Stress impacts the skin in a variety of ways. If you’ve ever noticed that you are more susceptible to acne or other skin issues when you’re stressed, it certainly isn’t all in your head. Stress results in a physiological response that can cause damage to the health of your skin and can result in outbreaks or other issues. When you understand the impact that stress has on your skin, you will be better equipped to protect your skin during times of stress. Here are a few ways in which stress impacts the skin.
Tips for Dealing with Stress
There are many strategies for dealing with stress. Implementing these strategies tends to go a long way toward protecting the health of your skin. This is also a good idea for protecting your overall health, because stress can be detrimental to your health in many various ways. Exercise is often a great way to handle stress. It allows you to release positive hormones that can increase feelings of happiness and minimizing stress levels. Meditation, yoga, and deep breathing techniques are incredibly popular methods for handling high levels of stress. It is also important to ensure that you manage your life as effectively as possible to take control of your stress. Try reducing your workload and asking for help when necessary to get a handle on your stress levels.
How Stress Impacts the Skin
Stress impacts the skin in many different ways. It is important to ensure that you deal with your stress to reduce the total impact on the skin. Stress can cause the body to produce various hormones that can lead to damage to the health of the skin. It can also serve as a trigger for many other potential conditions, which can lead to other skin problems.
Behaviors Caused by Stress
Not only can skin issues be caused by hormones released from the body, but it can also be caused by some of the behaviors that are more common with stress. For example, an individual that is extremely stressed out is unlikely to spend as much time taking care of themselves. They may skin their regular skincare routine, such as washing their face. This can lead to an accumulation of grime on the skin, which can cause pores to become clogged. In addition, they may not drink enough water or spend time eating healthily, which can also result in a change to the condition of the skin.
Stressed individuals often touch their face much more frequently, which allows the transfer of oil and dirt from the fingers to the skin of the face. They may also pick at acne or scabs on the skin, which can lead to scarring. These stress-related behaviors are capable of leading to the appearance of acne on the skin, as well as many additional skin-related issues.
Bags Under Eyes
Individuals that are extremely stressed may find that they have difficulty sleeping. This can result in bags underneath their eyes. When you have a lack of sleep, it is highly likely that undereye shadows will result. It is important to ensure that you get enough sleep, even if you are particularly stressed out. Being unable to sleep may reach a point where you should consult with your doctor in order to receive assistance. When you get enough sleep, you will be able to minimize the likelihood of bags and shadows forming underneath your eyes.
Predisposed to Skin Conditions
There are many common skin conditions that an individual can be predisposed to. Stress can often serve as a trigger for these various skin conditions. Eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea outbreaks are much more common when an individual is particularly stressed. It is important to keep this in mind when you are becoming stressed and experience an outbreak of a skin condition that you are predisposed to. It can also be useful to avoid stress if you have particularly sensitive skin.
Injuries that Won’t Heal Quickly
You will likely see that your injuries won’t heal as quickly during periods of time where you are particularly stressed. Stress causes a reaction in your body that ties up your immune system. This prevents the immune system from attending to healing wounds. This prevents the injuries you sustain from healing as quickly as they otherwise would.
Inflammation
Most of the issues that are caused by stress are a result of the body’s response to stress. This response is caused because the body perceives a threat to your health and often reacts disproportionately. This causes the body to release various chemicals that impacts the health of the office. This can cause inflammation, which leads to the development of acne and additional problems.
Cortisol
When an individual is incredibly stressed, it is highly likely that their body will produce a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol sends a message to the skin that causes it to overproduce oil. When there is too much oil on the surface of the skin, it will clog pores. Clogged pores often result in the appearance of acne and other issues that impact the health of the skin. It is important to take the steps to reduce the oil production of the skin when it is beginning to clog the pores and result in many additional issues.
Here at the Skin Institute, we offer guest services to help improve the health of the skin. A facial, in particular, can go a long way toward relieving your stress levels and improving the health of your skin. We also host superior courses to provide the knowledge our students need for a successful career in esthetics. From our basic courses to advanced varieties, our students will gain a thorough knowledge regarding how to improve the health of their clients, even when the skin has been negatively impacted by stress levels. When you take the steps to reduce your stress, you will be more capable of protecting the health of your skin. To learn more about either or guest services or the courses that we offer, contact our expert team at the Skin Institute today!
