Is Your Skin Stressed Out?
Feeling stressed out? While you may not realize it, stress can have an impact on our hair, skin, and nails. When stressed, our immune systems produce inflammation, leading to flares in rashes like eczema (atopic dermatitis) or psoriasis. Stress can also delay wound healing and make itch and pain worse. Ever notice that a pimple loves to pop up right before a big event, like before a big presentation at work? Stress can also cause an increase in the oil production in our skin and make acne worse.
Not to cause you more angst, but stress hormones can also cause wrinkles. Yes, wrinkles! Aging before your time is often linked to stress. Stress hormones can cause collagen and elastin, the important components for youthful skin, to break down and result in more wrinkling. And the cake topper—stress can also cause hair loss, a condition known as telogen effluvium. Stress-related hair loss is usually temporary, but it can dramatically worsen your stress. That makes for a perfect storm for stress to cause hair loss and hair loss to cause more stress!
So what do you do? Eliminating all the stress in our lives is not realistic. The first step is to understand that there is a real connection between stress and our physical health. Second, you should evaluate the source of stress and see if you can reduce your exposure. For example, if you have taken on too much at the office, talk with your supervisor about adjusting your workload. If a relationship is a source of stress, ask yourself if it is worth keeping or if you might need counseling to help improve it. Finally, you need to recognize when you are feeling stressed and develop strategies to help you cope. Many people focus on mind-body practices like meditation, breathwork, yoga, or exercise. There are also mindfulness apps and other tools to help you. In addition, you can also seek the advice of a medical professional to help you navigate ways to deal with stress more positively.
Trotter’s Take: Stress impacts skin health and can worsen many conditions. While we cannot eliminate all stress in our lives, we can focus on becoming more aware of it and developing better-coping strategies..
Check out my podcast with Dr. Matt Zirwas as he talks about atopic dermatitis and highlights the role stress plays in making it worse.
