How Stress Affects Skin

Stress can affect your whole body, including your skin, hair, and nails.

Your emotions have a powerful effect on your skin. Since stress is a part of life, what matters is how you handle it.

How Stress Affects Skin

Stress causes a chemical response in your body that makes skin more sensitive and reactive. It can also make it harder for skin problems to heal.

Have you ever noticed that when you are stressed, you break out more? This is because stress causes your body to produce cortisol and other hormones, which tells your sebaceous glands to produce more oil. Oily skin is more prone to acne and other skin problems. Read more

Stress can also:

Worsen skin problems. For example, stress can worsen psoriasis, rosacea, and eczema. Stress can also cause hives and other types of skin rashes and trigger a flare-up of feverblisters.

Interfere with daily skin care. If you are stressed, you might skimp on your skin care, which can aggravate skin problems.

Skin problems can also be stressful. Some people are so embarrassed by their skin that they keep to themselves, which adds more stress, worsening the problem.

If you have a skin problem that doesn't heal or keeps coming back, rethink how you handle stress.

8 Ways to Reduce the Effects of Stress on Your Skin

Although it's impossible to avoid stress completely, there are ways to handle it better. Try these approaches:

1. Don't neglect your skin. Take care of your skin, even if you're tired or stressed.
2. Get regular exercise. It's good for your skin and the rest of your body.
3. Take time for yourself to do something you enjoy, even if you only have ten minutes. Take a bath or read an article.
4. Take a walk around the block.
5. Practice stress management techniques, such as breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, or visual imagery.
6. Get enough sleep. Seven to eight hours each night is ideal.
7. Say no. It's OK to set limits and boundaries to lower your stress.
8. Talk to someone. Seek support from a friend or a professional therapist.

Hepatitis Overview

Viral hepatitis, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, are distinct diseases that affect the liver and have different hepatitis symptoms and treatments. Other causes of hepatitis include recreational drugs and prescription medications. Hepatitis type is determined by laboratory tests.

HEPATITIS B

. Most adults who get it have it for a short time and then get better. This is called acute hepatitis B.

Sometimes the virus causes a long-term infection, called chronic hepatitis B. Over time, it can damage your liver. Babies and young children infected with the virus are more likely to get chronic hepatitis B.

You can have hepatitis B and not know it. You may not have symptoms. If you do, they can make you feel like you have the flu. But as long as you have the virus, you can spread it to others.

It's caused by the hepatitis B virus. It is spread through contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person.

You may get hepatitis B if you:

• Have sex with an infected person without using a condom.
• Share needles (used for injecting drugs) with an infected person.
• Get a tattoo or piercing with tools that weren't sterilized.
• Share personal items like razors or toothbrushes with an infected person.

A mother who has the virus can pass it to her baby during delivery. Medical experts recommend that all pregnant women get tested for hepatitis B. If you have the virus, your baby can get shots to help prevent infection with the virus.

You cannot get hepatitis B from casual contact such as hugging, kissing,sneezing, coughing, or sharing food or drinks.

Many people with hepatitis B don't know they have it, because they don't have symptoms. If you do have symptoms, you may just feel like you have the flu. Symptoms include:

• Feeling very tired.
• Mild fever.
• Headache.
• Not wanting to eat.
• Feeling sick to your stomach or vomiting.
• Belly pain.
• Diarrhea or constipation.
• Muscle aches and joint pain.
• Skinrash.
• Yellowish eyes and skin (jaundice). Jaundice usually appears only after other symptoms have started to go away.

Most people with chronic hepatitis B have no symptoms.

A simple blood test can tell your doctor if you have the hepatitis B virus now or if you had it in the past. Your doctor also may be able to tell if you have had the vaccine to prevent the virus.

If your doctor thinks you may have liver damage from hepatitis B, he or she may use a needle to take a tiny sample of your liver for testing. This is called a liver biopsy.