This is how stress impacts your skin – and exactly what you can do about it to heal your complexion today

Your stress levels directly impact on your complexion, with breakouts, increased eczema flare ups and pre-mature aging common concerns.

According to The Beauty Chef experts people who are stressed are also more likely to have dry skin, dark circles and puffy eyes as a result.

This is because stress impacts gut health which is directly linked to skin health as well as metabolic health, brain health and immune health.

Your stress levels directly impact on your complexion, experts say, with breakouts, increased eczema flare ups and even pre-mature aging common concerns

‘Our skin and brain are affected by the same hormones and neurotransmitters, meaning this bidirectional pathway can translate any stress we experience into our skin, and vice versa,’ they explained.

‘Put simply, when we feel stressed, our sympathetic nervous system triggers a flush of cortisol, our stress hormone, to be released into our body which subsequently activates our fight or flight stress response,’ they added.

This is important when it comes to avoiding danger but when we are constantly stressed it has a negative impact on our health.

If you are stressed for week, months or even years at a time then your body, especially your skin, consistently misses out on essential nutrients and stunt the growth of new skin cells.

What impact does stress have on my complexion? 

1 – Increased risk of acne and breakouts

2 – Exacerbate glycation and in turn damage collagen and elastin which leads to more wrinkles

3 – Trigger inflammatory skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis 

4 – Cause dark circles and puffy eyes 

5 – Speed up the aging process

 SOURCE: The Beauty Chef

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The best way to fix your complexion if you are stressed is to go directly to the source of the problem rather than attacking the symptoms with creams and lotions.

The skin experts recommend relieving stress with mindfulness and meditation and by eating a diet rich in antioxidants.

They also recommend getting enough good-quality sleep.

Drinking a lot of water and focusing on your gut health will also help clear up your complexion.

Skin inflammation and breakouts are more common for people experiencing prolonged periods of stress

How can I fix stress-related skin problems? 

The best way to fix stress-related skin conditions is to reduce the amount of stress in your life, experts say.

The Beauty Chef team shared the following tip:

Meditation and mindfulness: Taking 10 minutes a day to practise deep breathing exercises can have a huge impact. In the same way, daily self-massage can also help to soothe the trillions of nerve receptors that lie just beneath the surface of our skin.

Eating antioxidants: The more colourful the fruit and vegetables the more antioxidants they have, is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Drink plenty of water: This helps to keep the skin moist.

Focus on gut health: Herbs including chamomile, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, lavender, lemon balm, dandelion, rhodiola and the adaptogen ashwagandha can also all be helpful to relieve stress and support your body through stressful times.

Sleep well: It is important to sleep deeply for as long as possible as this gives the body time to regenerate. 

 SOURCE: The Beauty Chef

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