Stress and Beauty - A Major Disconnect

Friday, August 21, 2009

Have you ever wondered about the relationship between stress and beauty? You may actually be concerned about how the stress in your life may be affecting your health, and perhaps, even your youthful glow. Additionally, the media pours beauty products down our throats on a daily basis, convincing us that if we do happen to show signs of stress or age, there is always a product that can fix it.

Stress can have serious effects on your beauty. According to Shakila Akhter in her article, "Stress Leads to Ugliness," (2002) "Emotional stresses disturb the body homeostasis that results in hormonal malfunctioning, impairment of body immunological functions and slows down the skin rejuvenation." Akhter provides further explanation of the skin and its renewal process:

"Skin constantly renews itself. At young age the cell renewal process completes within 28 days but as we grow older the speed of this process slows down. In addition to age that process is also effected due to our mental state of mind. The period of mental disturbance slows down the process of cell renewal, destroys collagen fibers in the skin, breaks down its elastin and increases the production of sebum oils in oily skin people and dehydrate dry skin."

Your mental health is therefore the key to beautiful skin, so take care of your mind as well as your skin on a daily basis in order to maintain a youthful glow and complexion. This sounds easier than done, right? I totally agree with you. I have always been aware of the effects that stress has on my hair and skin, but some of the information and advice regarding how to relieve stress was incompatible with my personality and/or lifestyle. Akhter provides some very basic and helpful tips that can help with relieving stress and minimizing stressful effects on your beauty (This list is especially useful if you notice side effects of stress like physical changes (e.g. weight gain, weight loss, hair breakage, skin changes, etc.):
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-First of all just leave the stressful situation and drink a glass of water.
-Don’t make any decision during those phases.
-Don’t make any negative judgement about yourself.
-Think about positive traits of your personality. Nobody is ideal and perfect in this world. Every one has some weakness, if you too have some than there is nothing wrong with you.
-Don’t try to seek the help of cigarette, alcohol or any drug.
-Get involved yourself in some easy to do work like cleaning your wardrobe, arranging your bookshelf, do painting. But whatever work you start you have to complete it.
-Call your friend, talk to him/her about your problem. If you don’t want to do so than just take a paper and write down about every thing that is coming to your mind without censoring anything.
-Do aerobics or yoga or just go out for a long walk.
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I have a terribly bad habit of drinking coffee when I am really stressed out, and I am currently in the process of changing that bad habit and am choosing to drink more water overall. I stay away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, I tend to talk out issues with close friends, and I am a big fan of exercising (particularly running, pilates, yoga and dance). When I am really stressed, I like to take epsom salt baths as soon as possible, which relax my body and mind.

I encourage you not to wait to take care of yourself until you get into a stressful situation. Instead, I suggest being proactive rather than reactive, and begin to address whatever physical and mental health issues you may have, so that when you do find yourself in a stress storm, your ability to react accordingly will be a lot better. And of course, the effects on your beauty and overall complexion will (hopefully) be minimal.

Stressed? Why Not Meditate?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Meditation really is one of the best ways to just "get away" when you can't jump on a plane and escape to Tahiti. I've always been a type-A personality, so as a result I've been intrigued by ways to take a break, relax, and center myself. As a law student, I found it even more important to take mental breaks and just simply tune out, rather than constantly "being on" and buzzing around from assignment to assignment without a real rest. I know some of you may also be thinking about the benefits of meditation, but you're not sure how to get into it. Here is some advice on how to incorporate meditation into your everyday life: (excerpt below courtesy of Mayoclinic.com in an article entitled "Meditation: Take a stress-reduction break wherever you are")

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Everyday ways to practice meditation
Here are some ways you can practice meditation on your own, whenever you choose. Take a few minutes or as much time as you like.

Breathe deeply. This technique is good for beginners because breathing is a natural function. Focus all attention on your breathing. Concentrate on feeling and listening as you inhale and exhale through your nostrils. Breathe deeply and slowly. When you feel your attention wander, gently return your focus to your breathing.

Scan your body. When using this technique, focus attention on different parts of your body. Become aware of your body's various sensations, whether that's pain, tension, warmth or relaxation. Combine body scanning with breathing exercises and imagine breathing heat or relaxation into and out of different parts of your body.

Repeat a sacred name or phrase. A mantra is the name of a sacred deity or a sacred phrase that you repeat silently or aloud. You can create your own mantra. Mantras are the building blocks of transcendental meditation. Examples of religious mantras include a Jesus prayer in the Christian tradition, the holy name of God in Judaism, or the Om mantra of Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions.

