How does stress affect the skin?

You may be aware of the fact that stress can affect your body physically just as much as mentally. And since the skin is the largest organ your body has, naturally it gets affected too (quite a lot, actually). 

But before we get into it, let’s just briefly recap what stress actually is and what happens to us when we get it. 

What is stress?

First things first: Stress is a completely normal human reaction. In fact, stress is our body’s way of responding to pressure. And that’s any type of pressure really - new experiences, loss of control over situations, feeling overwhelmed, unexpected situations, you name it.

Stress is very subjective. Whatever triggers stress in one person will not necessarily have a reaction in others. And we experience stress in very different ways, with some people coping without any help while others are affected more severely and may even experience it as a serious illness affecting both mind and body. 

So what happens is that when we encounter pressure, our body produces stress hormones. And those stress hormones will trigger our fight or flight response (yes, that’s a real thing!). That response will activate our immune system. So our whole body is on it’s toes to help us cope with this ASAP. 

This reaction happens every time. And it usually passes whenever the stressful situation passes. But if we’re constantly exposed to pressure, it leaves us in a permanent state of fight or flight, which the body cannot cope with. And that’s when we start to see the effects of stress on our physical and mental health. 

Which leads us to…. 

What are the effects of stress on skin? 

As mentioned, the skin is the largest organ we have. So when the body is in fight or flight mode, it affects the skin too. 

The effects of stress on skin can go in two directions: new skin concerns may develop or existing skin concerns may flare up.

Let’s take a closer look at the effects stress may have on your skin (we love a good excuse to make a list): 

Breakouts

When we’re stressed, our bodies release cortisol (that’s the stress hormone we talked about earlier). And when cortisol is released, our skin tends to produce more oil which can lead to clogged pores and eventually cause acne (bohoo). 

Aggravation of existing skin concerns and conditions

If you’re dealing with chronic skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, or even if you’re very prone to acne, you’ll probably notice a flare-up in either rashes, redness, or breakouts whenever you’re feeling stressed. This is because the underlying inflammation resurfaces when the skin is feeling attacked (which it does when we’re stressed). 

Dry skin 

Another side effect of stress is that you may begin to sweat (like breakouts and flare-ups weren’t enough). The cortisol we’re releasing when stressed affects our bodies’ ability to store water and instead get rid of it (through sweat) - and this can dry out the skin.

Premature aging

Stress that is not addressed or taken care of can lead to loss of elasticity in the skin, an overall tired and pale appearance, and appearance of fine lines and wrinkles - which all contributes to the skin aging prematurely.

Hair loss and thinning nails

When we’re stressed for longer periods of time, it can take a toll on our hair and nails as well, with both becoming thinner and drier. Your nails can become brittle and break easily, while your hair can (worst case) fall out and leave your scalp scaly. 

7/10 NØIE users struggle with stress on a daily basis

Quite overwhelming, right? And that’s why we’re invested in demystifying stress related skin concerns. 

We can’t claim that our skincare heals stress. And we would never claim that. We need to take stress seriously and work on managing it however works best for ourselves individually. 

However, we do recognise stress as having an impact on the skin and that’s why we’ve incorporated it into our skin test. According to Christian, our Head of Research & Development (and the guy doing a lot of the sciency things behind all the NØIE formulations), asking our users if they’re currently feeling stressed, will help us gain more understanding of their skin, as it provides a possible explanation as to why they may have the skin concerns that you’re having.

As stated, many of our users are struggling with stress in some level or another. Not everyone has stress-induced skin concerns, but some do - and it's not fun.

Hear Tina tell her story about dealing with stress and how it affects her skin: