Stress Causes Harm To the Skin Too

Stress has a huge influence on the way we feel and act but many do not realize that it also has a harmful effect on the skin. Stress is caused by many things like financial woes, a controversial divorce, work related stress and many other factors including the weather and the environment. All of these can affect if we are happy or sad or elated or thoroughly depressed. What is happening on the inside to cause anxiety and stress also has a detrimental effect on our skin and on our body.

Conditions Worsen

Stress or anxiety can cause any type of condition in the body to worsen. If you have acne or sensitive skin that is prone to blemishes, you will probably have a huge outbreak of lesions. You can perspire more frequently or even have hair loss. Someone who has psoriasis or rosacea will find that their skin is more inflamed and redder than usual. It can cause the skin to become dehydrated so that all types of infectious allergens can penetrate the skin and cause more problems. Other conditions like eczema and rashes can occur and break out in unsightly spots. Someone who is under a lot of duress can become depressed and neglectful of their daily skin care regimens that they normally adhere to faithfully. Their skin might become itchy and dry so that they are scratching and rubbing the skin thus making it worse so that it becomes more irritated. Neglect of the skin can cause a breakdown in the normal repair and restoration that the skin goes through as it rids itself of dead skin cells and repairs and replenishes the skin because skin that is dehydrated cannot repair itself.

Effects on Your Skin

You can develop fever blisters and dermatitis and other skin conditions that you might not normally have suffered from. Your nails can turn brittle and you can develop hives. Long term stress can cause intensely adverse effects on the skin. You can develop poor circulation which in turn decreases the blood supply to the skin that also causes flaky dry skin that is often irritated. Stress can affect your breathing which in turn reduces the amount of oxygen that is getting supplied to the skin so that your skin becomes dull and pasty without its natural glow. As your skin is lacking in all the things that are important to keep it healthy – blood, oxygen and water – it becomes duller and grayer. You can develop puffiness and dark circles around the eyes because of stress and lack of sleep or fatigue. Wrinkles and fine lines increase and deepen the longer the skin is deprived of its nourishment and replenishment from its basic needs.

Stress Seeks Comfort

Often when we are under stress we tend to eat and drink the wrong things – such as coffee or alcohol – that are also debilitating to the skin causing it to become dry and dehydrated. This is the exact time when you should be drinking more water to keep the skin moisturized and nourished. Because of the anxiety and depression you increase your content of those things that do not help. Instead of fruits and vegetables you are eating “comfort foods” that do not nourish the body or the skin thus deepening the problems with the skin. It is a downward spiral that is difficult to get out of and reverse so that long-term stress can cause irreparable damage if it is not treated and remedied in time.

Coping With Stress

It is easy to say that you should do something about the stress but sometimes that is not as simple to do. But if you can start making some time for yourself – an hour each day to perform some of your skin care rituals that will help to reduce the effects that stress is having on the skin, it will help. Exercise and relaxation techniques will also work wonders. Plus – once you start seeing the effects of wrinkle creams or other skin care treatments that will help to restore the skin and rejuvenate it with its needed nourishment, it will provide you with a positive response. You will start to feel better and be better able to cope with the stress when you start to look better.