By Nellie Curtiss …
Believe it or not, the soul of your skin is affected by the changes in environments including this year’s political norms. In an article on Oprah.com, the daily damage done to skin is looked at. (The article doesn’t address this year’s politics, but I apply it to the political hot bed we are in currently.) The article 4 Ways Emotions Affect Your Skinwritten by Melanie Rud Chadwick discovers “A unique perspective when it comes to solving all kinds of complexion concerns.” (https://www.oprah.com/fashion_and_beauty/how-emotions-really-affect-your-skin)
Reminding us how we emotionally respond, the author mentions goose bumps and blushing. The author might not have intended the connection to our political arena this year; however, I remember my goosebumps from the 1987 news of the two-day rescue of Baby Jessica from a pipe in Midland, Texas. It was a notable time when the Midland community and by proxy the whole world came together to see the baby rescued. Last year, People TV interviewed her 30 years afterwards. Her words of wisdom? “Don’t take life for granted because life can be gone in a second.” She also said to People, that she wanted her children to learn from her experience, “And to remember that if you look hard enough, there are so many good people in this world.” (https://youtu.be/ksZMIvHNeJ0)
Josie Howard, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in psychodermatology explains in Lesson One that skin and brain are “inextricably connected” beginning in gestation. Butterflies in the mid abdomen and a racing heart show this link.
Lesson Two looks at the stress hormone, Cortisol. I’m reminded here of the social media video that circulated last week. Casey Anderson, a mountain lion behavior enthusiast, analyzed the recent video dubbed Mountain Lion Stalks Jogger. At https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=696252841308010, Anderson explains the blustering behavior of a lion protecting her cubs as a jogger still maintaining eye contact with the puma retreats. Anderson says the lion’s posturing was not set to attack but to drive the jogger back and away from her cubs which are seen at the onset of the video. Just watching the video causes my cortisol levels to heighten. (Share your stories with me at columnsbynellie@gmail.com) Imagine how the jogger was feeling. I also feel these cortisol changes when I watch a commercial misrepresenting Dr. Anthony Fauci or Presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Quoting Amy Wechsler, M.D., the author explains that cortisol affects skin moisture levels and thus increases wrinkles, dryness, redness and other skin irritations or breakouts. Also, Josie Howard, M.D. explains, “As soon as we sense that people around us are judging our appearance, we feel stressed. It starts a vicious cycle.”
Lesson Three is about beauty sleep. With sleep comes lower cortisol levels and higher growth hormone levels. Being at peace and happy in waking hours captures the same. Another aspect, Wechsler says, is that “Sex not only lowers cortisol, it also increases both beta-endorphins and oxytocin, an anti-inflammatory molecule.”
Lesson Four reiterates that our skin and mind are intertwined and that treating both is an absolute. “That means quick daily meditation sessions, regular exercise, a cup of tea—whatever helps you chill out.” The author finally recommends a regimen: “use a twice-daily antioxidant serum paired with SPF in the morning and a retinoid at night.”
The take away: What I take away is that while discussing antics to push a candidate for the Supreme Court through when they have already changed the rules during Obama’s last year in office, raises my skin stress and blood pressure, (and the reader remembers that I had a heart attack earlier this summer,) pushing Biden and Harris to the forefront and their plan to bring back decency, caring for all citizens and fact-based policies is important to the soul and the soul of my skin, not to mention, the soulful skin of our democracy.
Columns by nellie 