Can Anxiety Make Acne Worse
The relationship between anxiety and acne is more connected than many people realize. When you experience anxiety, your body goes through a series of changes that can directly affect your skin and make acne worse.
How Anxiety Triggers Acne
When you feel anxious, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol. These hormones work in ways that promote acne development. Cortisol and other stress hormones indirectly increase oil production in your skin and trigger inflammation. Both of these factors create the perfect environment for acne to form or worsen.
The hormone connection runs deeper than just stress hormones. Anxiety and depression are linked to changes in sex hormone levels, particularly androgens. These hormones stimulate the sebaceous glands in your skin to produce more oil, or sebum. When excess oil combines with dead skin cells and bacteria, pores become clogged and acne develops.
The Cycle Between Anxiety and Acne
The relationship between anxiety and acne works both ways. Anxiety can cause acne to appear or get worse, but acne can also cause anxiety. People with acne often experience negative emotions like anxiety and depression because of how acne affects their appearance. This creates a difficult cycle where anxiety worsens acne, and worsening acne increases anxiety.
Research shows that long-term negative emotions can cause or aggravate acne. The stress and worry associated with having acne can keep anxiety levels high, which continues to fuel more breakouts. This is especially true for adult women, who report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and social isolation when dealing with acne.
Sleep and Anxiety’s Role in Acne
Anxiety often disrupts sleep quality, and poor sleep is itself a risk factor for acne. Studies have found a strong connection between sleep problems and acne development. People with acne are more likely to experience difficulty falling asleep and waking easily during the night compared to people without acne.
When anxiety keeps you awake or causes restless sleep, your body cannot properly recover. This lack of quality sleep makes your skin more vulnerable to breakouts and can make existing acne worse.
Visible Skin Changes from Stress and Anxiety
Beyond acne, anxiety and stress cause other visible changes to your skin. Stress can lead to increased inflammation in the skin, which can trigger or worsen acne, eczema, and psoriasis. You might also notice redness or flushing in your face, fine lines, reduced skin elasticity, and increased oiliness.
Breaking the Cycle
Understanding that anxiety and acne are connected is the first step toward managing both. Reducing anxiety through stress management techniques, improving sleep quality, and addressing emotional health can help reduce acne severity. At the same time, treating acne can help reduce the anxiety and emotional distress that comes with having visible skin problems.
The key is recognizing that your mental health and skin health are deeply intertwined. Taking care of your emotional wellbeing is just as important as using acne treatments when you want to improve your skin.
Sources
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12688717/
https://www.medicaldaily.com/hormonal-acne-adults-acne-causes-skin-hormones-explained-474128
https://www.droracle.ai/articles/575224/are-women-more-socially-and-emotionally-impacted-by-acne
