Stress can be experienced physically, mentally, and emotionally. Often, when people talk about stress, they mean the mental and emotional kind.
Mental and emotional stress is related to the feeling of being overwhelmed. It can also be described as the feeling of being unable to cope with pressure. Regardless of the definition, everyone feels stressed. While chronic stress can cause a myriad of health problems, it can also affect your skin quality.
Here are some ways how stress shows on your face and some ways how you can combat them:
Pimples and Acne
Your body increases the production of cortisol when you’re stressed. This hormone stimulates the release of another hormone, the corticotropin-releasing hormone, which triggers your sebaceous glands to produce more oil. Excessive oil coupled with dead skin cells and dirt can clog your pores and cause pimples.
How to Battle It: Take a couple of minutes every day to do your skincare routine. A regular skin care regimen will not only keep your face clean and your pores clog-free, but it can also promote better mental health.
Under-Eye Bags
Some people naturally have bags under their eyes. However, if you are not one of them, but the skin under your lower lids are puffy, then chances are you are under a lot of stress. Stress can affect your body’s salt levels and encourage fluid retention. Often, the water in your body finds its way under your eyes.
How to Battle It: You can use a cool compress to help the puffiness subside. Ensuring that you have enough sleep can also reduce the appearance of under-eye bags. You can also take beauty supplements like collagen tablets to promote skin elasticity while preventing your puffiness from getting worse.
Dry and Dull Skin
Your skin’s outermost layer contains lipids and proteins that keep your skin cells well-hydrated. Stress, however, messes with the chemistry of that layer and causes the skin to look dull and dry. Aside from this, studies also found that stress affects the skin’s ability to heal.
How to Battle It: If your skincare routine only involves the basics (wash, tone, and moisturise), then try incorporating a hydrating serum. This serum can help hydrate your skin and make it look brighter and fresher.
Fine Lines and Wrinkles
Cortisol is widely regarded as the stress hormone, but it’s not all bad. Cortisol plays a vital role in increasing glucose in the bloodstream to give you energy. It’s also needed in tissue repair. However, high amounts of cortisol can break down the collagen, compromise the elastin, and increase inflammation. All three of these things accelerate the aging and the formation of fine lines and wrinkles.
How to Battle It: Taking collagen tablets can help your body’s collagen production. Aside from this, you can also try incorporating age-defying skincare products or anti-aging serums in your regular skincare routine.
Conclusion
Stress is a part of life. But too much stress can negatively impact the quality of your skin. When you’re under a lot of stress, you are prone to having pimples, acne, under-eye bags, dry skin, dull-looking skin, and wrinkles.
There are a lot of ways that you can battle stress-related skin problems. You can continue or establish a regular skincare routine, add hydrating and anti-aging serums to your routine, and even take supplements that promote collagen production.
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