How many times have you heard someone saying, “aww don’t be stressed, it’s okay” when you tell them that you’re feeling a little overwhelmed? Probably a gazillion times, right? Feeling stress or getting anxiety attacks is probably one of the worst feelings in the world. Your mind has multiple tabs opened at the same time, you feel uncertain & sceptical about things, nothing makes sense to you and you feel really overwhelmed. You may have noticed a few things in your body, such as your skin breaking out or your hair falling whenever you’re in stress, right? But don’t worry, this happens to the best of us.
And now, with coronavirus taking centre stage in our lives, it is normal to feel overwhelmed. Every time you turn on the news there’s bad news all around. You can’t step out without a crippling fear of catching the infection and life pretty much has no certainty right now.
Here’s What Stress Can Do To Your Skin, Hair & Nails
We all feel stressed and there’s nothing to feel ashamed about it. But ignoring it won’t make it go away, you have to take the time to really deal with it. You’re not only harming yourself mentally but it does take a toll on your hair, skin and even nails. Here’s what exactly happens to your hair and skin when you get stressed.
Skin
Stress affects our bodies in more ways we can imagine. Following a healthy regime, such as a diet or an exercise, becomes extremely difficult as our health and appetite also get affected by it. We start eating comfort food that’s extremely unhealthy, the sleeping pattern gets affected, we spend too much time worrying about things we have no control over. All this ultimately affects our skin as our skin mirrors our health adversely. Lack of drinking water and physical wellbeing too results in our skin acting out. Our skin and brain are affected by the same neurotransmitters (the stress hormone cortisol) and therefore, everyone is dependent on each other.
So, what to do?
The first step is to take a deep breath and focus on getting your mind back on track. Read a book, listen to your fave artists, dance all alone in your room, do an elaborate skincare regimen, exercise and don’t forget to drink tons of water. Using beauty tools while doing facial exercises is also one way to show your skin some love as the relaxing ingredients make our skin happy. Use facial serums with ingredients such as cannabis seed oil, hyaluronic acid, etc. and calming essential oils such as lavender to calm down your mind.
Hair
Whenever you’re in stress, you’ll notice your hair thinning out (or even bald patches) due to the constant falling of your mane. And if the situation is still persistent- let’s just say you need to reverse the damage ASAP.
What you eat is an important factor in keeping our hair feel healthy. Do not resort to eating junk food all day long as it’ll directly affect your hair follicles, thus resulting in the slow growth of your hair.
So, what to do?
Start with the basics such as giving yourself a hot oil massage, followed by an *at-home* hair spa to ensure that the oil penetrates deeper into your scalp and boosts hair growth. If your hair is really thinning out at the bottom, chop it off and keep the healthy bits. Do not compromise on your diet and eat foods such as eggs, fish, or even hair supplements. Do not be shy in raiding your kitchen and making a DIY hair mask. Just putting two eggs in your hair twice a week has shown to be proven beneficial in boosting healthier hair.
Nails
Believe it or not but your nails so get affected if you’re in stress. Whenever we’re feeling agitated or anxious, we tend to bite our nails or just rub them against our teeth which is really unhealthy. Stress also makes it difficult for our body to absorb important nutrients our nails need, thus weakening them with time.
So, what to do?
Due to the global lockdown, we cannot keep up with our monthly nail appointments but that’s actually good, don’t you think? You can let your nails breathe for a while. Lay off applying nail polish for a while and eat foods that are rich in biotin, zinc, magnesium, iron as they make our nails stronger.
Whenever you wash your hands, always apply a hand and nail creme so that your nails are hydrated and protected. Intake vitamin E tablets if your nails are as thin as paper or simply open 1-2 capsules and massage them into your nails and cuticles.
It’s okay beautiful, you’re doing great.
If you’re feeling stressed, just do whatever makes you happy, without compromising on your health. After all, a healthy mind resides in a healthy body ❤️
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