Your brain–skin connection: Stress is damaging your skin.
"I know, I know" you say. "Stress isn't good for me."
Yep. You've heard it before. Those sleepless nights and high-stress days at work aren't doing wonders for your mental and emotional wellbeing. With COVID thrown on top, it's a wonder we haven't all sold our worldly possessions and headed for the hills.
But have you stopped to consider the physical ramifications of a high-stress life?
We almost spilt our morning coffee when we uncovered this in-dept research on the relationship between stress and skin health.
You're stressed and it's showing – on your skin.
Don't you feel great when someone tells you "You look really tired today"? Just great! As much as you want to flip them the bird, this person is actually on to something.
It's not just a hunch, there's a biological reason why you don't just feel, but look, tired.
Stress triggers your fight-or-flight response. When you're in this state, your body sends more blood to vital organs, like your brain, heart and lungs. In the process, it diverts blood flow away from your skin. As a result, your skin can't build collagen normally. Prolonged periods in this fight-or-flight response means that your body is unable to produce the vital protein that leads to healthy, vibrant and nourished skin.
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Why collagen is so important:
Think about collagen like scaffolding used in construction that holds everything up. It provides structure, strength, and flexibility, and is critical for skin, bone, and joint health.
Chronic stress damages your collagen in two ways: directly through inflammation, and indirectly by decreasing collagen production.
The good news: you can take action now
A daily collagen ritual can bring vibrancy back to your skin by rebuilding it's elasticity and moisture. In one randomised, placebo-controlled study of women aged between 35 and 55 years, supplementation with collagen for eight weeks led to a significant improvement in skin elasticity. In another study, supplementing with hydrolysed collagen peptides like Ritual Collagen improved skin hydration.
Try these 5 stress-free collagen recipes to integrate collagen in to your daily routine.
In the short-term, stress enhances immune function and helps us focus. But long-term stress has the opposite effects. It’s linked to a host of problems including lowered immune function, high blood pressure, insomnia, leaky gut, sagging skin, and arthritis.
While supplementing with collagen can help heal your body from the inside out, there are other simple practices you can use daily to live a more calm, centred, and happy life. Spending time in nature, keeping a journal, eating a nutritious diet and reducing excessive stimulation are just some of the things that can help you to de-stress.
Make de-stressing from the inside out a daily practice with Ritual Collagen.
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