Walking meditation. Combining a walk with meditation is an efficient and healthy way to relax. You can use this technique anywhere you're walking — in a tranquil forest, on a city sidewalk or at the mall. When you use this method, slow down the pace of walking so that you can focus on each movement of your legs or feet. Don't focus on a particular destination. Concentrate on your legs and feet, repeating action words in your mind such as lifting, moving and placing as you lift each foot, move your leg forward and place your foot on the ground.

Engage in prayer. Prayer is the best known and most widely practiced example of meditation. Spoken and written prayers are found in most faith traditions. You can pray using your own words or read prayers written by others. Check the self-help or 12-step-recovery section of your local bookstore for examples. Talk with your rabbi, priest, pastor or other spiritual leader about resources.

Read or listen and take time to reflect. Many people report that they benefit from reading poems or sacred texts silently or aloud, and taking a few moments to quietly reflect on the meaning that the words bring to mind. You can listen to sacred music, spoken words or any music you find relaxing or inspiring. You may want to write your reflections in a journal or discuss them with a friend or spiritual leader.

Focus your love and gratitude. In this type of meditation, you focus your attention on a sacred object or being, weaving feelings of love and gratitude into your thoughts. You can also close your eyes and use your imagination or gaze at representations of the object.
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Just a note: I would encourage you to really think about the time of day when you can take some time to yourself to practice meditation and find out which meditation style works best for you. Even if you have to wake up a half hour earlier in the mornings, or turn off late night television and instead practice meditation, you will definitely feel the mental/psychological benefits after incorporating it into your daily lifestyle.

Claiming Your Victory in Troubled Times, Part II

Monday, February 23, 2009

In response to the comment in my blog posting below, "Claiming Your Victory in Troubled Times," I decided to make a follow-up post that provides more detailed advice and information for those who are dealing with hardship and anxiety during these tough economic times and are looking for some concrete advice. Lo and behold, I tripped upon an interesting article in one of my favorite magazines, "Essence," which provides some good advice for those who are interested in confronting their anxiety and looking for solutions:

As a part of an article entitled "High Anxiety," (p. 110) featured in Essence Magazine's March 2009 edition, Angela Neal-Barnett, Ph.D., offers some advice in her piece entitled "Transforming Anxiety Into Action," providing tips on how to draft a plan "with measurable results and time frames," using the following steps below:
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1) Turn Your Worry into A Goal
"I'll never pay off all these bills" becomes "I want to be free of all credit card debt by 2015."

2) Figure out what specific actions will get you to your goal.
Do you need to look for a part-time job on the weekends to earn an extra $100 a week? Do you need to work an extra five years before you can retire?

3) Work around stumbling blocks.
In the past, what has stopped you from reaching your goal? Be honest. Perhaps, for instance, you've been stashing away your credit-card statements without reading them. Make opening your mail the first thing you do when you come home.

4) Measure and monitor your progress.
Will you, for instance, check in with a debt counselor once a month to stay accountable to your credit-card repayment schedule?

5) Congratulate yourself periodically.
As you reach a milestone, indulge in a treat that will keep you motivated.
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Dr. Neal-Barnett also provides advice in another segment of this Essence article, "High Anxiety," in a piece entitled "3 Steps To Serenity," below:
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1) Deconstuct Your Demons. "What we say we're afraid of is really our core fear," says therapist Angela Neal-Barnett, who suggests leading yourself in what she calls the "so what?" chorus. Ask yourself what's so troubling about the dreaded consequences, and drill down until you get to their emotional root. For instance, a sister panicked about her plummeting 401(k) may initially say that she fears losing everything. So what? She may delay retirement another 15 years. So what? She doesn't want to work for the rest of her life. That's the core fear - working herself to the grave - not postponing retirement. With that knowledge, she can work with an adviser to figure out measures (such as catch-up payments and additional revenue streams) so that she may only have to raise her retirement age five years or so.

2) Stay in the moment. Once you've figured out the "so what," stop dwelling on the what-ifs. Lama Choyin Rangdrol, an African-American Buddhist meditation teacher and the founder of Rainbowdharma, suggests this exercise: Inhale and imagine the air is cleansing your body. Then exhale as you imagine the air clearing out the confusions, stress and anxiety. Use it to put the breaks on runaway thoughts.

3) Get treatment if you need it. See a medical, mental health or substance abuse professional if anxiety interferes with your sleep, work, appetite or other aspects of your daily life for a prolonged period.
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I am no stranger to anxiety and stress, so I empathize when others are searching for advice and crave some sort of concrete advice for their various circumstances. I hope these pieces from this March 2009 Essence article ("High Anxiety") are helpful to those of you out there looking for some piece of mind in this headache of an economic mess. These tips, in addition to the many more provided by other experts, should help mitigate some of the anxiety that you may be facing at the moment.