Stress is something every person is unfortunately far too familiar with. Some people get stressed more quickly than others, but everyone gets stressed out at some point. It happens to the best of all. Stress can affect you emotionally, mentally, and physically. While stress affects you mentally, stress also impacts your physical appearance, especially with your skin. If you notice you tend to break out when you’re stressed, there’s a reason behind it. These are some of the most common reasons how stress affects your skin, whether you realize it or not:
Stress causes inflammation
There’s a direct correlation between your gut and your skin, and when you’re stressed, your gut gets impaired. Stress can slow down digestion, which will mess with the bacteria in your gut, thus causing inflammation on your skin. See, our minds and bodies truly are connected. Inflammation on the skin can lead to acne or flare-ups of eczema or psoriasis.
Stress can make you oiler
And we all know oily skin leads to acne-prone skin. Cortisol is a hormone level most affected by stress, and heightened cortisol levels can cause high levels of oil and increase sebaceous brands, thus leading to clogged pores and acne.
Stress can cause dryness
Just as stress can make your skin oily, it can also make your skin dry. Stress causes an increase in both adrenaline and cortisol, and heightened adrenaline can lead to excess sweating. Sweating causes your body to lose water at a faster rate than usual, and that dehydration can lead to dry skin.
Stress can worsen pre-existing conditions
It’s known that stress heightens eczema, but the same goes for many other pre-existing skin conditions. We know that stress increases levels of cortisol, and those increased levels damage the immune system, which then causes inflammation in the body. And for people with pre-existing skin conditions, inflammation is something they want to avoid.
Stress can affect your hair
The effects of stress on your physical appearance go beyond just skin; it also can mess with your hair. Just as stress can make your skin oily or dry, it can do the same with your hair. Especially high levels of stress can lead to hair loss or thinning. In times of stress, our bodies can delay hair growth as treating the anxiety becomes more important.
Stress can damage your nails
So basically, stress is the enemy to everything we work towards to have healthy and strong hair, skin, and nails. The same goes for your nails as your hair. In times of stress, our bodies will delay nail growth. The body will put more focus on treating the stress while hair and nails will be neglected.
