Mental Health + Skincare

a deeper dive

Stress impacts your mental + emotional health, as well as your skin.

The impact chronic stress has on the body can be debilitating. Mental health + skin problems cause stress + stress contributes to mental health + skin problems - it can be a vicious cycle.

As we live in increasingly stressful times, so many of us wear how busy, stressed, and burnt-out we are as "badges" of success + measures of how hard we're working at life.

Taking care of ourselves has become so foreign, it almost feels selfish. We've learned to prioritize everyone + everything above ourselves. We continually neglect ourselves, our needs, and our desires telling ourselves we'll tend to them another day...

TODAY is another day.

stress + the nervous system

Stress releases chemicals called cortisol + adrenaline

Stress arises when you perceive a situation or experience to exceed your coping abilities. This results in a range of physiological + behavioural responses in your body as it works to adapt to the stress at hand.

Do you notice increased breakouts when you're feeling stressed? That's because cortisol increases sebum production in your skin (the oily substance our skin creates to protect and hydrate the skin) and too much sebum production can lead to blocked pores and breakouts.

THE GUT-BRAIN-SKIN AXIS

Healthy skin + a healthy mind begin from the inside out.

We now know that 95% of the serotonin responsible for mood regulation is produced in the gut - by the microbiome. Your gut's microbiome is also responsible for maintaining skin homeostasis and plays a role in your overall skin health + appearance.

The gut houses more than 100 trillion microbes (about 10 x more than the total number of cells in the human body!) and dysbiosis in the gut flora due to chronic stress + poor health habits (nutrition, exercise) contribute to increased experiences of mental + physical health concerns as well as skin concerns including eczema, psoriasis, acne, sensitivity, inflammation, redness, and early signs of aging.

your skin is the fingerprint of what is going on inside your body

DR. GEORGIANA DONADIO

Mental Health: what is it?

Mental health is akin to the hard drive of a computer, essentially your brain's operating hardware.

If you don't tend to + care for your mental health, your operating system from which you perceive life can deteriorate + impact your experience of life.

Mental health = healthy mental function.

Healthy mental function includes your ability to cope with the ups + downs of life and maintain daily tasks of living such as personal hygiene, household tasks, decision making, maintaining employment, healthy connections + relationships, hobbies + interests.

When your mental health starts to slip, so does the functioning of your brain and the ability to maintain and complete those seemingly "simple" daily tasks.

Emotional Health: what is it?

Emotional health is akin to the software of a computer, essentially your brain's programming.

If you have defective programming, your perception of reality is going to be skewed.

Emotional health = healthy thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviours.

Healthy doesn't mean happy. It is not realistic to expect to be happy 100% of the time.

You can experience challenging and difficult emotions + life situations and still have healthy emotional wellbeing.

Emotional health consists of self-awareness + your ability to be with, name, acknowledge, manage, and express your inner world + experiences in a productive way.

Taking Care is Key to Mental Wellness + Skin Health

If you are a human being, you have both mental + skin health - whether you take care of them or not is another thing.

In a culture that values putting everyone else first, even at the cost of yourself, the strongest thing you can do is take care of yourself. Oh, what a feat that is.

Spoiler alert: taking care is not a big luxurious vacation sailing on a yacht being fed grapes + being fanned with a palm leaf (although, that wouldn't hurt!) rather, taking care is a culmination of tiny, intentional actions taken throughout the day, week, and month that contribute to overall health + wellness.

Being conscious of what you consume physically + mentally are huge contributors to health + wellness - you would be surprised how much reducing the amount of toxins you use, consume + are exposed to in your products, food, thoughts, work + social environments, social relationships impacts your sense of wellbeing.

you don't need permission take care of yourself

YOU ARE ALREADY DESERVING OF TAKING CARE

Mental Health: how do I get it?

Mental health encompasses so much more than we acknowledge.

Mental health is connected to many other pillars of health including emotional, social, financial, spiritual, physical, environmental, and intellectual.

Diet, exercise, mindset work, stress management, healthy daily habits, supportive + healthy social connections, fulfilling work, boundaries, emotional processing, fun + enjoyment, hobbies + interests, curiosity, goals + ambition (+ more!) all contribute to your overall mental health + wellness.

Emotional health: how do I get it?

Emotional health is the ultimate practice of self-awareness + acceptance.

Emotional health doesn't protect you from life's devastation or challenges, but it helps you navigate those challenging life experiences with more control + emotional empowerment.

Emotional health is a combination of emotional intelligence (the ability to identify your emotions) + emotional regulation (the ability to cope and manage your emotions productively).

Do you catch yourself blaming everyone and everything for what goes wrong in your life + the challenges you experience? How often do you do a personal inventory and ask yourself what your own role is + where you can reclaim your power?

Emotional health enables you to function, participate in + meet the demands of life. It's a skill that can be learned + it's a game changer.

taking care mentally + emotionally contributes to healthy skin by maintaining stress levels + healthy gut flora

WHY NOT FURTHER SUPPORT YOURSELF IN TAKING CARE BY INCORPORATING A MINDFUL SKINCARE ROUTINE?