No one likes being stressed out. The anxious jitters, hot sweats, and changes in appetite would make anyone crave for a return to relaxation.
Your skin is no different; both external and internal stress can greatly affect your skin appearance and comfort, and the results often have you trapped in an inescapable circle of stress triggers and outcomes. Burt how exactly does your skin respond to stress, and how can you break the bad skin cycle that stress puts you in?
Your Skin and Stress
Your skin is the first barrier against the outside world. It’s a carefully formed network of cells and lipids that work to protect you from the penetration of outside irritants while also maintaining internal hydration. However, environmental stressors like UV rays and pollution have their ways of getting under your skin, so to speak; despite the skin’s innately good performance as a barrier, it is still susceptible to stress. The skin releases stress hormones in response to UV light, for example, which get sent to the brain – this is a perfect example of the brain-skin axis in action (read more about this axis here).[1] Oftentimes, triggers of stress can promote pro-inflammatory factors to be released, which essentially promote characteristics typical of inflammation, like redness, heat, or even rashes.[2] The brain-skin axis works both ways, in which the brain responds to the skin’s perception of stress, and the skin often changes due to the hormones released by the brain in times of stress, such as cortisol.
Cortisol and the Skin
Cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, has an interesting way of spicing things up, both for your mental health and skin status. Produced by your adrenal glands, cortisol is meant to regulate stress by suppressing inflammation, regulating blood sugar, and maintaining blood pressure.[3] It is when your levels of cortisol are too high that you begin to see issues in your anxiety levels and skin health. High levels of cortisol can cause weight gain or loss due to appetite expression or suppression, uneasiness, or anxiety.[4]
For your skin, excess cortisol can actually affect your skin barrier – it slows the production of beneficial oils, which can cause skin dryness and irritation; these oils make up your skin barrier, so when they aren’t properly present, this leaves your skin susceptible to external irritant penetration and water loss from the lower layers of the skin. Cortisol may also promote the overproduction of sebum, which can cause you to be more acne-prone.[5] For those that always get a big pimple or a breakout before a test or huge presentation, this is a potential reason why. The alteration of skin oils and balances also disturbs the skin’s natural pH balance – sebum makes the skin slightly more acidic, which can disturb your microbiome and promote the proliferation of bacteria implicated in skin irritation, dryness, and acne (for more on the skin microbiome, read here).[6]
Even more fascinating, cortisol overproduction can also inhibit the body’s ability to create hyaluronic acid and collagen, major components of skin structuring and hydration maintenance.[7]
Manage your Stress, and your Skin
There is only limited evidence on how stress-reducing interventions can help with stress’s effects on the skin[8], but it doesn’t hurt to try out a few. Incorporating meditation, self-care practices like hot baths and quiet time, or even exercise/yoga can all be ways to reduce your anxiety levels, and hopefully, regulate your cortisol levels.
With the reduction in hyaluronic acid production and the disruption to your skin barrier and balance, RIMAN is here to help stressed-out skin. Our hero ingredient, Giant BYoungPool, has “soothing” as its middle name – it’s ability to reduce skin inflammation can greatly aid in skin comfort as well as skin balance. Other proprietary ingredients, like our 8-layer hyaluronic acid, can potentially help reintroduce hydration to each layer of the skin.
Our INCELLDERM Dermatology EX line is a dose of hydrating radiance for tired, stressed-out cells. Water-based product types, like our Calming Balance Gel and Dermatology First Package EX, focus on soothing and anti-inflammation as means of bringing out skin radiance. Our Vieton Oil Mist and Multi Stick Balm both focus on moisturization and oil-based ingredients, which can help replenish the lipid barrier and reduce water loss. Our complexion products, the 4D Lustre Cushion and Aqua BB Cream, both contain barrier-reinforcing lipids to ensure that your skin’s innate means of protection is strengthened and functioning, which helps reduce the chances of further irritants penetrating and restarting the stressed skin/brain cycle.
For those that are feeling the effects of lower production of collagen and hyaluronic acid, our Radiansome™100 line, composed entirely of nanoliposomes, is a beautiful way to promote skin structuring and health. The enhanced absorption due to the nanoliposomes ensures proprietary complexes reach target sites for genuine results; our patented Collageneer complex promotes skin firmness, while our Vita-Some complex encourages radiance and elasticity, both of which help the appearance of more youthful skin. The emollient, luxurious textures of our toner, ampoule, and cream allow for further relaxation as you massage in the formulation goodness.
Don’t let stressed skin stress you out; treat your skin to a spa day with RIMAN.
[1] Stress may be getting to your skin, but it’s not a one-way street – Harvard Health
[2] Stress may be getting to your skin, but it’s not a one-way street – Harvard Health
[3] Cortisol: What It Is, Function, Symptoms & Levels (clevelandclinic.org)
[4] Cortisol: What It Is, Function, Symptoms & Levels (clevelandclinic.org)
[5] This Is Your Skin on Stress – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[6] This Is Your Skin on Stress – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[7] This Is Your Skin on Stress – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[8] Stress may be getting to your skin, but it’s not a one-way street – Harvard Health
