Skin Vitality Handbook Final

stress strips
our potential
Stress is our body’s emotional and physical reaction to
change. Short term levels of stress can sometimes be positive
and serve as a motivator or stimulant. Short term stress
usually goes away quickly. However, in everyone’s life stress
is inevitable. It is hard not to be in a state of stress and anxiety
when sometimes the current situation does not follow through.
Stress can be from work, relationships, school, family, etc.
With that, stress has a huge impact to our immune system,
which directly correlates onto our skin.
There are many scientific studies that show the connection
between stress and our immune system. As stress increases
and our the health of our immune system decreases, so
will the quality of our skin. Stress decreases our immune
system’s ability to fight infections. Basically when our body is
stressed it produces a chemical called cortisol. This decreases
our production of lymphocytes which are white blood cells
that fight off any source of infection. Cortisol also increases
inflammation in our body. 1
1 Alidina, Shamash, et al. “Nine Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress.” Mindful, 17 July 2019,
www.mindful.org/9-ways-mindfulness-reduces-stress/.