Stress, Depression, Sleep And Your Skin

Stress wears on you – you’d have to be living under a rock not to know that. But, are you aware of how chronic stress, depression and lack of sleep affect your skin?

ŸIntense or chronic stress increases the production of cortisol, which decreases the skin’s ability to repair itself.

ŸStress causes you to tense your facial muscles, often without realizing it. Those repeated frowns and grimaces ultimately will leave their mark in the form of permanent lines.

Here are a couple of easy counteractive measures:

– Reduce stress and anxiety by exercising.

– Include gentle instructions to consciously breath when giving reflexology sessions.  That will drive more oxygen to the skin cells for healing. If you notice clients with taut facial muscles, give some attention to the reflexes of the jaw and temple.

Depression is associated with a decrease in growth-hormone synthesis, which inhibits the ability of the skin to repair itself at night.

Here are a couple of counteractive measures:

– Seek out professional help to resolve the causes of your depression; keep a referral list in your office to share with clients wishing to work through their mental health issues.

– Regular exercise – proven to help defeat depression.

– Reflexology is a wonderful antidote to depression. It allows people to feel themselves in a whole, relaxed state; the way one should feel; the way we were born to be.

Lack of sleep. Without enough deep sleep, the skin can’t properly undo daily damage. Sleep deprivation puts the body into stress mode, causing more cortisol to be produced. And that takes us right back to the top of this article!

Here are a few preventive measures:

– Get more sleep – turn off all electronic devices at least ½ hour before going to bed. Do not read with a Kindle.

– Improve your sleep hygiene. Remove all electronics from your bedroom; sleep in a very dark room; drop the room temperature to 68 or 69 degrees.

– Sleep on your back – a “smooshed” face looks creased.

– Try a short hot tub soak – 10 minutes – before heading to bed. Add some relaxing essential oils to the bath water, or spritz them on your pillowcase.

– Work on your own reflexes before going to sleep. Focus on the central nervous system, diaphragm and solar plexus reflexes to promote sleep, reduce stress and combat depression. Add in the lymphatic and liver reflexes to help with skin health.

The above is useful information to share with clients. Please feel free to print out and distribute or re-write in your own words. Clients really appreciate educational tips.