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Stress is not just a mental crisis, it affects your whole body function, your emotions, and a sense of wellness, and the signs show on your skin. You may be well aware of the negative, uncomfortable feeling when you are under pressure, overworked and stretched thin that makes your heart race, your stomach rumble and give you nausea. But you may be too occupied to know what it looks like.
Stress makes your body release more cortisol and you start to develop unhealthy habits such as consuming fatty and salty foods. It is dangerous not just for your productivity and waistline your but also for your appearance and skin’s elasticity.
Read on to find out how stress affects your skin and, more importantly, how to take care of it.
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Overproduction of Oil and Breakouts
Heightened anxiety and added worries increase the production of oil on the skin leading to unwanted acne breakouts. Many people the habit of rubbing their face or eyes when distraught which results in more oil production and invites more bacteria that clog your pores causing breakouts.
How to Take Care of That: Using a clarifying face mask or soothing serum will help you relax. Apply it twice or thrice a week to soothe your skin and clear your head of all the worries.
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Deepens wrinkles and lines
Acne and pimples are not the only problems when your work and social calendars are overflowing. The wrinkles start to deepen as well. As mentioned before, stress and anxiety causes release of cortisol which leads to breaking down of collagen and premature ageing. Collagen gives your skin its elasticity and structural integrity, therefore, if it is lost, your skin appears old and dull.
In addition to premature ageing, it makes the harsher lines on your face more prominent and gives you an angry and depressed look.
How to Take Care of That: The best way to deal with premature ageing is to stick to your anti-ageing skincare routine even when you are feeling down. If you don’t have enough energy to follow every step of your skin routine, just make sure that you wash your face and apply your favourite anti-ageing moisturizer lavishly to your neck and chest.
Though skincare products can be quite beneficial for treating and masking symptoms, it is crucial that you practice stress-management techniques to solve the problem at its crux. You can exercise, do meditation and yoga, talk to a friend, or go for a walk. They to deal with it is to find your own happy place and soak it in.
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Dark Circles
When you are having trouble doing the simplest of tasks and can’t wait to get back to your bed. But when you do get to the bed, you stay awake tossing and turning stressing about your to-do list. If you keep repeating it over many nights, you will start to feel consistent tiredness, get dark circles that betray your sleepless nights which will cause premature ageing.
How to Take Care of That: The quickest way to remove dark circles is with injectable treatment like fillers. Or, you can use a solid concealer for those pesky pigmented areas. Though it won’t cure the root cause of the dark circles, it will make you feel better about yourself and give you confidence to deal with your problem.
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Inflammation and Sensitive Skin
Too much stress can damage the skin’s natural barrier of lipids which make the existing skin condition like psoriasis and eczema worse. The natural skin barrier plays an important role in blocking and preventing harmful pollutants from getting into the skin. It is also perfect for locking in the fluids. The disrupted skin barrier can cause dehydration and irritation of the skin.
How to Take Care of That: It is important that you know what your skin needs and choose your skincare products according to your skin’s requirements.
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Dehydrated and Dull Skin
If you have a lot on your plate and you are always hustling around feeling stressed out, it won’t be a surprise if you start feeling less than stellar. Your head might be too occupied to care about eating healthy and staying hydrated which means you start to deprive your skin of the healthy nutrients it needs. If you don’t provide the necessary nutrients to your skin or keep it hydrated, your skin will crack and get dry making you look older than you actually are.
How to Take Care of That: In addition to the obvious remedy of taking required nutrients and increasing water intake, you can use regular facials too because they can target your skin needs. Exfoliate regularly and follow it up with a super-hydrating moisturizer.
