Eczema and stress; what's the connection?
- Jul 6, 2017
- 3 min read
Stress is quite a common trigger for eczema. In a way, it can be more difficult to manage because we may be living in a constantly stressed state and not realise it.
We may have become so used to it that it is our everyday experience - it feels like normality. This is especially true when it’s caused by everyday situations such work or family.
As a coach and hypnotherapist I've worked with many people who were living with stress and I find it to be true that it is always a symptom and a result of feeling out of control.
This doesn't mean you are 'controlling' - most of us know we are never in total control of our lives. But that feeling of not having any say or effect, especially when things are not going well - that's feeling out of control. And that causes stress, and the stress response.
There's no substitute for knowing the source and changing situation itself. But sometimes that's easier said than done, and life and eczema have to be managed in the meantime. Understanding the cause and how it’s related to your eczema can help you learn how to manage it and keep it from causing outbreaks.
How does it work?
Stress causes a spike in the hormone cortisol, the stress hormone, precipitating the response and the physical changes that go with it: increased rate, higher blood pressure, less blood to the brain and more to the muscles, faster breathing from high up in the chest instead of deep into the diaphragm. Just what we need when we need to run or put up a fight.
When animals are under threat because of their place in the food chain, this is great. It's what gets them up and running and hopefully outrunning their preditor. If they succeed, then they go back to grazing or laying about and their system completely gets rid of the hormone and they relax. Blood pressure etc. normalise. The incident, although life threatening, is forgotten.
Unfortunately in modern life we are living with pressures that do not go away, they can pile up and get added to. Chronic stress and the physical changes that go with it are part of the human condition these days. It can be what's called 'low-grade' but it's still insidious. It's behind very many illnesses. And eczema.
The link between stress and eczema isn't exactly known - or rather, it may be one or more of many. For example, when your body produces high amounts of cortisol your skin can become abnormally oily. This can then trigger an eczema outbreak. This might seem a strange problem since the skin of many eczema sufferers is abnormally dry. However, stress makes it harder for your skin to recover from irritation and skin damage.
Not only can stress cause eczema, it can make eczema outbreaks last longer and make you feel more stressed as a result. And also, living with eczema can cause stress. And so we go round and round. What can we do to reduce it?
Reduce stress
First, do whatever you can to reduce your daily levels of stress:
-Exercise for half an hour every day or so. Walking, especially in a change of scenery, helps steady your system.
-Meditate for 10 minutes. See the Meditation music video below for eight minutes of calm.
-Spend time with people whose company you enjoy.
-Get at least seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Keep regular hours for sleeping.
A treat - eight minutes of relaxing meditation music. Click on the screen to listen.
Ideally meditate early in the morning or on going to bed at night. It's alright to listen to this as you are lying in bed, and you may drift off to sleep.
Listening through headphones is best. Sit or lie comfortably and safely. Do not play while driving or while you attention should be on something else. This is your time. To begin, take a deep breath and a longer, slower breath out.
Practice makes perfect, but avoid putting a pressure on yourself to do it. It's your time. It's for you.
And, for the best restorative cream for eczema that we've found, see John's Story.
Happy days!
Faith
Faith Tait is a qualified skincare manufacturer, nutritionist, hypnotherapist and confidence coach and trainer. She loves colour and finds it intensely uplifting, so she is also a colour analyst.
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