I used to not believe that stress had anything to do with my acne but over the last few months, I've had some pretty bad breakouts and I'm also pretty stressed at work. I'm starting to believe that perhaps my stress is contributing to my acne. I have oily skin and wanted to know if stress is making my skin produce more oil. If this is possible, what can I do to prevent this?
Oily skin, large pores and stress are a recipe for disaster and that's all the stuff that I'm dealing with. Thanks for any feedback!
From personal experience stress most definitely causes my acne to flare up!! To combat it I usually implement a few preventative measures: i.e. eating even better than usual, making sure I am diligent with my skincare routine, use a refining mask, and trying to relax, hang out with friends, calm down and put things into perspective. Otherwise it can be a dangerous cycle; the stress-related breakout causes me more stress which causes me to break out further. Thatas just my personal experience but I hope this helps!
For me as soon as I'm in a stressful situation I can see it on my skin. My skin produces oil at a much more rapid rate when I'm stressed, eg sitting in a classroom full of people for one hour causes my skin to be extremely oily by the end of one hour; but I can sit at home for several hours without significant oil production. And longterm stress for me also shows up on my skin. During the school year my skin is a wreck. During christmas break and in the summer it clears up. Stress produces cortisol, high cortisol levels raise androgen levels. High androgen levels raise your oily skin levels. High oily skin levels create more acne.
I seem to be in the minority here, but stress really doesn't affect my acne too much. After getting a combined 8 hours of sleep across the last 3 days due to exams and projects, my skin looks fine. It might actually be a little less oily; it's hard to tell though.
Stress is definetly not a major factor for me, for whatever reason.
Stress is a huge deal: your personality type, how you deal with stress, and the taxes you have in your life.
Consider "taxes" on the system. Poor sleep quality is a tax. Poor food quality is a tax. Over-exercising is a tax. Adding a consistent low-grade anxiety from life's responsibilities, and all these taxes add up.
The exact link between "stress and acne" isn't one you can make, to my knowledge, as in a leads to b leads to c. But there are studies that showing that taxed/stressed individuals suffer from lowered insulin sensitivity, impaired brain function and increased intestinal permeability. There's probably more but I can't remember off the top of my head.
Don't let me get all new-agey on you but, there is a connection between your thoughts, your brain health and your body, and vice versa. You could start reading into the gut-brain axis and how this relates to hormonal profiles (i.e. androgen levels, which we know affects sebacious output).
When a person becomes stressed, the level of the bodys stress hormone (cortisol) rises. This in turn causes an increase in oil production, which can lead to oily skin, acne and other related skin problems.
Yea I'm on no sleep for the past two days, cortisol probably through the roof, and my skin is dry as a bone. Lovn it to be quite honest; this would be a great solution if I didn't almost dose off every time I sit down LOL.