Here’s something that might blow your mind. 🤯 Your brain communicates with your skin, and when you experience stress, one of the negative outcomes can be acne. It starts with the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, which responds to stress by producing a hormone called Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (abbreviated CRH).
CRH nudges the pituitary (we’re still in the brain here), and says “Hey Bro, we need some corticotropin, stat”. Corticotropin is also known as ACTH, and it moves rapidly through the bloodstream to the adrenal gland, found right above the kidneys. (Fun Fact: The word adrenal is from the Latin root ad- "at or near," and renes, "kidneys."). The adrenal cortex gets busy, unleashing about 30 different hormones to get the body prepared to deal with a serious threat -- like ninja kittens. 😉
Some of the hormones include epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), norepinephrine and cortisol, a key stress hormone. These hormones can help us when we feel we’re in danger, but they do so at a price!
They minimize non-time-critical body operations like reproduction and digestion. Chronic stress also weakens the immune system, allowing the otherwise harmless Propionibacterium acnes 🦠 to overpopulate and disrupt skin. Even wound healing becomes impaired, and you know that can’t be good! It’s sort of a recipe for a skin-pocalypse. 😨
Pre-cortisol CRH ramps up sebum production in the sebaceous glands, swelling pores. Neuropeptides released by the nervous system activate an inflammatory response - and those zits start to look angry! And bad news for dudes, increased levels of testosterone pump up the activity of the sebaceous glands, making a bad problem even worse. Oh, joy! Just in time for the holiday party 🎄
msbeautyphile
⭐ Stress and Acne: Part 2⭐
Here’s something that might blow your mind. 🤯 Your brain communicates with your skin, and when you experience stress, one of the negative outcomes can be acne. It starts with the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, which responds to stress by producing a hormone called Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (abbreviated CRH).
CRH nudges the pituitary (we’re still in the brain here), and says “Hey Bro, we need some corticotropin, stat”. Corticotropin is also known as ACTH, and it moves rapidly through the bloodstream to the adrenal gland, found right above the kidneys. (Fun Fact: The word adrenal is from the Latin root ad- "at or near," and renes, "kidneys."). The adrenal cortex gets busy, unleashing about 30 different hormones to get the body prepared to deal with a serious threat -- like ninja kittens. 😉
Some of the hormones include epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), norepinephrine and cortisol, a key stress hormone. These hormones can help us when we feel we’re in danger, but they do so at a price!
They minimize non-time-critical body operations like reproduction and digestion. Chronic stress also weakens the immune system, allowing the otherwise harmless Propionibacterium acnes 🦠 to overpopulate and disrupt skin. Even wound healing becomes impaired, and you know that can’t be good! It’s sort of a recipe for a skin-pocalypse. 😨
Pre-cortisol CRH ramps up sebum production in the sebaceous glands, swelling pores. Neuropeptides released by the nervous system activate an inflammatory response - and those zits start to look angry! And bad news for dudes, increased levels of testosterone pump up the activity of the sebaceous glands, making a bad problem even worse. Oh, joy! Just in time for the holiday party 🎄
#skin #stress #skincare #beauty #mindbody #cosmeticscience #incosna
5 years ago | [YT] | 9