How Stress Can Wreak Havoc on Your Skin

It’s a fact: Stress can wreak havoc on your skin! We’ve all been there and experienced the effects firsthand. Although we’d love nothing more than to eliminate stress for good (has anyone invented a stress zapper yet??), the reality is that we must learn to manage our stress daily and seek ways to reduce it. In the meantime, it’s important to understand what effects stress can cause and how to do some damage control. 

How Does Stress Affect Your Skin?

Stress produces a chemical response within your body, making your skin more sensitive and easily reactive. It causes your body to release a chemical called cortisol, which makes the glands in your skin produce more oil and makes your body accumulate more fat. How’s that for a double whammy?! This can lead to acne and other skin-related problems, and can cause skin rashes and hives. And add insult to injury, it can also worsen existing conditions such as rosacea, psoriasis and eczema.

Stress can easily contribute to your skin experiencing dryness (due to the cortisol damaging your skin’s ability to hold on to hydration), fine lines and wrinkles (due to cortisol damaging collagen and elastin), redness (due to your capillaries expanding) and acne (due to the inflammation which in turn causes increased breakouts). Are we hating on stress and cortisol yet?

For many of us, any one of these symptoms is enough to cause us anxiety, which can only create a vicious cycle and make matters worse! To truly deal with the problem, you must deal with the source itself: stress. We’ll talk about that in our blog next week. But in the meantime, here are ways to treat some of the most typical skin issues.

Dryness

The key here is hydration, inside and out. Make sure to drink plenty of water. You should also add a serum and moisturizer with Vitamin B to your skincare routine. Vitamin B is notorious for helping the skin’s epidermis retain moisture. It is highly effective in treating dry, flaky skin and has been known to help treat and prevent acne and rosacea. Try Schique’s lightweight Brilliantly Firm Firming Serum or the nourishing Lumistone Hydration Face Moisturizer.

Fine Lines and Wrinkles

Stressed or not, you should always incorporate anti-aging products into your skincare routine. Use products with ingredients that promote collagen production for firmer, smoother skin such as Vitamin C. 

Redness

To combat redness, use topical creams with anti-inflammatory ingredients. Schique uses a Restoring Complex containing Dandelion and Apricot, which reduce inflammation and calm redness.

Acne

Whether you’re acne prone or not, stress tends to cause acne flare ups. It’s important that you stick to your skincare routine, cleansing and hydrating gently and regularly. Regulate your sleep and eat a well-balanced diet. Try to reduce dairy and sugar, which will only exacerbate your breakouts.

Stay tuned to our blog next week for the ultimate guide in reducing stress!