Can stress cause skin problems? Causes & Effects

Stress is a very common but a very frightening word. Little stress in your life is always good to prepare the inner you to conquer the hard situations. But, it is an alarming sign for you when it starts affecting you adversely and deviates your concentration and peace. It can make you fat, can lead your healthy heart on the diseased path and can cause uninvited guests like depression, irregular heart rate, headaches and skin aging.

Stress and skin have a vulnerable relationship. Undoubtedly, paying proper attention, using proper skincare products like the regular application of broad-spectrum sunscreen, and following a good night skincare routine are some of the primary requisites you need to follow to get healthy skin. However, if you are anxious, queasy and feeling depressed from inside, your skin can't be that appealing, alluring and charismatic.

So, if you are also going through the same situation, then it is a matter of serious concern. Don't ignore it as Extreme Stress impacts skin in harmful ways and can lead to acne, dull skin, baggy eyes, sore lips, wrinkled face and gray hair.

Know about baggy eyes and its remedies.

You need to understand stress symptoms, the cause behind it and start incorporating the stress buster tips into your lifestyle. Let's start:

What is stress?
What are stress symptoms?
How stress affects the skin?
How to manage stress and get beautiful skin?
FAQs

What is stress?

Let's understand this with an example. Imagine you have a very big day two days after. It can be an exam, or a new start at a job.

Now, many thoughts are revolving in your mind and making you tense. After a few days you see a pimple on your cheek. You wonder why it pops out, as if these are not your menstruation days and you are also using non-comedogenic skincare.

This is due to the long term stress response which is building inside you from the past few days. Undoubtedly, there might be other reasons as well behind your acne. Read here to take a quick guide to acne prone skin.

Stress is an emotional feeling of getting angry, nervous or frustrated. It is a kind of reaction of your body towards a demand or challenge, which might happen with you on many occasions.

The very first thing that actually affected is your skin. It disturbs the whole skin care routine you follow. Therefore, you can't take this problem for granted. Take a look inside you and find if it also bothers you?

To know this, let's first understand, what are major symptoms and causes of this problem?

What are stress symptoms?

It not only weaks you emotionally but also physically.

stress-symptoms-derma-essentia

Effects of stress on body:

Aggravated acne
Seborrheic dermatitis
Dull skin
Headache
Upset stomach
Disturebed sleep
Fatigueness
Muscle pain

Effects of stress on mind:

Anxiety
Lack of concentration
Restlessness
Anger
Frustration
Lack of motivation
Depression

These physical and emotional effects of it strikingly change your behavior like social withdrawal, self-consciousness, anger outburst, stress eating and more consumption of alcohol or other illegal drugs.

How stress affects the skin?

Talking about its impact on skin, the skin is one of those parts which get affected the most. Our skin is our pride. A healthy, plumpy and glowing skin protects us from harmful sun exposure, blue light, air pollution, and provides next-level confidence. Being stressed out for longer times can negatively affect your skin.

You might have heard that getting stressed out can cause health problems like arthritis, migraine and asthma. It can also cause many neuroinflammatory skin problems like atopic dermatitis, acne, alopecia areata, skin redness or itchy face.

Acne

Acne is one of the major skin problems. There are many reasons behind acne breakouts, stress is one of them. If you are having no hormonal problem, having no acne-prone skin, following a proper skin care routine and still getting acne. (Analyse your skin now!)

Then you need to explore inside you. It can be the stress. Work upon that and follow good anti acne skin care regimen to treat the acne and pimples.

Psoriasis

Stress is not the cause of psoriasis, but can flare up the condition up to certain levels. Psoriasis is a disease characterized by dry, itchy and red skin. In severe conditions you might need dermatologists near by to get help to control this problem.

Itchy Skin

Similar to psoriasis, stress aggravates the problem of itchy skin. In the patients suffered from atopic dermatitis (itchy and red face), stress affects in many ways:

Alters the skin barrier function
Intensifies the skin sensitivity towards microbes and allergens
Enhances the transepidermal water loss
Contributes in immune dysfunction(boost immune system)
Affects skin lipid synthesis

Wound healing

According to some researches stress also delays the process of wound healing. Skin barrier recovery is a major part in wound healing. This thing also gets affected by chronic stress.

In a study conducted on professional students at three consecutive time points:

During the final exams
At the end of spring vacations
At the end of winter vacations

Out of all these three occasions, students experienced delayed barrier recovery at the time of final exams as compared to either vacation period. The students reported chronic stress showed the more delayed recovery time.

IMPACT OF ACUTE VS. CHRONIC STRESS ON SKIN

Acute form is not harmful for overall health and skin as it is only for short term. It is required for new enthusiasm and adventure in life. However, if you take stress more than it required, then your skin can't hide from it.

Chronic form can suppress your immune system, exacerbate allergic reactions, inflammation and enhance the risk of getting infections. This actually is the outcome of stress habituation (prolonged or recurring stress).

Tip: Take an immunity booster supplement to support the immune system (Why?).

Therefore, you can't deny the fact that stress is one of the major factors behind skin damage. But what causes it, how it becomes that chronic and starts haunting us at this much cost.

Everyone can have different triggers. Some of the most common scenarios are:

Going through lots of pressure
Intense worrying about something
Having no control over the situation
Work associated difficulties and problems
Financial crisis
Emotional disturbance

Now the question is how to reduce stress? There are certain methods through which you can calm your mind, anxiety and lower your stress. Let's take a look upon them:

How to manage stress and get beautiful skin?

Reducing stress is not a one day thing. You need to work upon yourself continuously, even on days when you are happy.

There are various techniques for stress management. These techniques improve physical, emotional and mental health. Adopting healthy diet, exercise, and many mindfulness practices are compulsory to reduce this problem.

Check out - yoga for stress relief.

Mindfulness practices involve:

Music Therapy:

Stress relief music can relax your mind and make you emotionally joyous. Listen to the slow tempo and mindful music.

Physical Fitness

Do exercise everyday. Doing exercise 30 minutes 5 times a week is very essential for overall well-being. It keeps you active and your skin out of anxiety and stress.

You feel rejuvenated and salubrious. You can do simple walking, swimming or cycling as well.

Skin Health:

You also need to make your skin healthy along with your body. Your skin is the first thing affected by stress. This start produces free radicals in the skin and you feel dull. Free radicals are the biggest enemy of skin, it is very essential to eradicate.

Read about: Free Radicals: The Biggest Enemy Of Healthy Skin

Following a proper skin care routine you can protect your skin. For this, you also should be aware of your skin type.

Is your skin oily, dry or combination type? If you are confused, then click here to do your skin analysis. It will significantly help you to know better about your skin and associated skin care routine.

Follow these simple but important steps everyday to protect your overall body and skin from the effects of stress. Stress is not bad but its extremity is harmful. Watch your thinking, actions and keep yourself healthy.

Your skin also needs proper care. Keep it hydrated, stress free and healthy.

Read ‘How To Take Care Of Your Skin? Top 10 Things You Should Know’