subject: Better Acne Treatment Through Better Lifestyle [print this page] Although acne is commonly thought of as a condition primarily afflicting teenagers, some find that acne burdens them far into their adult years. Why? Acne treatment as an adult goes well beyond the standard topical ointments and creams they may have applied to their skin as adolescents. This requires a more sophisticated understanding of the condition and its causes.
Although there are a lot of things that can cause a breakout, its now widely accepted as conventional wisdom that ones lifestyle has a lot to do with acne. Specifically, stress leads to what is commonly called the inflammatory response. And stress can be either emotional stress, such as when you are under a great deal of pressure at work or school, or physical stress, such as lack of sleep or constantly being on the go.
Inflammation is the key to understanding acne flare-ups. Its a natural response of your immune system, and of course its not just going to impact your skin, but all of your bodily functions and organs. Its due to the secretion of stress hormones, primarily cortisol. This results in inflammation of your skin. Some medical experts explain it as an overproduction of oils in pores due to the hormonal spike; others say there is a mechanism during the inflammation process whereby the walls of your pores break down, followed by a rush of pus and clogging. However one chooses to explain it, stress acne is the result.
At this point you need to widen your traditional understanding of stress, as there are lots of potential stressors in your environment. One you may not have considered is food. A poor diet is a major culprit for inflammation, especially if your diet is very high in processed foods that contain sugars. Regular intake of excess sugar spikes ones insulin levels, which is bad on many health fronts - but one fairly immediate result is that it will trigger the inflammatory response and a likely acne eruption. Take a serious look at this aspect of your lifestyle.
Also begin to think of stress in terms of your sleep habits. Medical studies suggest that a lack of quality sleep, or sleep deprivation, triggers many negative and unhealthy responses in the body, among them the same inflammatory response that leads to acne. Persistently denying yourself a full, restful night of sleep puts your body in that constant state of inflammation.
Its probably not surprising to learn that if food and sleep make the list of potentially inflammatory factors, then certainly drug abuse, drinking and smoking definitely are on the list. These bad habits trigger inflammation throughout the body, leading to acne. Of course acne is a small matter compared to the numerous other harmful things that are happening in the body of a heavy drinker or smoker.
Outside of these inflammatory stresses, other common lifestyle-related causes of acne are hair and skin care products like hair gels and make-up. Anything that you use to cover up or treat your skin or hair has a tendency to clog the pores, thereby aggravating the acne producing process.
Acne treatment can actually be seen not so much as what you do once acne appears so much as more of an overall approach to healthy living that emphasizes avoiding the stresses and environmental factors that trigger acne breakouts. If you can avoid placing your body into emotional and physical conditions that lead to inflammation, youll be able to manage acne better.
