Acne and Stress

It has long been known that there is a link between stress and acne. You may have noticed this yourself, finding new pimples form during exam time or just before a big event. After genetic predisposition, stress is thought to be the number one contributor to the formation of acne.

To understand why stress causes acne, we need to know what happens to our bodies when we are under stress. Our bodies react to stress by producing hormones from our adrenal glands. One of these hormones is testosterone, which stimulates the pore to produce more oil (for more information see “What is acne”). So basically, stress contributes to acne by increasing oil production by the skin and also by weakening the body, allowing more pimples to pop up.

• Women actually suffer more acne flare ups due to stress then men. This is because women have much lower levels of testosterone, so any surge will more dramatically affect oil production.

So what is stress? Stress is not just emotional distress like worrying or feeling sad. Stress is any change that your body goes through. That could be something good, like winning a big game, or something bad, like worrying about a big test. Obviously, it would be impossible for us to avoid stress altogether. But, in order to save our skin we should try to avoid constant stressors.

Here are some examples of stress in our lives that we should try to avoid:

• Being a superachiever- I know your mom said you could do anything you wanted, but don’t try to do everything. Be realistic in the goals you set for yourself.
• Lack of sleep or erratic sleep patterns
• Too much caffeine or sugar
• No exercise (for more information see “Acne and Exercise”)
• Bottled up emotions

Most important- try to identify what is stressful to you!