How Stress Affects Your Skin & What to do About It

It would be an understatement to say that the past months have been challenging. The global pandemic has been tough and exhausting as it is. But adding in the everyday challenges we go through, life can sometimes be incredibly stressful, to say the least! Not only can events like these lead to mental stress and fatigue, but can also have negative effects on our entire bodies as well, including hair, nails, and skin. And this article will explain what stress can do, especially on the health and appearance of your skin.

Our skin, being the largest organ in our bodies, can show signs of stress in many different ways. From not getting enough sleep to appetite changes, our bodies react in seemingly unusual ways when we are dealing with a great deal of stress. This can ultimately reflect on our skin, triggering or worsening a wide range of skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis and even acne breakouts. In fact, the link between skin and stress has been documented since ancient times. But it is only in recent years that the underlying intricate mechanisms have only been studied and becoming better understood in the medical community. Keep reading to find out how a person’s emotions can relate to his or her skin health.

The Brain-Skin Connection

Our bodies are known to immediately respond to changes in our psychological conditions. Whether it be a real or unreal threat, our brain will secrete stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline into our body when our mind or body is in a state of distress. An increased level of this stress hormone (cortisol) in particular, can cause increased sebum (oil) production in the skin glands, which can lead to clogged pores and acne breakouts. If you have ever noticed more breakouts whenever you are feeling stressed out, it is because your body is producing too much cortisol. That said, oily skin is more prone to acne and other skin problems.

In addition to that, psychological conditions like stress, anxiety, and depression can cause our immune system to overreact, thereby causing increased internal inflammation, particularly through the gut-skin connection. The balance of bacteria in our gut is disturbed when we are under a constant state of stress. This leads to a release of an inflammatory response, which can reflect externally as skin conditions like acne, eczema or psoriasis flare-ups. People with chronic inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, rosacea, and psoriasis are also known to be more sensitive to flare-ups when they are stressed. 

How Stress Affects Your Skin

There are many ways stress physically affects your skin:

• Stress causes a chemical response in your body, particularly the immune system, making the skin more sensitive and reactive, which triggers rashes, hives, and redness.
• The stress hormone cortisol leads to an overproduction of sebum (oil) in your skin glands, which causes clogged pores and acne breakouts.
•  Stress increases the production of adrenaline hormone, which activates the eccrine glands or the sweat glands. This can cause dehydration and dryness of the skin, increasing the risks of eczema. 
• Stress can worsen existing inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea, resulting in flare-ups, and even making it harder to heal.
• Stress can also increase free radical formation which can lead to skin ageing.
• Stress can interfere with your daily skincare routine, making you to skip or skim through your skincare routine.
• Stress may cause you to feel nervous or anxious, and pick at scabs or acne, or scratch your skin until it becomes red or breaks.
•  Some people often feel bad and discouraged about their skin conditions, which can add more stress. 

Get To The Root Of The Problem

First of all, while certain skin-care routines and products may help counteract your stressed-out skin to some extent, there is nothing better and sustainable than getting to the root cause of the problem i.e. the stress. Identify what stresses you out and find ways how you can effectively deal with them. Activities like yoga and meditation can promote relaxation and calmness to your mental health. Drinking certain herbals is also known to help in dealing with stress, and Preserva’s Daily Calm Tea is the ideal candidate for that.

Apart from this, supplementing your diet with healthy, natural stress-relief supplements is also a great way to deal with stress without having to worry about negative side effects. For that, Stresaway Tablets from Preserva Wellness is the one. Formulated using 11 potent Ayurvedic herbs and spices, these tablets offer the ultimate mental peace needed in times of hectic and stressful situations. It helps regulate mood swings, combats insomnia, boosts memory and brain function, helps fight anxiety and improves overall mental health.

Tips To Take Care Of Your Skin When You Are Stressed Out

Here are some steps you can take to ease the effects of stress on your skin:

• Maintain a good skincare routine every day, even on days when you feel too tired or anxious. Neglecting or skipping your skin-care routine can worsen your skin issues.
• Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Avoid processed sugar-rich foods as they can trigger inflammation inside your body.
• Exercise regularly. Take a walk around the block. This is beneficial for your skin as well as your entire body.
•  Get sufficient, good-quality sleep. This will give your mind and your skin the time to rest and heal.
• Make time for yourself to do something you love and enjoy. Reading a book, listening to music, painting, doing yoga, meditating, etc can be a great way to de-stress yourself.
• Supplement your diet with healthy and nutritious natural skin-care products like Oxyrich Juice & Oxyrich Capsules to nourish and enhance your skin health naturally from within. With 100% plant-based ingredients, these supplements are an excellent way you can be good to your skin without having to worry about any harmful side effects.
• Get help or talk to someone if stress is harming your health and well being.

The Takeaway

Stress is something that everybody experiences from time to time. In fact, it is an avoidable part of life. However, when it gets out of hand and becomes chronic, that is when it can really affect your health to the worse –Starting with the health and appearance of your skin, which can manifest in different ways, including acne, pimples, dry skin, eczema, psoriasis, flare-ups and more. Finding ways to avoid stress in your life and learning techniques to manage stress is a great way to start when it comes to improving stressed-out skin complications.