We all know how stress makes our body feel and how it affects our feelings - stress causes tension in our shoulders and neck, headaches, your heartbeat can speed up, and your mood can go from nice to nasty at a moment's notice. But did you know that stress can also do bad things to your skin?
How Stress Hurts Our Skin
When we are stressed out our body starts to produce more hormones especially a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol tells our oil glands to produce more oil which means that when we are stressed out we breakout. Even people who generally do not get pimples may find that they breakout during stressful periods.
Unfortunately the hormone cortisol not only can cause breakouts when you are stressed but can also start aging your skin early.
Since cortisol can trigger skin inflammation it breaks down the collagen in our skin. When collagen breaks down in our skin wrinkles begin to form. Believe it or not but chronic, ongoing stress can age you by 3 to 6 years. Your skin not only becomes wrinkled but dry and dehydrated as well. Stress can cause your skin to stop functioning as it should which means your skin can go from glowing to dull.
If you suffer from a chronic skin condition such as rosacea, eczema, or psorasis stress can cause a flare-up of the condition or make an existing problem worse. You could even get a rash or hives from stress along with brittle nails and hair loss in extreme cases. When you are stressed you may have trouble sleeping which means that you can have dark under eye circles.
How To Stop Stress From Hurting Your Skin
Now that we know all the terrible things stress can do for our skin how do we stop stress from hurting our skin? One thing that happens when people are stressed if that they stop caring for their skin correctly. When you stop caring for your skin a cycle begins were your skin doesn't look its best because you aren't caring for it like you should, the fact that your skin doesn't look good further stresses you out, and more stress just makes you look worse.
You need to break that pattern. Even if you feel stressed out you must find time to care for your skin. In order to make sure that you do not breakout you need to properly exfoliate your skin. Not only will regular exfoliation help keep pimples from forming your skin will not look dull if you help get rid of dead skin cells.
Making sure to wash your face twice a day is still a must even if you are pressed for time. Try to carve out 5 or 10 minutes for your skin care routine both in the morning and at night no matter what is going on in your life. At the very least wash your face and use a moisturizer daily even if you don't have time for anything else. In the morning never forget your sunscreen as well. Making sure to stick to a skin care routine even while under stress will mean that your skin can keep looking good even when you might not feel your best.
Besides for sticking to a skin care regime you also need to find ways to destress so that stress does not take over your life. For some people that means doing yoga or meditating. For other people that might mean finding time to exercise or listen to music. Figure out what helps you destress and then go for it - your skin and your overall health will thank you.
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