Can chronic stress cause stretch marks??

 In the current century, Every year people all over the world face a great challenges, need more demands. Also, live requirements in recent years become more complicated.  Unlike the simple, quiet life in the past. Day by day we are working under pressure, feeling a bad emotions and are always under stress. Sometimes due to the work overload, some times due to the difficult economic life, Other times due to feeling of fear of  a certain disease or even any bad news or situations that cause anxiety and stress. 

People under a lot of stress for an extended time can develop many chronic diseases especially autoimmune diseases  like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, pernicious anemia, dermatomyositis and even stretch marks. Stretch marks are type of scars that are occurred when your skin stretches quickly giving striations. This is occurred when your collagen and elastin proteins which support your skin are destructed. It is very common in obese individuals, pregnant women and at the age of puberty in females. They can appear in different parts of your body as in thigh, breasts and arms. Stretch marks are usually not harmful and they often fade over time but if you have a long term of stress in your life , these striations become more penetrating your skin leaving a bad appearance with an ugly look  do not be loved by the women and females.

 A long term of stress in your life can easily cause theses stretch marks as a result of the continuous raising of your cortisol level in the blood.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands, endocrine glands on top of your kidneys. Actually, Cortisol affects all your body mainly regulating your body's response to stress.

It is an essential hormone which regulates many important roles, including:

• Regulating your response to stress.
• Affecting your body’s glucose, protein and fat metabolism.
• Preventing inflammation.
• Induce salt & water retention, increases blood pressure.
• Affecting bone formation.
• Helping control your sleep.

Your body continuously monitors your constant cortisol levels (Homeostasis).

Is there a different kind of stress??

Certainly, there are three different kinds of stress including:  

Acute stress occurs when you are in immediate danger. like as being terrified of a vehicle accident while crossing the street 

Chronic stress: Chronic (long-term) stress occurs when you are subjected to extremely stressful conditions that always create anxiety.

Traumatic stress occurs when a life-threatening situation causes fear. 

How can cortisol affects our skin?? 

Over a long term of a chronic stress, cortisol level is being increased in a way badly affects our skin as it increases the blood flow leading to redness, break down of elastin and collagen, Moreover, It affects the formation and proliferation of fibroblast cells in skin tissues which are responsible for skin healing .These cells produce a diverse group of products including collagen type I, III, and IV, proteoglycans, fibronectin, laminins, glycosaminoglycans all are contributed in skin healing and aging treatment.

 NB. Too much cortisol for long time can cause some of the hallmark signs of what is called by Cushing syndrome.

  Cushing syndrome:

Occurs when your body produced too much cortisol as a result of a long term stress or taking overdose oral corticosteroids medication. Sever damage along the whole body tissues can be identified. Any tumors in pituitary gland or adrenal gland can trigger this condition. 

      Symptoms:

1.   Weight gain and fat deposition around the midsection and upper back, face and between shoulders.

      2. Pink or purple stretch marks on the skin of abdomen thigh, breasts and arms.  

3. Thin , fragile skin that bruises easily.

4. Round face due to fat deposition 

5. Fatty hump between the shoulders.

6. Muscle weakness

How can we control these hormonal stretch marks after a long term of stress??

1. Choose a variety of healthy foods that are high in proteins.    This can help prevent muscle and skin loss caused by high cortisol    levels. 

  2. Apply Retinoids (Vitamin.A) such as tretinoin to your skin to improve the appearance of stretch marks. Tretinoin, when it works, helps to rebuild a protein in the skin called collagen, making the stretch marks look more like your normal skin. 

  3. Limit salt (sodium) and sugars in your diet.

 4.Exercise on a regular basis. Every day of exercise not only lowers the cortisol level, which is responsible for stress, but it also increases blood flow to the damaged area of your skin, which aids in the regeneration of skin cells. In other hand, Regular exercise can increase serotonin hormone activity in away that controls your stress and anxiety. Generally, long termed stress can cause other serious health problems as heart diseases & hypertension, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other dermal problems like acne, eczema, psoriasis even vitiligo. Individuals who are always under stress are mostly having a neurological symptoms especially in old age as  peripheral neuropathy and numbness. So, controlling  your stress play a crucial role in maintaining your health and avoiding not only sterch marks formation but also many serious diseases.