When you feel good, you look good. But when you’re stressed out, your skin is often the first place to show it.
Why do you get a horrible breakout just before an important job interview? And what is it in dating people who make your toes curl that causes acne? Does it almost seem like acne could read your calendar and decides to show up right before important events?
Until the time research proves that acne actually can read, I’m going to settle for a more mundane explanation.
Stress.
Not only is stress bad for your health, but it also shows up on your skin. Studies show that 50 to 70% of acne cases have emotional triggers; stress and negative emotions make acne worse. Studies consistently rate stress among the most important risk factors for acne and other skin conditions.
Question. Do you pay more attention to diet or stress?
Not only is emotional healing and stress management important, but I would go as far as to say that it’s the biggest missed opportunity for adult acne victims. Failing to actively manage stress and negative emotions is tantamount to failing to eat healthy foods and exercising when you want to lose weight.
Here’s why.
Stress and acne
The American Academy of Dermatology Stress and Skin Factsheet says:
When dermatologists treat both the skin and stress, the skin often clears more quickly and completely as the influences of stress are diminished.
One can only wonder how derms would treat stress – given that they often cause more stress and relive, but I digress.
Most acne victims pay much more attention to their diet than stress and negative emotions. This is unfortunate. Yes, diet affects your skin, but not nearly as much as stress and negative emotions do.
I did a quick search on the US National Library of Medicine database. Here are just few studies linking stress to acne and other skin conditions.
- Stress is the second highest risk factor for acne among Chinese adolescents
- Stress highly correlated with acne among Norwegian teens – with no help from diet
- Another study says mental stress risk factor in acne
- Several common skin diseases linked to psychological stress
- The brain-skin connection explains why stress triggers and aggravates inflammatory skin diseases (including acne)
- Research finds new ways stress can cause inflammatory skin conditions, another study
- Increased levels of acne found in women in fast paced, stressful jobs
- A study finds significant association between stress and acne breakouts; the more stress, the more severe the breakout
- Stress hinders wound healing.
- Positive attitude protects against stress induced impairment in wound healing
Heck, there’s even a term called psychodermatology:
Psychodermatology is an approach to treating skin conditions that addresses the connection between mind and body and, in doing so, examines disorders that are exacerbated by psychological or emotional stress. The field’s practitioners study the external stressors that often trigger skin conditions or inhibit the body’s healing process…
In spite of these criticisms of psychodermatology, some research has shown clear links between skin diseases and psychological factors. In one study, 50 to 90 percent of patients with chronic conditions, like psoriasis, acne, eczema and rosacea, had emotional triggers [source: Jafferany]. This evidence is one of psychodermatologists’ major arguments. They believe that these emotional stressors can make traditional medicines less effective, so removing the stressors has to be part of a patient’s treatment.
How Psychodermatology Works
from How Stuff Works
There’s an interesting article at msnbc.com about this: Does your skin need a shrink?
I know this is a completely new perspective on acne, and I don’t expect you to just accept it blindly. I’m offering it to you as something to ‘chew on’, and as something new to try if you are at your wits end. This certainly has much more hard science behind it than many of the things acne victims try in their desperation.
Balancing physical and emotional
I want to make the point that of course not all acne is emotional. There’s a significant physical component too. What you eat does matter. The point of this post is not to dismiss that. The point is to balance the physical and emotional sides of the story. The reality is that most people with acne put 70% of their efforts on diet, 20% on exercise, 8% on the other physical elements of health, and pay lip service to stress and negative emotions (disclaimer: percentages sourced from my imagination and only for illustrative purposes). Saying that acne is all physical is as wrong as saying acne is all emotional.
So what can you do about this?
And here comes the pitch you’ve been waiting for. Meditate.
A non-recommended method to reduce stress
Meditation is perhaps the most effective way to deal with stress and negative emotions. There are other ways to relieve stress also, such as relaxation, venting, talking with friends, exercise, biofeedback, etc. However, meditation has few things going for it that the other methods don’t.
First , meditation produces long term results. While relaxation (and other methods) can help to release stress and make you feel better at that moment, the effect wears out quickly. Practicing relaxation today won’t make you any less stressed tomorrow. Meditation on the other hand helps you to get rid of stress for good. This won’t be a 30-day miracle, but it will happen over time.
You get stressed when you think you can’t cope with the challenges you face. Your mind imagines all sorts of scary scenarios that could happen in the future, and this causes stress and worry. Meditation helps you to calm your mind so it won’t run amok all the time. Yes, you will still face stressful situations, but can respond to them calmly and confidently.
Clear for Life Meditations takes this a step further. As part of the package you’ll get a Stress Buster meditation. Research shows that people who are stressed have a certain brainwave pattern (deficiency in alpha and theta wavelengths). The Stress Buster meditation helps to correct this (by stimulating alpha and theta brainwaves). This not only decreases stress, but also gives you the ability to deal with stress easily in the future. It’s safe and the only thing you have to do is to plug in your headphones and enjoy the ride.
The link between emotions and acne goes beyond stress. For example, some people get more acne when they have less stress in their life. Sounds crazy! I know, but psychologists and many dermatologists know this, and there’s actually a logical explanation for it. But we’ll talk about that in a later post. For now know that meditation helps you to deal with that other component also.
So what are you waiting for?
Clear for Life Meditations – Stress is a factor in 70% of acne cases. Meditation kills stress. CFL Meditations makes meditating easy, simple and fun.
Did you like this? Then you will also love these products:
Clear for Life: Lifestyle for Health, Happiness and Clear Skin
Clear for Life Meditations: Melt Away the Stress of Acne and Finally Be Free
Emotional Healing for Clear Skin: Simple system for healing the emotional pain acne causes