The medical field has long been divided on whether stress is a cause of acne or not. Recently though, there have been a number of medical clinical studies that show that stress is directly related to your acne.
Stanford University conducted a small study in 2002, involving 22 students suffering from acne. The professors conducted the study and found that at the time period that exams were administered the acne had worsened in all of these students due to the stress. It was further noted that the students that had the most stress, also had the worst acne severity.
There are two ways that stress worsens acne. The first way is by stimulating adrenal glands to produce more hormones. Hormones are a major factor in acne formation, which is why teens are the most affected by acne outbreaks. The adrenal glands secrete hormones that produce more sebum, which will ultimately result in acne formation. The second way that stress worsens acne is by slowing down the healing process. It has been proven that the healing capacity of the immune system can be slowed down by 40% during periods of high stress.
Stress affects the skin in other ways besides acne. Stress also causes the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol which makes the sebaceous glands produce more oil and makes your skin really oily. This is a reason that instead of just the usual whitehead or blackhead that is normally associated with acne, you get pus filled papules that are more inflamed when you are under stress.
Positive and negative stress has the same affect on the body chemistry. So whether you are stressed about getting married soon, which would be positive stress, or stressing over how to pay the bills, negative stress, the results will be the same when it comes to acne.
Try to find ways to bring down your stress levels, such as diet and exercise. This should help reduce your stress related acne from forming.
For ways to treat your acne, try some home treatments for acne or find some of the other best acne treatments available.
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