How Stress Can Affects Your Skin: Stressed Skin & Ways To Treat It
Blog written by Sdara Skincare.
Stress and anxiety affect most of the global population at some point in their life. In fact, more than 264 million people worldwide live with an anxiety disorder, and most (77%) experience stress to the point it affects their physical health. Remember, you're not alone, and dozens of experts have been working hard towards a great solution — particularly for those with stressed skin.
It's important to be proactive in preventing and responding to stressed skin with certain products in your skincare routine to keep your natural glow and avoid common skin conditions caused by stress and anxiety. If you're wondering how stress affects your skin, wonder no more. Here's what you need to know about it and how you can treat it!
Can stress and anxiety affect your skin?
Any psychological condition, including stress and anxiety, can cause your body to change and your skin to react.
The Florida Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center explains that this is because the immune system responds to the 'perceived threat' of stress on your body with inflammation. "Usually, inflammation helps protect and heal our bodies from microbes and wounds, but a body under stress causes the immune system to overreact and send out an inflammatory response."
Symptoms of an inflamed face, or stressed skin, can consist of facial swelling around your eyes and cheeks, itchiness, and the presence of hives or a rash that are often confused with an allergy reaction.
While inflammation can come and go within a few hours, there are cases where it can last for several weeks. If this is the case, you should consult your doctor.
Skin Conditions Caused by Stress and Anxiety
Stress and anxiety don't directly cause the development of a skin condition, but they can provoke inflammation or a flare-up of a skin condition you already have. This can add even more stress to your day because your stress and anxiety can create a more severe inflammation on your face that can prevent you from completing your to-do list.
For instance, stress is often linked to flare-ups of the following conditions:
- Eczema — causes flakey, red, and itchy patches on your skin.
- Psoriasis — a more chronic skin condition that causes ongoing redness and dry patches.
- Rosacea — causes redness similar to blushing along with small pimples and broken blood vessels.
- Fever blisters — tiny blisters around the border of your lips that can be painful to endure.
Fortunately, all of these skin conditions and their painful symptoms can be treated with some changes in your daily and skincare routines. However, if they continue or worsen, you should always discuss your options with your doctor.
Ways to Treat Stressed Skin
In many cases, the best way to treat stressed skin and other skin conditions caused by stress and anxiety is to make a few changes to your daily and skincare routine. This includes setting aside more time to work out, keeping up with your daily skincare routine, and adding products like Marula Oil and Serum Vitamin C to your routine.
Exercise More Often
Exercising more reduces your daily stress and anxiety. The severity of your stressed skin will heal much quicker when you combine a healthy exercising routine with the proper seasonal skincare routine. This way, you're treating the inflammation while reducing the cause of your outbreak (stress).
Don't Skip a Day in Your Skincare Routine
It can be tempting to take a day or two off from your skincare routine when life gets stressful, but that's one of the worst things you can do when experiencing stressed skin. The right skincare products can help protect and heal your skin, while no products in your routine can lead to worsening redness and inflammation in some cases.
Vitamin C Serum
Vitamin C Serum is a great skincare product to add to your routine to combat stress and anxiety because it can help with several symptoms at once. Not only does it help with skin healing and anti-aging, but it also acts as an anti-inflammatory and reduces the severity of redness on your skin. We recommend Sdara's Vitamin C Serum with Hyaluronic Acid (also suitable for treating eczema and facial redness).
Marula Oil
Marula Oil is another skincare product to have on hand when you're experiencing stressed skin. Marula Oil not only provides the proteins (L-arginine and glutamic acid) that your skin needs to be healthy but has healing properties that reduce dryness, inflammation, and irritation. We recommend Sdara's Pure Marula Oil because it's a cold-pressed beauty secret with many benefits. In particular, it's perfect for hydration and breakouts.
Don't Let Stressed Skin Get You Down — Fight Back With Sdara!
In a busy world where stress is more common than we'd like, it's nice to know you're not alone and there are options for treatment. It's not always easy to limit your stress — although we recommend plenty of rest, yoga, meditation, and setting aside time to do what you love more often. However, there are also great skincare products to help manage and treat stressed skin before and after it sets in. You don't have to 'just deal with it' anymore. Sdara is committed to getting you the results you've been looking for in your routine.
Contributing Writer: Brandi Yetzer
