Do you know that prolonged or chronic stress can lead you to have several skin issues such as acne? All of us go through stressful situations in our life. If this stress is temporary or for a short period, there is nothing to worry about. However, if the stress persists for a longer period, you must take it seriously. Prolonged or chronic stress has a highly negative impact on your skin and health.
Stress doesn’t affect your skin in just one way. Instead, it badly affects your skin in many ways, such as:
- Excessive Oil Production
Several studies have proven that prolonged stress leads to excessive oil production by the skin. When you are stressed for a long time, the cortisol level keeps increasing in your skin. As a result, it sends signals to the brain to activate the sebaceous glands in the body which then start producing oil. Our skin itself produces the oil to maintain its PH and elasticity. However, if this oil production increases above its normal limit, several breakouts appear on your skin. Managing your stress level can turn this excessive oil production back to its normal level.
- Acne
The most widespread cause of acne is chronic stress. People who are under continuous stress usually complain about acne breakouts. For example, most teens and adults have severe acne during exams because they have higher stress levels at that time. Similarly, a person who is searching for a job for a long time but hasn’t gotten one yet has higher chances of acne breakouts. Although there are several other causes of acne, chronic stress is one of them.
- Wrinkles
Research depicts that people who have higher stress levels tend to get facial wrinkles sooner than the others. When you are stressed, the stress hormones start to affect the elasticity and firmness of the skin. Although there are many anti-wrinkle creams and medications available on the market, they are useless if you fail to manage your stress.
- Eye bags
The skin around our eyes is the most sensitive as compared to that of other areas of your face. If you have anxiety or stress, the skin around your eyes will show the impacts of this stress first. You might have noticed that when you are under consistent stress, your eye bags get puffy or swollen. This is because the stress hormones in your body weaken the immunity and firmness of the skin under and around the eyes. When this happens, the skin around the eyes fails to manage its texture and gets swollen. This is the reason why many people with stress, anxiety, and depression have noticeable bags under/around their eyes.
- Dryness on skin
Stress is also known for causing dryness on the skin, especially on the face. It disturbs the sebum production in the body, which affects the moisture level of the skin. Due to low moisture, the skin starts drying, and the dryness appears on the outer layer of the skin as well. Dry skin further causes many breakouts and affects the health of your inner and outer layers of skin.
- Greying of hair
Melanin is a pigment in the body that is responsible for giving color to the hair. In the abundance of stress hormones, the production of melanin starts to decrease gradually. When melanin levels reduce to a certain limit, it fails to give color to your hair. As a result, the hair starts greying, and sometimes severe hair loss begins. Due to this reason, many people who have higher levels of prolonged stress have a higher rate of either hair loss or grey hairs.
- Rashes and itching
Sometimes, stress causes different types of rashes and itching on your skin. In some cases, these rashes keep on spreading until they turn into a severe skin issue. If stress remains unmanaged, these simple rashes may cause skin eczema on any part of the body.
- Pigmentation and blemishes
Along with all these issues, stress is also notorious for causing pigmentation and blemishes on the skin. Chronic stress disrupts the normal hormone production in the body that may lead to causing pigmentation and blemishes.
Importance of Stress Management for Healthy Skin
To enjoy healthy, glowing, and youthful skin, it is critically important to manage your stress. Figure out the things that cause stress in your life and try to fix them. Make a good routine and organize your everyday tasks to manage your stress. Similarly, adopt some good habits in your daily life that aid in reducing your overall stress level. Through successfully managing the stress, you won’t only have beautiful skin but also good wellbeing.
Role of Food in Managing Stress and Skin Issues
Your food also plays an important role in enhancing the beauty of your skin and the management of stress. All of us know that we should eat many fruits and vegetables, but do we really follow this advice? This time, try to bring this change to your diet and amaze yourself with its magical results on your skin and mental health.
Physical Activity and Sleep Cycle
For healthy skin, increase your physical activity and maintain your everyday sleep cycle. Maintaining a proper sleep cycle and increased physical activity would take away all your worries and stress while leaving great skin behind.
Final Note
The ability to properly managing your stress level can leave many positive effects on your life. One of these is beautiful and youthful skin that appeals to everyone around you. Instead of making your skin look dull and ugly due to chronic stress, start managing your stress to have healthy skin. It will have a very positive impact on your wellbeing as well as on your aesthetics.
