…Most of us already know that stress isn’t good for our health, right? Yet, I think that stress is still a bit disregarded when it comes to approaching our beauty-care!
But the research shows that stress might be just as bad (or even worse!) than, say, falling asleep with your makeup on! (OK, smoking is probably worse than the stress, but still! 🙂
This is why it’s so important to drag this “hidden enemy” out of the shadows, draw some really harsh light at how it affects the way we look and come up with a good strategy to beat it!
3 Ways Stress Hurts Our Beauty:
- It hurts your health. But how can anyone look good if they don’t FEEL good? Beauty begins with health! There is no way around it!
- It gives you wrinkles! Yes, seriously! When you’re stressed, you clench your teeth, furrow your eyebrows and frown. All those things actually create lines and wrinkles!
- I am not an MD, so I won’t be educating you on what is cortisol (it’s the hormone that releases when we’re stressed) and how it destroys our cells. There is plenty of research that’s been done on this subject and it’s pretty convincing (you can read more on it here if you want to dive deep into it)! But what I can tell you is that there was a time in my life (about 5 years ago when my boys were really young) when I was stressed all the time! And guess what? I looked AWFUL! And it wasn’t only because I was lucky if I got to comb my hair that day. My skin-tone was ashy and I had huge under-eye circles. My skin was also overly dry and with occasional breakouts. I did NOT look good! Actually, you know what I’ve learned from these years that I now tell my kids? Smiling and being happy is perhaps better than eating your spinach! (Hm… I’m not telling you to start eating doughnuts now!) I’m just saying that it is important to beat that stress!
OK! Now that we’ve refreshed ourselves on how stress is bad for us, let’s come up with a bullet-proof strategy to beat it! 🙂
3 Surefire Ways to Beat Stress:
Ah! My me-moment: a few minutes with 1. coffee 2. some frozen yogurt 3. my computer – and I’m as good as new! 🙂
1. Get better at planning.
I can’t exactly brag about being a super-organized person. Not planning well enough is probably one of my worst pitfalls! I seriously need to work more on this one!
Every time I run late to an appointment; every time I end up actually being late… (Mommy-life, but no excuses – being late is a BAD thing!) – I find myself awfully stressed! Not a good thing! I MUST get better at it and leave myself more extra-time to get things done on-time!
2. Schedule the me-time!
Yes, it must be scheduled! Why? Because if you don’t schedule it you may end up either not having enough of it, or… wasting too much of your time trying to de-stress! And while intuitively your mind will be making you do “something pleasant”, if you don’t actually acknowledge it as such – you won’t get the best out of it! Oh, and you also may end up feeling guilty about “wasting your time on the nonsense”!
It’s super-important to actually plan for some pleasant things to do for yourself and when you’ll be doing them – intake the whole pleasant effect of them!
3. Find the outlets that work for you!
These outlets can vary from a person to a person. Not everything that works for me may work for you and vice versa. For instance deep-breathing and meditation had Never worked for me! No matter how much I tried it – it only made me more anxious! What works for me though, is DISTRACTION!
Yes, instead of trying to turn my mind blank, it helps me to get distracted by something very-very pleasant! For instance when I begin planning the dinner or even thinking about what shoes I need to buy for the summer – it really, really helps! It’s important to literally sit down and perhaps maybe even write down a list of things that work for YOU! 🙂
And here’s my little list:
Things that help me destress:
The beautiful pastries for LA local bakery Flossy!
- Taking myself out for coffee
- Baking a healthy dessert
- If I don’t have the time to bake I can actually splurge and buy a dessert! Yes, buy it and enjoy a portion of it! While I won’t have the whole batch (like I could with my Healthy Cheesecake for instance), having one beautiful piece of a store-bought dessert will never-ever hurt anyone!
- The shopping therapy. NOTE: just like with the store-bought dessert it’s important to practice self-control here! Buying yourself the much-needed pair of shoes or a little accessory that’s within your budget is perfectly fine! Yet, overspending may end up making you feel guilty (read -stressed!)
Love your tips and suggestions here. What helps me destress is going for a run. I’m not fast, but I keep at it. Breathing the outside air and enjoying being outside helps me to clear my mind and puts me in a better place.
Oh, I should’ve put the running and the walking on my list, too! Because yes, it makes me feel so good too to get some exercise! Thanks, Debra!!!