Stressed Skin: A Science Backed Approach

Your skin is like the barometer for your overall health. If you're under severe or chronic stress,your skin will suffer. Furthermore, there isn't one specific way that stress affects your skin— butit can have multiple consequences, such as acne breakouts, inflammation, redness, dullness,and dryness. When you notice the signs of stressed skin on face areas, you might become evenmore stressed out, further worsening this cycle. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can taketo pamper yourself and care for your emotional health.

The emotional symptoms of being stressed are pretty easily recognized. Most people associate stress with depression, anxiety, anger, excessive worrying, irritability, and other negative emotions.

However, stress has plenty of physical symptoms as well, especially in your skin.

Some of the most common issues that you skin will experience if you are overly stressed include:

Acne

Strictly speaking, stress will not directly cause acne. However, in the event that you already experience acne, stress will make it much worse. Stress will severely impact your body’s ability to heal wounds that it sustains, including acne.

Roughly 85% of people will experience acne at some point in their lives or another, so while stress might not suddenly cause you to develop acne, since you have likely experienced it before, it could result in an outbreak.

Dull Skin

Stress will have a negative impact on the overall blood flow to your skin. Blood is very important to the health of your skin as it carries both nutrients and oxygen to the skin cells. Without a steady and consistent supply of these vital nourishments, your skin will start to lose moisture, softness, and radiance. It could also lead to an uneven skin tone and changes in pigmentation.

Dryness

One of the most important responsibilities of your skin is to trap in water and retain overall moisture of your body. After all, nearly 60% of the human body is made up of water, so the more that is retained, the more hydrated we will be, and the healthier overall.

When your skin retains less moisture than usual, it can result in dry skin creating rashes or an eczema flare up. Additionally, stress can increase sweating and perspiration which can further contribute to dry and dehydrated skin.

Bags Under Your Eyes

As you grow older, the supporting muscles located around your eyes will begin to weaken. This will result in sagging skin due to the loss of elasticity in these muscles.

When you experience stress, these bags will begin to appear more prevalently along with signs of swelling and puffiness. This look is sometimes referred to as “tired eyes” and may come with bags under your eyes, the appearance of fine lines, and an uneven skin pigmentation.

Rashes and Redness

Stress can increase the overall cortisol levels in your body resulting in the formation of a rash or overall redness on your skin, as well as hives and welts. These red affected areas will resemble an allergic reaction, ranging from a small blotchy area the size of a fingernail to the size of your entire hand, or bigger.

One of the most irritating aspects of these rashes and hives forming is that that typically will severely itch. Scratching them could lead to infection so it’s important to treat them with hydrocortisone creams or calamine lotion. The good news is that these rashes and hives will typically disappear around 24 hours after forming, once stress and cortisone levels are returned to normal.

Wrinkles

Chronic stress can result in the body aging prematurely, particularly with the formation of wrinkles.

Elevated levels of cortisol, the body’s natural chemical responsible for “fight or flight”, is to blame for the breakdown of collagen and elastin. Additionally, stress can increase inflammation, which coupled with the breaking down of these compounds, can lead to the formation of wrinkles.

Every time you experience a stressful event, your body automatically shifts into the fight or flight response. Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol, which can be beneficial in certain circumstances. If you're in actual physical danger, this fight or flight response can help you do what's necessary to survive.

But in modern times, cortisol is most often released when you're up against a tight deadline or trying to cram more activities into an already full schedule. The result is chronic stress and chronically elevated cortisol, which inhibits the function of the skin barrier. It can even lead to premature signs of aging, and aggravate skin conditions like eczema, acne, and psoriasis. If you're under chronic stress, your skin may also develop inflammation, redness, and dryness. Furthermore, since cortisol contributes to collagen breakdown, it can increase your risk of premature wrinkles.

How environmental stress affects your skin

Emotional turmoil isn't the only issue. Your body and skin are also affected by physical andenvironmental stressors. Pollution, UV rays, and blue light from electronic devices can allcontribute to stressed skin. These environmental stressors encourage the formation of freeradicals, which damage the skin if left unchecked. Premature wrinkles and areas ofhyperpigmentation are two consequences of free radical damage on the skin.

Your ideal routine will depend on exactly how your skin is reacting to stressors, as well as yourskin type, lifestyle, and other concerns. In general, however, people who experienceinflammation and redness should look for soothing products. Green tea, oat extract, algae, andchamomile are excellent ingredients for fighting inflammation and redness.

Use gentle cleansers

Since stress can compromise the skin barrier, it's essential to use cleansers that are not overlyharsh and will not strip away all of the skin's natural oils. Instead, look for ones that containgentle, moisturizing ingredients like oleic acid, kaolin clay, and hemp oil.

Ideal moisturizers for skin affected by stress

Thorough moisturizing is essential. Look for products that will actively work on repairing theskin barrier, such as those with ceramides, fatty acids, and vitamin B3. Hyaluronic acid is also anexcellent moisturizer that does double duty as a wrinkle fighter.

Don’t scratch or pick

Stress might result in acne, rashes, hives, or dry skin to form. Most of the time these skin conditions will get pretty itchy, but it’s important not to scratch, pick, or pop them. This could lead to potential scarring, so instead use soothing and anti itching creams and lotions to relieve the itchiness and remove the temptation.

Get a facial or use a cleansing nourishing face mask

This option will come with a few potential benefits that could help your situation. By cleansing, exfoliating, and nourishing your skin, a facial should help to eliminate or severely reduce the symptoms of stress on your skin. By taking the time to treat yourself to a special trip to the spa, it should help to lower stress levels and therefore cortisone. This should help reduce the severity of the symptoms.

Get more sleep

There is a very strong and direct connection to stress level and sleep disorders. Not getting enough sleep can result in higher levels of stress which will result in less quality sleep creating a vicious circle. Make time to get more sleep if you are currently running on just a few hours each night. It’s hard to understate the overall health benefits of getting enough sleep.

Fighting stress-related acne breakouts

Acne is a common byproduct of stress. When you're under pressure, your body releases ahormone called CRH. It is responsible for triggering the formation of the more well-knownhormone, cortisol. However, its effects don't end there. CRH also stimulates the oil glands inthe skin to produce more sebum. When the skin has excessive amounts of sebum, there is agreater risk of oil clogging the pores, combining with dead skin cells and bacteria, and causingacne.If you tend to experience acne breakouts-- consider using products with salicylic acid. Look forcleansers, masks, peels, or spot treatments with this key ingredient. Although you shouldalways follow the directions on the product label, in general, it's best to massage the productinto the skin and allow it to sit there for a minute. This gives the salicylic acid enough time tobreak down the oils, allowing you to rinse them away.

Address the root cause of your skin problems

No discussion of the effects of stress would be complete without proactive suggestions becauseit may be time to reconsider your lifestyle. Stress isn't just harmful to your skin; it affects youroverall health and quality of life as well. Take a few minutes to think about the stressors thatmost often affect you. Figure out if there is anything you can do differently to live a morebalanced life.You might not be able to change or proactively address everything. But you can work onmoderating your reaction. Get into the habit of taking a deep breath and exhaling slowlythrough your mouth whenever something stressful happens. Remind yourself that it's notworth getting worked up over. And build some "me" time into your schedule on a regular basisto meditate, do yoga, read, or enjoy another favorite activity.

At PROVEN, we understand that everyone's skin is a little different. Your lifestyle, environment,and skin type, as well as your unique responses to stress, will all determine the type of productsyou need. That's why we've developed a powerful AI algorithm designed to formulate skincare,especially for you. Take the skin quiz to find your personalized formula today.