Skin care

Is Stress Making You Ugly?

Understand what tension can do to your hair, skin and nails -- and skin care tips on what you can do to help prevent it

by Audrey Fine

3 of 11

Can stress lead to wrinkles? So you thought you were safe from wrinkles because you wear sunscreen? Yeah, not so much. Wrinkles arise from a variety of causes, not the least of which is, you guessed it, stress.

Get this. A 2001 study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco revealed that when cells are exposed to chronic stress they age more quickly. And, of course, cellular aging is what makes skin less elastic and supple thus leading to premature sagging and wrinkling.

"When you're stressed your brain releases neuro peptides -- they're free radicals that can damage your cell membranes," says Dr. Murad, drawing the comparison between our skin cells and a grape's skin. "If you put pin pricks into the grape's skin, the water will seep out. Those radicals are essentially the pricks to our skin -- once they're released, they damage the cell membranes so that they lose water."

This water loss or dehydration leads to "fine lines and wrinkles, a sallow tone and maybe even some dark circles around your eyes because it also affects circulation."

Hydration is so important that at Murad's flagship medical spa in El Segundo, Calif. they offer an "intracellular water test" to determine levels of moisture deep within the skin. From there, a personalized plan to increase a cell's ability to hold water is formulated.

Next: How to manage wrinkles

SEE NEXT PAGE: Keep wrinkles at bay

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Older comments

Nice.

by Mollysunshine Friday, April 12, 2013 at 07:29AM Report as inappropriate

interesting article!

by Chris213 Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 06:01PM Report as inappropriate

Yep stress at times!

by EricaC123 Friday, December 28, 2012 at 05:20PM Report as inappropriate

I had no idea more sleep could help your hair not fall out!

by sportimonki13 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 01:51PM Report as inappropriate

I have a lot of stress in my life but im really young so hopefully I can get that under control before I start seeing the effects! :P This article was interesting and helpful!

by cheydy15 Friday, January 6, 2012 at 09:32PM Report as inappropriate

the scalp mask looks interesting

by krycekov Monday, December 12, 2011 at 11:14AM Report as inappropriate

i really get acne when i'm stress

by LadyLC26 Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 08:04PM Report as inappropriate

wish I could avoid stress!

by Bon_Bon Monday, August 15, 2011 at 09:06PM Report as inappropriate

Thats going to be my excuse from now on...the stress is making me ugly, lol.

by MissPurple Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:36AM Report as inappropriate

Psh. Explains why my nails break so easily :/

by brown_eyes23 Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 04:57PM Report as inappropriate