More than Skin Deep: How Your Skin Can Affect Your Mental Well-being

At first glance, it’s difficult to see the relationship between your skin and mental well-being. It’s understandable why many still remain skeptical about this matter. However, if you look closely at how the largest organ of the body reacts when there is an overwhelming emotion (when you blush or when you feel extreme heat or anger) it becomes clearer how the skin actually is impacted by physical and psychological factors.

One way to look at this is how some people develop more serious concerns with their acne when they are experiencing too much stress, anxiety, and poor sleep quality.¹ Aside from this, patients experiencing serious skin disorders like psoriasis are also observed to go through substantial morbidity, cardiometabolic diseases, as well as mental concerns.²

How the Skin Actually Affects Your Mental Health

Needless to say, the behavior of our skin is highly influenced by our hormones and emotions. That’s why the issue of the impact of mental health on the skin has gained the interest of many researchers. We have to recognize that beyond external beauty, skin conditions can trigger problems relating to self-esteem and self-confidence.

In a recent survey conducted by the National Eczema Association, it was found out that more than 30% of the respondents with atopic dermatitis were diagnosed with depression or anxiety. While much is still unknown about the relationship between eczema and mental health, according to researchers, one factor that can be attributed to this is the way eczema flares up when a person is overwhelmed with stress the same the person gets even more stressed upon seeing the condition of his or her eczema.

Why You Should Take Better Care of Your Skin

There’s no need to elaborate: taking good care of your skin is an essential component of keeping your physical and mental wellbeing. You have to immediately address whatever skin problem you are suffering from before it gets worse and thereby affect your daily routine and line of thought.

There is wisdom in self-care. In this critical time of COVID-19, it’s best that you nurture your skin by:

• eating nutritious food;
• making sure that you get the recommended 5 – 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily (or consider incorporating superfood like pHresh Greens® orpHresh Superblends™);
• learning how to balance pH in your body (regularly check using pHresh strips™ - pH testing strips);
• engaging in exercise and fitness activities; and
• taking enough time to rest.

Most importantly, learning to be more open with your emotions and feelings can also help process through what you feel before your mind sends out warning signs that may trigger body reactions, particularly in your skin. Coming to terms with your body can greatly help in keeping up a positive attitude and happy disposition.

Learn more on how you can take better good care of your body here.

References:

1 Dreno B, Bagatin E, Blume-Peytavi U, Rocha M, Gollnick H. Female type of adult acne: Physiological and psychological considerations and management. J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2018 Oct;16(10):1185-1194. doi: 10.1111/ddg.13664. Epub 2018 Sep 24. PMID: 30248242.

2 Armstrong AW, Read C. Pathophysiology, Clinical Presentation, and Treatment of Psoriasis: A Review. JAMA. 2020 May 19;323(19):1945-1960. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4006. PMID: 32427307.