life style

Life Style and Problem Skin

Life style can have a huge impact on the the quality of your skin, particularly if you suffer from sensitive, rosacea, eczema, acne, psoriasis and dermatitis. Our internal health shows on our skin and when we are unbalanced and inflamed internally it shows on our skin as rashes, acute sensitivity, spots, and flaking skin.

Stress is undoubtedly the worst culprit and one that we encounter every day, whether it is in our working environment or family and social commitments or the emotional stress from having to cope with a chronic skin problem.

Chronic stress unbalances your hormones that directly shows in your skin by making sensitive skin more sensitive, oily skin even worse contributing to acne and promotes flushing.of the skin.

If you suffer from rosacea, every time our skin flushes it dilates the blood vessels in the face and over time these vessels weaken and our faces become permanently flushed,so it is essential to lessen the frequency and duration of these flushing episodes by controlling our stress levels.

If you suffer from eczema, psoriasis or dermatitis stress will make you feel out of control and the increases hormonal increase will have you itching and breaking out in rashes.

If you suffer from teenage or adult acne stress will make it worse and making the skin oilier and inflamed.

What can we do to lessen our stress levels?

One of the easiest ways is to try and incorporate some form of exercise in to your day even just 30 minutes will release hormones that will lessen stress levels naturally. The best form of exercise is gentle so not too get us too hot, so swimming, walking, yoga, pilates and dancing to the radio are all good.

Gentle exercise is great for the skin too, you will find that with regular exercise your skin will look more radiant.

If exercising indoors use a fan and facial spray to keep you cool and if outside wear a cap, spf and preferably exercise early morning or evening to avoid the heat of the day.

Taking time for yourself is vital to your well being and stress levels, so even if you are super busy with child care, job and husband to care for do try to get some space even for a few minutes each day to recharge yourself.

By prioritising yourself you are taking control and honouring yourself, no one will do it for you ONLY YOU! And as lovely as your family, friends, work colleagues are, people will ALWAYS let you do more if you let them.

It is ok to say NO and let things go, these are the two of the most important things that I have found that really lessens stress.

Don’t say yes to every invitation you receive, don’t feel obliged to do everything people ask you to do and let any bad feelings go, don’t carry emotional baggage with you, you have enough to carry with coping with skin.

Emotional stress can build if not acknowledged and will leave you anxious and exhausted. Always thinking about your skin, if you can eat or drink certain foods, always checking in the mirror if you are red, spotty or flaky or if your make up has come off is frankly exhausting.

One of the best changes in your life can be to take up a hobby as it refocuses your mind away from your skin problems.

Anything that fully engages you is good for your well being and happiness and if more of your day is filled with happy thoughts replacing anxious thoughts you are well on the way to feeling stronger, more confident and less stressed.

At the end of the day, you are not your face, people generally don’t even notice your skin and we are causing our own stress levels by always internalising.

If you do things that make you happy such as creating a lovely garden, painting, singing, writing poetry, being good at something you will not let problem skin ruin your life or confidence.

Aim that next time you are introduced they will say, ‘This is my friend ............., she makes lovely paintings of the sea, has a lovely rose garden etc, you get the idea, take the focus off your skin problems and focus on the things that make you feel good.

It is only your face, not you and with care and attention you can lessen the skin’s reaction.

Environmental

If you suffer from rosacea the sun is not your friend, it will make your skin flush and become sore and red so be sure to keep a hat and scarf in the winter or wide brimmed straw hat for the summer in your car along with an SPF lotion always at hand.A fan, bottle of water and mist spray will all keep you cool and lessen flushing episodes.

During the menopause our rosacea and acne can worsen due to our hormones being disrupted so it is even more important to take control.

For other skin problems the sun can be beneficial, particularly for psoriasis and eczema and acne helping it heal, but make sue that you don't bare your skin during the hottest part of the day 12-3pm..

Nutrition can also make a great difference to the quality of your skin and management of problem skins.

We need to drink plenty of filtered water each day to flush out toxins from out of our body, eat as much fruit and veg as you can and limit alcohol..

If you suffer from eczema or psoriasis you can find some relief by removing dairy and wheat from your diet.

EFA's Essential Fatty Acids are particularly beneficial to people with eczema and psoriasis but in our view everyone should supplement with evening primrose oil, borage oil or flaxseeds daily to help keep skin soft and supple.

Taking a holistic view to caring for your skin, you will see the best improvement if you not only use natural plant based skin care but to also change your lifestyle to support your health and well being, which will leave you with radiant healthy skin and healthy mind and body.