If you’ve ever suffered a major breakout when you’ve been under stress you’re not alone. Over the last five years, the link between our brain and gut has been widely researched – and it’s this intrinsic link that also plays a part in our skin health.

“Stress causes skin to produce more oil,” explains Charlotte Ferguson, psychologist and founder of Disciple Skincare. “This increased production of oil can easily clog pores, allowing acne to form. Stress also causes blood to flow away from the skin and towards parts of the body more vital to survival (that good old fight or flight response). This reduced blood availability can cause skin problems, such as aggravating acne.”

“Anxiety also suppresses the body’s immune system, which can adversely affect the body’s ability to fight off intruders – i.e bad bacteria. Feelings of anxiety can cause an inflammatory response in the body, which can cause the walls of pores to break – which can cause the body to respond with redness and inflammation around the broken pore.”

“Physical anxiety may also cause you to do things like spot squeezing or skin picking, which causes scarring and may spread bacteria – increasing the likelihood of a future breakout.”

Why do we get spots when we’re stressed? Psychodermatology could reveal the answer