How our emotions affect our skin!

I have been thinking a lot this week about emotions and how they affect our health. As many of you know I am trained in NET ( Neuro Emotional Technique) and I use it in combination in with other modalities in my practice to help support the whole body so you can heal!

I have also been re-listening to Napoleon Hill and his 20 year study on how what we think about manifests in our lives.  He was one of the first to share the power of a positive mindset and how it affects all aspects of our mental and physical health.

So this week I wanted to share a little on the topic of how emotions effect our skin and to share that we have had lots of nice successes in the clinic healing all kinds of skin issues.

Our Healthy Healing Plan is very effective in reducing inflammation, weight loss, repairing the gut, improving skin issues and over-all health.  For more info: Book an appointment

The Biology and Science of how Stress affects our Skin

“Your skin is your largest organ that acts as a barrier to protect us from environmental triggers and bacteria. However, it is also a permeable barrier that is influenced by what is happening underneath the surface. For example, high levels of inflammation and stress can show up on the surface of your skin as inflammatory skin problems.

Think eczema, hives, rashes, acne, itchy, redness, psoriasis and more

When you are stressed, your levels of inflammatory markers like  IL-6 drastically increase. Therefore, if you are chronically stressed chances are high that you also have chronic inflammation. Interestingly enough, stress can be a major trigger for autoimmune conditions like psoriasis (which is characterized by chronic inflammation).

When I ask my patients if they have had any Trauma or Stress in their lives they can  correlate the start of their health issues and autoimmune conditions with that event.

Hormones, Emotions and Skins Issues

This chronic stress and inflammation can also throw your hormones out of whack. One example is when there is a miscommunication between your brain and endocrine system it can lead to adrenal fatigue, further hinder your body’s ability to handle stress, and contribute to acne and other skin problems. Inflammation and chronic stress can also lead to androgen dominance or estrogen dominance – two issues that both contribute to acne.

Skin disorders that tend to have an emotional component to them?

Psoriasis and eczema are two skin problems that I see on a pretty regular basis in my natural functional medicine clinic. While lab work often shows high inflammation levels, I like to dive a little deeper and go through a comprehensive health history with individuals. When I do this, I discover that these individuals are currently dealing with a lot of stress in their lives or are working through past trauma that have acted as a trigger for poor gut health, inflammation, and hormone imbalances.

Since I like to approach healing from a whole-body perspective, in addition to focusing on internal physical and emotional healing. I think it is important to choose natural, non-toxic skincare to avoid absorbing toxins that contribute to external and internal inflammation, and further skin problems.  Click this link for some good options. Primally Pure’s products.

 Chronic Stress and Aging Skin

Chronic stress is one of the biggest contributors to premature aging. When you are stressed, your body releases high amounts of cortisol that ends up breaking down your skin’s collagen and elasticity resulting in dull skin and wrinkles.  Along with continuing stress reduction techniques  I have also increased my protein intake the last few years … Yes I admit it… I want to age well.. I also add a grass fed and finished Collagen Powder to my morning cup of coffee.  It is easy to digest and absorb.  A quick note:  If you are stressed out and you decide to add more protein to your diet you need to make sure you can digest it well.  Adding Enzymes, (Enzymes Pro) Zypan, Betain and Pepsin to support Digestion is a must to reap the benefits.

Practices to help manage your emotions that affect our skin

Managing your day-to-day stress is the first step.

• Start a daily mindfulness practice, whether that is journaling, mediation, breathwork, or something else.
• Reduce inflammatory foods and drinks containing sugars and chemicals
• Hydrate : Clean filtered Water
• Counseling can be life-changing as well, especially if you are dealing with emotional scars from past trauma, or are just looking for extra support for dealing with everyday stress.
• Supplement with B Vitamins, Omega 3 Fish Oils and Amino Acids

The emotional component plus factors like poor diet, toxin exposure, mold toxicity, and nutrient deficiencies can all trigger and further perpetuate Skin (Barrier) and Gut (Barrier) problems causing inflammation, and hormone imbalances.

Your health is influenced by everything you do – physically and emotionally – It is all connected!! More on skin issues

While we can’t ignore the emotional component to skin problems we have to look at everything holistically to get an accurate picture of why someone is dealing with skin problems in order to achieve long-term, sustainable healing. Our healing plan can help!

Have a great week and if you are Texas.. enjoy this early spring weather and the Blue Bonnets.

Dr Pia