Does stress age you?
When you encounter a stressful situation, your body adapts physiologically to help you deal with that context. Your brain releases hormones that increase your blood pressure, increase your heart rate, and impact other bodily functions. Stress typically affects every major system in your body (Chu).
With acute stress, once a stressful episode has passed, the body returns to its normal state. The fight or flight response that is triggered by stress hormones was designed to protect your body when it feels it is in emergency situations, but when it is constantly triggered day after day, your health could be put at serious risk.
Chronic stress ages you in multiple ways. As you continue to deal with long-term stress, your health declines faster than it would given the usual wear and tear that is associated with aging. Symptoms of chronic stress may include headaches, tense muscles, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, insomnia, frequent colds and infections, and low energy. Over time, stress can make you more vulnerable to infection, influence the severity of different diseases, slow your body’s healing processes, and increase the production of inflammatory proteins in your body’s cells that cause age-related diseases (Glaser). Chronic stress can also lead to accelerated risk of a list of other health problems that are typically associated with age, such as chronic pain, heart attacks, stroke, or hypertension. Stress actually brings you closer to the medical concerns that typically come with aging, much earlier than is typical.
Stress and the Face
It may, however, be more obvious that stress ages you once it has taken a toll on your physical appearance. Chronic stress can age your face and appearance in a variety of ways. When you experience stress, your sympathetic nervous system releases the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline into your body. One of cortisol’s effects is increasing oil production in your skin, which can lead to clogged pores and breakouts (Florida Dermatology & Skin Cancer Centers). As a result, stress manifests itself through these stress marks on the face, including acne and dry skin. It can also potentially cause you to develop more prominent bags under your eyes, gray hair, and even hair loss.
Undergoing periods of stress makes your skin vulnerable to new skin issues, and existing skin issues can reappear and worsen. Your skin can become more reactive and sensitive, which easily triggers rashes, hives, and redness. Stress also makes existing inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea worse, and increase frequency or severity of flare ups. Chronic stress produces increased levels of hormones like cortisol and eventually has a negative effect on your skin’s health.
