Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Guest Post :: 5 Ways Stress And Anxiety Affects Your Skin

Along with a breath of new air, beautiful flowers, sunshine, and the sense of everything being renewed, Spring can also bring a little stress. No matter what your age the spring seems to have stressful moments… tax season, holidays, and if you’re still in school – exams. As much as we all hate to admit it, everyone is guilty of letting stress get the better of them and in return it can affect your skin and health. Today Peter Minkoff is sharing five ways stress and anxiety affects your skin and what you can do about it.
Stressful and anxious situations are something most of us have to deal with on an everyday basis, and they can often get the best of us. Not only does stress trickle from our brains to our bodies, but it can show up on the skin as well, and even exacerbate existing physical and psychological conditions, which in turn wreaks havoc on our complexion. Here are five negative ways stress and anxiety affect our skin:

1. Flushed face

When you feel anxious or stressed, you breathe in short and shallow breaths, and can even find yourself holding your breaths for longer periods of time, which can often lead to flushing of redness. In order to calm your face down, try breathing in a scented candleor a soothing beauty elixir that contains calming ingredients, such as chamomile and patchouli, which will keep you from feeling overly stressed and anxious. It may sound too simple to be effective, but it’s crucial for achieving a properly functioning system and lowered levels of stress.

2. Flare-ups and breakouts

Whether you’re prone to acne, psoriasis or eczema, stress can cause all sorts of existing skin conditions to flare up. When it comes to acne, stress and anxiety activate cortisol, which can throw off the other hormones in your body and cause breakouts on any part of your skin. Stress also has the tendency to disrupt the balance between the good and bad bacteria in your stomach that can then show up on your skin in the form of acne, whether you’re prone to breakouts or not. In order to prevent this from happening, try to drink a lot of water and eat a healthy, balanced diet, as your body can’t handle stress well if it’s not properly nourished.

3. Cold sores

Cold sores are small, but painful sores or blister-like lesions that appear on certain areas of the skin, such as the lips, chin and cheeks. They are caused by a highly contagious virus called HSV that remains inactive most of the time once it enters the body. However, if a common trigger like excessive stress or anxiety activates the virus, itchy and painful cold sores can develop. While there is no way to prevent the appearance of cold sores, a high quality cold sore creamcould reduce their frequency and duration, or even get rid of them completely.

4. Rashes and hives

Both rashes and hives are caused by dysbiosis, or an imbalance in your gut. They occur when stress or anxiety takes over and too many bad bacteria outweigh the good. In order to help minimize the chances of getting a rash or hives when you’re stressed out, try to practice some deep breathing exercises. Take a big breath that fills your whole stomach, hold it in for a couple of seconds, then exhale slowly through your mouth, and repeat the process until you’ve managed to calm yourself down.

5. Fine lines

Constantly making the same facial expressions, such as furrowing your brows or pursing your lips when you’re stressed, could lead to the appearance of deeper wrinkles in those areas over time. So, be mindful of making unconscious facial expressions when you’re feeling anxious, especially while sitting at your desk. If you need help training your muscles to relax, put a piece of clear tape between your eyebrows or above your upper lip when you’re at work. That way, when the muscles contract, the tape will crinkle, reminding you to relax and eventually helping you drop the habit.
Since we can’t avoid the stress of everyday life completely, the best thing we can do is learn how to manage it properly and treat it adequately, in order to avoid any negative consequences.

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