How Stress Can Send Your Skin Haywire

We all have stress. Day to day stress, like dealing with emails, navigating the commute to the office, queuing for coffee or waiting for our computer to load up. As silly as it might sound, those day to day stresses - as small as they are - can add up. If you're under added pressure, or if you have even more stress (perhaps a change of job, a change of relationship or you're feeling a bit poorly), things can be even worse. Personally, whenever I'm a bit stressed out I always get a flaky and itchy scalp that can't be treated with regular anti-dandruff shampoo - I have to turn to steroid shampoo and cream to sort it out. A growing school of medicine is catering to this problem, with doctors who call themselves psychodermatologists - a cross between a therapist and a dermatologist, often using traditional dermatology treatments alongside de-stressing techniques such as meditation and therapy sessions. If you can't afford to see a psychodermatologist, or if it isn't covered by your insurance, there are a few things you need to know - and a few self-help techniques that you can use to calm your skin down, leaving you with a bright, dewy complexion, even if all you want to do is cry. 

Why Do Stress Levels Effect Your Skin?

The connection between the mind and the skin has been known for quite some time - after all, the skin is the largest organ in the body, so it's little surprise that when our stress levels increase and hormone activity changes that it shows up on our skin.

Cortisol is our body's natural defense against stress and it gets released whenever we encounter stressors. Once released, it helps us cope with stress and slowly dissipates. But if you're stressed all the time or encounter hundreds of tiny stressors throughout the day, cortisol gets released over and over again. Because the body doesn't have time to dissipate the cortisol, it ends up building up in the body. This build up contributes to a number of things - weight gain (your body ends up thinking that you either have to fight, or flight, so it stores those extra calories in case something bad happens), as well as a number of skin complaints.

What Does Cortisol Do To Your Skin?

Cortisol prevents your skin from absorbing water, which means that if you're stressed, you could suffer with dry, flaky skin. It also increases your blood sugar levels and in turn, this can lead to glycation. This process causes damage to the collagen and elastin within the skin, which makes fine lines and wrinkles appear deeper and much more obvious. 

See Also: Daily stress and health risks

Increased inflammation leads to breakouts and acne, while heightened anxiety causes sleepless nights, which could lead to tired, puffy eyes and dull, lacklustre skin.

Rest And Repair Your Skin

Another factor that causes bad skin days when you're feeling stressed is due to the fact that skin actually takes longer to heal when you're under a lot of stress. So it's a bit of a cycle - you're stressed, and you end up having a breakout or dry and flaky skin.

As your skin is still not clean and clear, you feel stressed - and so it continues. Researchers at Cornell University caused minor damage to participant's faces by applying strips of tape and then pulling them off. They then exposed the participants to stress in the form of a fake job interview - and lo and behold, their skin took longer to heal than the control group. This is particularly interesting because stress levels were fairly minimal in this setting as the participants knew that the job interviews were fake, yet their skin still took longer to heal - meaning that even mild stress can take its toll.

Stress-Busting Your Skin

It seems kind of like the odds are stacked against your skin, we understand - but they aren't, we promise! Smooth, clear and clean skin can be yours - you just have to take extra care of yourself.

Because you're treating the underlying cause with some stress relieving techniques, hopefully, whatever skin complaint you're suffering from won't happen again - and if it does, you'll be able to deal with it.

Stress-busting tips:

• Meditation is a good one. It's often been thought of as a bit hippy-dippy and not really very useful at all, but several major studies have shown that just five minutes of meditation each day can make a huge difference to your stress levels and can drastically improve your sense of wellbeing.
• Spend at least an hour every day doing something that you love - something that's not for anyone else. It could be reading a book, cycling, going to the gym or spending some time in the kitchen baking cookies. Whatever it is, just make sure that it gives you a chance to feel better about yourself and the situation that you're in.
• Eat the right foods - the more vitamins and nutrients you take in, the easier you'll find it to get out of your funk.

See Also: Best Tips for Stress Management

Skin boosting tips:

• Keep a diary and work out when your skin has a flare up and why.
• Treat the specific skin complaint and see your doctor for medication. For example, if you've suddenly developed acne, you might want to use a product that contains glycolic acid. If your skin is to dry, use a nourishing oil-free moisturizer or a facial oil. Be kind and gentle to your skin and use the appropriate skincare regime for your skin type and soon enough, your skin will thank you for it!