In Adults, Does Stress Cause Eczema?
For most adults with eczema, the flare-ups of the disease can be very bothersome. Sometime they can affect your routine. And many times, the itching sensation and the urge of scratching the skin are also the uncomfortable issues you need to deal when the flare-ups come. How about with the stress? Does it have an effect in causing this skin disorder?
Stress and eczema – what actually are they?
While stress is a psychological health problem, eczema is a kind of disorder that affects the skin. However, stress also can cause some physiological symptoms.
Medically, stress is a normal response to certain events that make you feel upset or threatened. Normally, it is required by the body to activate the emergency body’s defense when your body senses danger.
In other words, it’s not always bad to have stress. If it comes when your body needs it, there should be nothing to worry. Even in appropriate doses, it can help boost your productivity or motivate yourself to do a task at your best performance.
The problem comes when you lose control on it or when it comes & your body doesn’t need it.
Your body can be ‘overload’ when you are constantly running in stress mode (emergency mode). As a result, you are at high risk of developing some health problems.
How about eczema? In general, we can say that it is one of common chronic skin conditions. Many times doctors say that it is incurable.
The breakouts of eczema can come periodically & then subside! However, it can be controlled – and the breakouts can be prevented. You might also like to read about types of eczema, before continuing!
Negative impact of stress on the body
Your body is designed to have an emergency defense (your body can express it through several options, and stress is one of these options). As mentioned before, you need stress for certain conditions, such as to help keep you alert or to prepare your body spontaneously in avoiding danger.
But again, having frequent stress that goes and continues without relief (uncontrolled stress) is linked to many health conditions. It also can make certain diseases or symptoms of certain health conditions get worse.
In this modern living, repeated activation of the stress response is common. This can take a toll on your body, and if you lose control on it, you are at high risk of developing some serious health problems such as [1]:
- Artery-clogging plague. This can be harmful for your cardiovascular system – particularly true if also followed with poor diet (such as diet poor in fiber, high in saturated fat and cholesterol).
- Changes in the brain that can have an effect in causing addiction, anxiety disorder, or depression.
- High blood pressure (hypertension). Stress can lead to a sudden increase in your blood pressure. Therefore, if you lose control on it, this can be so harmful for your heart and cardiovascular system in long term.
- Headache, difficulty sleeping, or upset stomach also can be triggered by uncontrolled stress.
- Etc.
Many times, stress can be inevitable. And though we cannot always get rid of stress, but there are plenty of options you can learn to counter it. So, it should be able to be managed.
Does stress cause eczema in adults?
The exact cause of eczema itself is still no fully understood. But many experts theorize that it may occur due to the over reactive respond of the immune system to an irritant. Some experts also speculate that it may be a complication of a combination between environmental factors and genetic (heredity) [2].
How about stress? Does it have an effect in causing eczema?
In the case of eczema, currently experts think that the body response to stress is considered to be more of an effect than a cause.
