STRESSED SKIN

It is well known that stress can damage our health and emotional status and at the same time the stress can damage our skin and our looking. Stress related skin conditions can be both temporary and permanently. Scientists discovered that our emotional reactions (worry, fatigue, anxiety, stress, obsessive thoughts, and depression) have direct influence at several body organs including skin. Actually there is a very special relation between women feelings and appearance. Stressed skin is pretty particular condition of the skin which is not keeping women happy and good looking.

Stressed skin symptoms

Skin professionals noted that negative stress is making skin more sensitive and more reactive. Skin reactions could be different in different women – starting from dullness and finishing with skin breakouts and skin diseases. Stressed skin could have changed tone, uneven skin tone, persistent inflamed acne, psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, fever blisters, seborrheic dermatitis and even wrinkles. Long on-going stress can accelerate skin ageing process and speed up the development of unpleasant wrinkles. Long-term stress (permanent worries, unhappiness, unsecurity, etc.) can also slow the production of skin collagen and elastin which can be a reason for premature skin aging and sagging (after 40-45).

In most cases stressed skin has decreased barrier function – letting microbes, allergens, irritating factors, viruses to penetrate the skin and cause problems and negative skin conditions. Dehydrated skin can also be a symptom of so called “stressed skin”. Some experts suggest that stress is second main skin damaging factor (after sun exposure). Stress hormones can easily upset the balance of all the other hormones and they can trigger several hormone related skin conditions.

Very often women mistakenly think they are suffering from sensitive skin rather than the effects of stress. Besides negative biological effect of stress on the skin, very often stressed women start practicing negative habits such as scratching, pulling or rubbing the skin which also could trigger some skin conditions. At the same time usually stressed women are not motivated or not in mood to take care of their skin neglecting daily routine skin care. Stressed skin and Emotions Stress-skin connection is a subject of several scientific studies. Most scientists declare that emotions can have an impact on your skin. According to skin experts, roots (causes) of several skin diseases place in our psychological status. List of stress related skin diseases (stressed skin) include acne, eczema, hives, rosacea, demodex, psoriasis, alopecia (hair loss), vitiligo (depigmented white spots on the skin) and some other skin diseases.

Stressed skin became a very important subject for newly developed so called “psychodermatology” – special field of medicine which is investigating impact of stress (emotions) at skin conditions. Actually the mind and skin are connected on many different levels and during stress always skin is reacting (differently in different cases). For example, when you are stressed, your body releases increased levels of stress hormones including cortisol, which could increase the skin’s oil production, making you prone to pimples. Sometimes stress can trigger skin autoimmune reactions which are difficult to treat without understanding all connections between stress and skin metabolism. During stress out body produces certain chemical and at that time our skin “thinks” it is under attack. As actually there is no real attack, skin gets confused and starts to attack itself damaging healthy skin cells. It is important to mention that stress can target different body organs but in most cases skin is becoming target tissue which can be easily damages by stress. In most cases stressed skin is one of first symptoms of stress (especially chronic on-going stress). In many cases just stress positive management could be a solution for several stress related skin conditions.

Stressed skin signs

Many women asking about visible signs of stressed skin. Actually stress is damaging normal skin regeneration process. In normal healthy situation our skin is permanently renewing cells keeping skin clean, fresh, smooth and young looking (thanks to very high turnover of skin cells). During stress our body producing certain hormones (so called “stress hormones”), including cortisol which disrupt the natural turnover cycle of our skin cells. As a result, the outermost layer of our skin is losing the solid wall of skin cells – protective and defensive barrier functions of skin are decreased and/or lost. Stressed skin cannot fight strongly all harmful external agents and very often during stress several microbes, viruses and chemicals enter our skin easily. Stressed skin is definitely weakened organ – with reduced barrier functions and with dehydrated skin cells. Stressed skin is actually skin in shock. As more external irritants get though the weakened barrier, skin becomes inflamed and more sensitive. At the same time, stressed skin is more harmful for UV rays which can easily penetrate and damage the DNA of skin cells. After long on-going stress the external invaders and inflammatory reactions can permanently damage the collagen supports in your skin, eventually leading to wrinkles and faster aging.