Got Stress? Don’t Let Your Skin Show It.

In these demanding times, physicians spend plenty of time caring for patients who present stress-related skin problems:

• Pimples appear out of nowhere.
• Dry skin in desperate need of hydration appears overnight.
• Folds around the nose and deep lines in the brow and around the eyes appear more pronounced.

What’s worse, if you had skin problems before, stress will only make them worse, and these issues can persist for weeks and months, even years.

Our bodies are reacting to external challenges.  Stress creates an adrenaline surge that elevates the level of cortisol in the blood. Cortisol tells fat cells to dump sugar into the bloodstream for energy – which is great if you need to outrun a raging elephant but not so great on your body or your skin. Over time stress can damage your body in ways that are not so attractive when we examine ourselves in the mirror.  In addition, we rarely do our bodies or our skin any favors during hard times. As a matter of fact, that is when we sleep less, drink more and eat all the wrong foods.

Although all these issues can be resolved in time, first you have to ‘de-stress.’ Until that time comes, here are 5 professional tips to help you get by:

1. Keep your hands away from your face, stop touching and stop popping those pimples! Keep your hands busy with a pencil or squeeze one of those strengthening balls. For goodness sake, get rid of that magnifying mirror!
2. Go visit your doctor or cosmetic physician and pick up a few acne fighters.
3. Get yourself a therapeutic facial, even if you’re on a budget. Treat yourself to some downtime; even bring your teenage kid in for a facial with you. A twofer! It will be therapeutic and quite relaxing for you both.
4. If you or your kids are using benzoyl peroxide be sure not to use it at the same time as you’re using bleaching products (Hydroquinones) or copper peptides. You can use both products, but not at the same time.  Use one in the morning and the other in the evening.
5. If you’re using high quality skin care products, try a chemical peel! Because a peel removes the built up dead skin on the surface of your face, it allows therapeutic products to penetrate and get the job done more quickly and more effectively. Even a rejuvenating mask or anti-acne mask will give you a great head start on de-stressing your “epidermal anxiety!”