How Stress Affects your Skin

Stress. For some, the word conjures images of a Monday morning without coffee or the horror of swiftly approaching deadlines. It can affect everything, your ability to sleep or eat well and yes even the health of your skin. When you’re stressed, your skin may feel dry, itchy and look dull and is easily inflammed.

This is because stress affects your nervous system. Anger, tension or anxiety will cause our bodies to release chemicals which are meant to defend the body against infection. However, these same chemicals can make skin concerns worse. For example cortisol, the stress hormone can cause the overproduction of sebum – our skin’s natural oil.  This can lead to inflammation and breakouts.

When we are constantly stressed, the prolonged release of these chemicals can impair the protective barrier of the skin, making it easy for microbes like bacteria to enter the skin and worsen skin conditions e.g. eczema, dehydrated skin and acne.

Of course seeing your skin in such a state could stress you out, even more, making matters worse. The best way to deal with the irritated skin would be taking care of your emotional health and establishing a skin care routine to address your beauty needs.

Establishing a skin care routine can be simpler than managing our emotional health…or so we like to think. Of course not everything is under your control (like horrible bosses) but you could decide how to handle stressful situations. There are a lot of tips on how to manage your stress levels. A quick search will show you eating right, sleeping enough, drinking water, having an exercise routine etc. No secrets there right?

Managing stress levels will cause your body to release endorphins, calming hormones like serotonin which bring down inflammation. That would be wonderful for any irritated skin, wouldn’t you agree?

When you have regular  me-time, your body will thank you.What are some of your favorite ways to get rid of stress?

Oh, and FYI, #bbachat will be discussing me time pleasures next (27 March at 5 pm GMT). Will you join us? You might pick up some new ways to deal with stress.