How Stress Affects Your Skin
Stress is not only an annoyance, or an uncomfortable feeling, but stress can seriously affect your common bodily functions. Stress is a result of a chemical response, which can affect all kind of hormone spikes, leading to a multitude of issues.
One in particular, is the affect that stress has on your skin. When you’re stressed, so is your skin, leading to an increase in sensitivity and reactiveness. Your skin is more susceptible to breakouts, oil, fever blisters, and skin infections (such as cold sores) when you’re more stress.
Why is this? Stress impairs the proper function of your skin, because it dries your skin out. Because your skin is so dried out, your body tries to moisturize it on it’s own by secreting more oil onto your skin.
In addition to becoming oilier, stress can cause you to rub and scratch your skin more than usual, increasing your chances of skin damage. Studies have shown that living a stressful life increases out chances of getting skin cancer, or even allowing skin cancer to spread quicker.
These are some scary side effects; so take a few extra steps in ensuring that you reduce the affects of stress on your skin:
- Don’t neglect your skin even if you’re stressed, keep up with your skincare routine: especially SPF!
- Take time (even if it’s just 10 minutes) to do something for you: read your favorite book, take a bath.
- Say no! Set limits and boundaries to give yourself a break.
- Go out for a walk – clear your mind.
- Exercise regularly – it’ll help keep your mind fresh and sweat out some toxins from your body.
- Try some stress-management techniques: deep breathing or yoga.
- Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep.
Ally | Elite.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
