The millions of sensors that cover our skin, responsible for the sense of touch, can become enormously active and distorted by emotional stress, causing all kinds of disturbances in the short and long term. The catastrophe is complete and includes hair loss, redness, flaking, pimples, tightness and other hardships that, in addition to making us uncomfortable, they make our skin and scalp suffer.
This skin-brain relationship, which we are beginning to understand and treat, is enormously complicated and is giving rise to a scientific field called ‘psychocosmetics’. It deals with studying, in a deep and rigorous way, what products to use when the skin is stressed, how to prevent its alterations, what foods to avoidand how to combat anxiety in the skin and hair.
When we are subjected to stress or emotional tension, whether at work or for family or personal reasons, substances called catecholamines are released in our cells. The best known are adrenaline and cortisol and produce important changes, in the short and medium term, in our body. The heart beats faster, blood pressure increases, blood clotting increases, and the amount of blood and oxygen reaching the skin decreases significantly. It is, in reality, a strategy developed for survival. When primitive man was attacked by the saber-toothed tiger, he had to run to survive or, if he was prepared, fight with his spear. To achieve this, the body concentrated in a few minutes seeking all the energy possible when survival was at stake.
Currently our stress is very different and we do not go through the streets, spear in hand, chasing wild beasts. But we live in tension. And this lasts for a long time. The result is that we are rusting. The reflection of this process in the skin is extreme dryness and loss of moisture.. It is then that rashes, itching, dermatitis and a long series of symptoms appear. And what is also very important, these sustained emotional stress peaks lower our defenses and we tend to catch infections. Likewise, our body becomes incapable of recognizing cells with bad tendencies and they can become cancerous.
What can we do to combat stress and not reflect on the skin?
The obvious answer is to try not to affect us. But it is not always easy to pass olympically. There are numerous relaxation techniques, which can be a good starting point, thanks to which we do not somaticize tension.
Diet is, once again, very important. It is recommended to go to antioxidant foods like oranges, tomatoes, greens and especially blueberrieswhich are a magnificent protection to prevent our cells from oxidizing rapidly.
But since the skin is the organ that suffers the most from nervous tension and since the epidermis tends to become inflamed, we have to use products that have a calming effect such as angelica, mimosa, licorice or hawthorn. Antioxidant plants that prevent cell oxidation, those fearsome free radicals. And if the nerves are causing permanent damage, substances of natural origin such as Fullerene or SOD have the unbeatable ability to reverse cell damage.
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