioned dehydration, so lets start there.
Prioritize Hydration, starting in the morning and then throughout the day. My very first lessen at nutrition school back in 2008 was that water is a food group (the most important one). When you are dehydrated with autoimmune disease, pain increases, fatigue increases, acid reflux increases, dry skin increases, and digestion/detoxification slows down (water is involved in 1000s of metabolic reactions).
During cooler weather, your body loves warmth, so water can come in the form of warm, non caffeinated drinks – either plain water or herbal teas. This also applies to food …. Brothy, gelatinous foods are fabulous for your gut, joints and inflammation
- Soups, stews, bone and vegetable broths
- Help move dampness out of the body
- Spices and foods like garlic, ginger, root vegetables, greens, broccoli
- High fibre foods … oranges … high in fibre, antioxidants, portable and affordable
- Freezer meals are a great resource to have on hand, as you can just pull out, heat and eat
Fall is also a good time to relook at your vitamin D levels. This will help you decide on a supplement dosage for the winter months ahead. The biggest mistake people make with vitamin D is not whether they're taking it with K2, but getting the dosage right. If you're under or over dosing yourself, it will cause problems.
Want To Reclaim Control Before December Arrives?
If you are ready to follow a customized nutrition and lifestyle plan to help you improve energy, digestion and inflammation, check out the Integrative Autoimmune Membership where you start with a 7-Day Free Trial (test to see if you like it). When you decide to stay on, I'll personally create your 3-month customized nutrition and lifestyle plan for improved energy, digestion and inflammation.
This is our fourth year of serving women and their families living with autoimmune disease. We would love to support you!
