Stress, Skin and Where Matcha Comes In
Stress is one of the most underestimated triggers for skin breakouts. Stress activates our ‘fight or flight’ response (otherwise known as our sympathetic nervous system), and sets off a cascade of events that can mean bad news for skin. This internal alarm system was designed for acute responses to emergency situations. However, it’s 2022 and most of us live in a constant state of ‘stress’, without switching back to our ‘rest and digest’ response.
It’s also shown that those of us who have acne-prone skin, also have skin that is super sensitive to stress. Even a mildly elevated stress response will impact your skin, especially if its over a pro-longed period of time. On top of this, feeling stressed about your skin only adds fuel to the fire.
There are multiple avenues around how stress can impact our skin - sometimes directly, and sometimes indirectly.
Here’s some ways in which stress can impact our skin:
SUBSTANCE P: Substance P is a pro-inflammatory (opposite of anti-inflammatory) neuropeptide found abundantly in the central nervous system. It regulates emotions, and levels go up during times of stress and anxiety. The production of substance P has a direct impact on our skin and gut.
Substance P also increases the size of individual sebaceous cells and the sebum they produce. Ever notice a more oiler complexion when you’re stressed?
It’s been shown that substance P is chronically elevated in acne sufferers (as opposed to it fluctuating) - this makes the skin even more susceptible to stress and break-outs.
Substance P is also responsible for pain signalling, which contributes to those painful breakouts.
DIGESTION: When we eat, blood flow is directed towards the gut, so that we can produce more stomach acid, absorb nutrients and support the mucosal defence mechanism.
However, when you are stressed, blood flow is moved directly away from the gut and digestion is no longer a priority. Adrenaline re-routes your blood to organs most vital to your immediate survival. Even if you are only mildly stressed, your digestion will still be compromised. The moment your digestion doesn’t work well, nutrient absorption is reduced, toxin elimination is compromised and the gut microbiome suffers. Finally, when blood flow does come back to your gut, an exaggerated tissue injury response is triggered - meaning your gut sustains injury as a result of the stress and food not digesting.
BLOOD SUGAR: When adrenaline increases, our liver turns its stored carbohydrate (glycogen) into sugar and produces more sugar! The body then dumps this excess sugar into the bloodstream - why? To provide you with energy to deal with your immediate threat.
Unfortunately this increases growth hormones and cortisol, reducing our sensitivity to insulin - which can lead to stress-induced insulin resistance (PCOS anyone?).
REPRODUCTIVE HORMONES: As a response to stress, our HPA-axis (hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal glands) is activated and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and prolactin is released. This contributes to an increase in androgen (dihydrotestosterone or DHT and testosterone) production.
Excess androgen production leads to increased oil production and a thickening of the skin - both which can drive break-outs.
So what’s next?
You need to make healthy choices more than once to make noticeable changes. When it comes to caffeine, it triggers adrenaline, which results in a heightened stress response from your body, and skin. If you have a-lot going on, put the coffee down - don’t add fuel to the fire.
Matcha is a perfect substitute from coffee, especially if you are someone who has a heightened stress response and suffers from breakouts. Matcha contains about half the amount of caffeine, and is naturally rich in theanine, an amino acid that is used to support anxiety and the stress response. Switching from coffee to matcha is the first step to better skin.