I love the title of this blog! I think it's a nice play on words (skin and stress)! LOL! Just wanted to get that out of the way. Now, down to biznazz. A couple of weeks ago, I asked some of my followers for some suggestions on what they'd like to read about. Not to my surprise, the biggest area of interest was skin. I posted a blog earlier this year about basic skin care, the 3-step process and so on, but today I'm going to dive a little bit deeper.
What do you do when you're doing the 3-step process (you may even be doing a 4 or 5-step process), and you're still getting breakouts?? You may want to ask yourself one question...are you stressed out?? I think most of us know & believe that the mind and body are directly and closely correlated to one another. There is actually a name for it now, called psychodermatology (the impact of your emotions as it relates to skin). A chemical reaction happens in your body when your mind tells it that you're stressed. A hormone called cortisol is released and causes the skin to increase oil production...which causes pimples of course! That can lead to more stress because now you're worrying about your physical appearance. It's a vicious cycle, I know! So, how do you stop it? Or at least slow it down?
The obvious answer is to stop stressing, right? But that's not always easy. However, there are ways to tackle this skin-villain at its root! Here are a few tips you can do to de-stress throughout and at the end of the day (in no particular order):
- Exercise! This is the BEST way to destress! Exercise actually decreases the release of the stress hormone (cortisol) and promotes the release of endorphins (the body's "feel good" hormones...the same ones released when you have sex, just to give you something to identify with).
- Meditate! Take some time at the beginning & end of your day to think about about absolutely NOTHING! Especially at the end of the day. Why lay in bed thinking about all the things on your to-do list for the next day? Ya can't do anything about it until the next day anyway! It cuts in on your sleep time and affects how well you sleep.
- Listen to your fav song REALLY loud & sing along! This always makes me feel better & extra energized!
- Breathing exercises! Its always helpful to take a few minutes out of a stressful day to just breathe! Sit in your car and take some deep breaths in and out, and clear your mind at the same time.
- Positive self-feedback! It may sound crazy, but I dare you to look at yourself and the mirror and give yourself every compliment you can think of!
Those are a few tips for you to relieve some of the "skress" in your life. I did an earlier blog post about "Aging Gracefully". I recommend reading it because it has other info on how stress is also related to aging. Here's the link: http://beautybyvirtue.blogspot.com/2010/02/aging-gracefully.html.
And here's the link on the basics of skin care blog post. I called it "Gimme Some Skin". :-)
http://beautybyvirtue.blogspot.com/2010/01/gimme-some-skin.html
We all have things that stress us out a little, but its soooo important not to let that stress overtake your emotionally to the point that it starts to have a negative effect on your physical body. Control the controllables ladies & gents! :-) Manage your stress, don't let it manage YOU! Until next time chicas & fellas, take care & take charge (of stress that is)! LOL! Muah ♥
