Chronic stress and how it can impact skin and overall health

This is quit a fascinating and complex topic in the sense of how a stressful situation or constant stressful situations can impact our organs, body responses, appearance, and overall health. Currently in my career I like to emphasize to my clients how self care (self love) is important and vital to our mind, body, and soul health. In this crazy and fast paced world we are constantly plagued with worries, problems, deadlines, responsibilities, and long to do lists. Whether at home or in the work place, we are constantly bombarded with stress. We have good stress and bad stress, but when we deal with bad stress more often than we would like, it can start compromising our health and our skin. This can start with the adrenal glands increase in adrenaline and cortisol hormones. It is our body's natural coping response to stress and what allows us to have the "fight or flight" reaction. Historically this physiological response would save us by make fast life saving decisions from predators and any life or death situations. And this is only meant to be temporary so that we can escape those stressful situations and our body's can revert to homeostasis.

Most of the time, we deal with chronic stress and we don't take time to stop and take care of ourselves. we don't take the time to indulge in self care (self love.) And when we do this, our bodies have constant high levels of cortisol and adrenaline. Adrenaline increases heart rate, blood pressure, and energy ( high use of energy reserves lead to fatigue.) Cortisol (the primary stress hormone) increases glucose in the bloodstream, alters the immune system, reproductive system, and suppress the digestive system. If all those symptoms constantly remain high, they can lead to chronic inflammation, which in turn leads to harmed tissues and a suppressed immunity. High cortisol makes the immune cells insensitive to cortisol, therefore making inflammation run rampant. Chronic inflammation is the root cause of so many of our ailments. Now because so much of our immune system is in our gut, this can lead to the suffering of our gastrointestinal system, which in turn leads to autoimmune disorders.

Not only is our immune system suppressed, making us vulnerable to colds, flu's, and infections, but we can also be vulnerable to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Type 1 Diabetes, Psoriasis, Alopecia (hair loss) and Vasculitis, which are some examples of auto immune disorders. Of course our bodies suffer but so does our appearance in the sense of possible hair loss, psoriasis, and acne. Another lovely (sarcasm) thing that cortisol can do is increase oil production, therefore making us prone to acne. With hormones fluctuating and increased oil production, many women end up with hormonal acne. Women already deal with a monthly flux of hormones, but add stress in to the mix and it can become the perfect storm for cystic hormonal acne.

We can also deal with headaches, anxiety, depression, weight gain, digestive problems, heart disease, and memory/concentration problems. Add anxiety and depression to stress and its like taking an extra medication to deal with the side effects of the other medication, so you end up with 2 or 4 medications for the one symptom. We are stressed, so we get anxious then depressed, then we get acne and gain weight, so we get more depressed, and therefore more stressed. Its a vicious cycle that's only made worst by mind and skin being connected by nerve endings that are connected to the skin, which wrap around organs. Emotions can be expressed neurologically and can be expressed through the skin as the gastrointestinal system.

Case in point is we need to take a hold of our lives and the stress we have. We cannot let stress and outside factors control our minds, health, and overall well being. It is imperative to make ourselves and our health a priority. A quote I heard stuck with me that said " we sacrifice our health for our wealth, then we sacrifice our wealth for our health." I truly don't believe it should be that way. and that is why I try to preach and practice self care(self love.) Many times it can be done with even the smallest amount of time like taking the time to watch a movie, putting on a face mask, or indulging in a hobby you love. Just taking the time out for yourself. A great practice I like to advise is meditation or even yoga. This can be done in as little as five minutes to an hour. You can take do it at home or take classes by yourself or with friends. There are even guided meditations you can find on youtube or specialty websites. When clients are with me, I like to recommend facials and/or massages as a form of self care. Not only is it a form of pampering and relaxation but also some self care "me time." Sometimes we need to learn to say "no" and make necessary time for ourselves. We need to find the things that help to bring our stress down. Many times, and especially moms can feel it is selfish. But it is not selfish to be happy and healthy; not only do we benefit from mental and physical well being but the people around us benefit as well. In the long run we end up with happier and healthier versions of ourselves than we would be if we didn't take care of ourselves. With reduced stress we have reduced anxiety and depression and we can have more energy to spend time with our family, take those vacations, make memories, and last longer in our jobs. I believe that at the end of your life, you will always have your family, friends, and the great life memories you made. After all isn't that what it's really all about?

Practice self love

Vanessa

#skin #stress #fatigue #health #cortisol #anxiety #depression #wellbeing