How Stress Is Affecting The Health Of Your Skin
In an ever-changing industry, we are learning that the mind plays an integral role in the overall health of our skin.
While it’s known that a sound skincare routine can assist in the protection and rejuvenation of our skin, did you know that stress can be a contributing factor to its aesthetic and texture?
Scientists claim that stress can not only affect your skin visually, but it can also aggravate pre-existing conditions.
Are you experiencing the following?
- Irregular breakouts
- A surge of eczema
- Oily or dehydrated skin
- Redness
- Sudden spot rashes
How does stress affect our skin?
When experiencing excessive amounts of stress, our overall health can be impacted in numerous ways, which can often lead to alterations to the look and feel of our skin.
Prolonged periods of stress can affect the bacteria in our gut which ultimately transforms the way in which we digest our food, thus triggering internal inflammation. This inflammation may result in worsening underlying or pre-existing skin conditions such as eczema or may cause sudden acne breakouts.
Moreover, high stress levels can potentially disrupt our immune system and so harm the overall health of our skin cells.
Exposure to stress may also alter the condition of our skin by making it more dry or oily. As stress levels increase, our adrenaline rises which stimulates the sweat glands to lose more water; in doing so, our skin becomes dehydrated.
However, we know that our hormone levels are directly impacted by stress and this relationship increases the oil production throughout our skin. This often leads to clogged pores and sporadic breakouts.
So, what can we do in times of stress?
It is clear that an increase in stress levels can negatively affect the health of our skin in a number of ways – so what can we do to diminish this?
1. Don’t neglect your skincare during stressful situations. Your skincare ritual is a chance for you to unwind and to take time to nurture the connection between your mind and body.
2. Practice yoga or meditation as part of your skincare ritual to alleviate stress and illuminate your mind.
3. Exercise regularly to enhance the health of your body, both mentally and physically.
4. Verbalise your worries and stressors to someone you trust.
Whether it be a professional or a loved one, gaining the support from another individual can help to reduce the amount of information you are carrying around, enabling you to release your thoughts and reduce internal stress; therefore improving your overall skin health.