We think mind and body are two separate entities, however the emotion can be the origin of the skin disorder.

Your skin is very much a reflection of how well you are internally. I have found over the years with my clients that anxiety and stress have a profound effect on the skin. There is definitely a mind-skin connection! For example, if we are embarrassed we blush. When we are stressed, blood flows to our muscles, away from our skin and digestion.

We don't always associate a skin condition with stress because sometimes it takes a few weeks to manifest itself in our skin.

Your skin renews itself every 28 days, but this process slows down as we age causing dry, flaky skin and wrinkles. Stress slows this renewing cycle even further and flares up problem skin conditions such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, and slows down the skin healing process.

Here are some other ways that stress can steal our beauty.

Stress and gray hair

According to traditional Chinese medicine, stress is one of the major factors that causes jing “leakage”. Stress slowly saps your kidneys, which is a life long battery pack that maintains your hair color. All unhealthy lifestyle factors deplete jing, aging you and your hair.

Stress causes acne and prevents the essential absorption of nutrients

When we are stressed, our skin produces more oil, which then mixes with dead skin cells which creates acne. Stress also disrupts the ratio of good to bad bacteria in the gut which leads to acne breakouts as well.

A lot of my clients might eat healthy foods but are not getting the nutrients due to not digesting the food properly. The imbalance in our digestive tract due to stress prevents the absorption of essential vitamins from food that can cause hair loss and brittle nails, for example.

Rapid aging

Recent research has shown that chronic stress may cause a woman's brains to shrink faster than mens’ and may contribute to age related dementia.

Stress may cause you to eat poorly, drink more, exercise less, and take medication to cope with stress. All these habits lead to accelerated aging.

Compromises the immune system

Chronic stress can severely depress the immune system and make you more susceptible to disease. Increases in cortisol and corticosteroids due to chronic stress can result in low levels of white blood cells, a major component of your immune system. This may increase infection, disease, and longer healing time.

On top of that, stress can cause viruses and bacteria lying dormant under the skin to be activated and to erupt into skin conditions.

Finally, when your immune system fails from stress, it sends histamine into the body to fight off whatever is distressing it, the histamine causes hives or rashes.

Stress can cause hormone imbalance

Stress can deplete progesterone levels over time. Progesterone keeps your skin hydrated by controlling collagen production and making your hair thick, shiny, and healthy. Of course, this makes you happy and therefore you smile more which makes you attractive.

Stress is definitely accumulative, but we live in a real world where we cannot avoid stress! But taking time for yourself, and taking away as many stressors from your life as possible can be long term strategies to manage stress.

There are a few effective steps in the chapter Self care ideas to keep you healthy and happy this autumn to manage stress.