How does stress effect your skin?

Work, family, Christmas shopping... this time of year can be especially stressful. Irritation, breakouts, - did you know these can be caused by the very same things that are mentally straining you too? So how does stress effect your skin and what can you do about it? 

How does stress effect your skin? Here's the science... 

Essentially when you’re stressed your sympathetic nervous system releases ‘stress hormones’, such as adrenaline and cortisol. These chemical responses can make your skin more sensitive and reactive, even causing rashes and breakouts.  If you’ve already got a skin condition like acne, eczema and psoriasis stress can make it worse.

This over production of cortisol, can actually have a direct effect on your skin barrier too. Your skin barrier works to trap moisture in and keep irritants and pollutants out and cortisol actually depletes the things your barrier needs to stay healthy, causing trans-epidermal water loss and impaired barrier function. A chronic exposure to cortisol can also inhibit the production of hyaluronic acid and collagen, which is what keeps your skin hydrated, plump and youthful.

At the same time, cortisol can also stimulate the overproduction of sebum, the oil that is can cause breakouts and acne. So, for many of us, our skin seems more oily when we’re under stress, and more acne prone too.

How do you combat the way stress effects your skin? 

Because cortisol slows the production of beneficial oils skin often gets drier, rougher and more irritated because the healthy oils act as a protective layer for the skin. So, you want to try and counteract this by giving your skin barrier a little extra love and attention, reinforcing it with skincare products that plump skin with hydration, peptides, ceramides, lipids and the antioxidants it’s missing to really have a healthy skin barrier.

Some people get both dehydrated skin and bouts of acne when they're stressed, when it comes to your skincare routine you want to look for products that are going to help balance that excess sebum production, whilst also giving skin the hydration it needs to keep it perfectly balanced.

Apart from skincare, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep and eating a balanced diet (fill your plate with antioxidants) are going to help balance your stress levels and your skin.

What ingredients are good for stressed out skin?

Ceramides are incredible for stress affected skin.  These ‘skin-identical’ ingredients occur naturally in the skin and actually make up 50% of your skin barrier, which is often depleted by cortisol (a chemical response to stress). This leads to damaged skin barrier, irritation and dryness. Scientia’s Ceramide Skin Rescue contains a complex of 5 barrier boosting Ceramides that mimic the skins natural building blocks, helping to protect and rebuild stressed out skin, as well as Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate and fatty acids and lipids to restore.

Moisture Barrier Balm

£28.00

Drench skin in a cooling veil of hydration that instantly soothes irritation… Replenishing, restorative and all about strengthening the moisture barrier, help comfort and rebuild stressed-out skin with this protective ceramide-rich skin rescue balm. A complex of 5 barrier boosting… Read More

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When it comes to tackling stress caused breakouts, your usual go-to’s - AHA’s, BHA’s and retinols - might be a bit too harsh, so turn to PHA’s. Gentler but just as effective, Succinic Acid is an exfoliating acid naturally derived from amber to resurface skin cells, reduce oil and inflammation, and help tackle the appearance of breakouts. Working even harder than BHA’s whilst still being suitable for sensitive skin, it’s the perfect addition to a gentle blemish fighting routine, which is why we included it in the Scientia Pure Clarity Cleanser and Skin Tonic.