What's the worst thing for your skin? Smoking? Multiple Botox injections? Too-rich facial creams? According to this Random McFlandom article, it's stress, and here's what you can do to combat the adverse effects, after the jump.

FROM PIONEER THINKING:

While dermatologists are still debating whether stress actually causes skin disorders, they seem to agree that stress definitely triggers or aggravates skin conditions such as acne, hives, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, warts, cold sores and blisters. "And that matches the ayurvedic perspective," says Rama Kant Mishra, world-renowned ayurvedic dermatologist. "Ongoing day-to-day stress adversely impacts your immune system.
This makes your body susceptible to attack, like fertile ground in which seeds take root easily. The skin is an organ, widely connected to the rest of the physiology as well as the mind. It is natural that like the rest of you, your skin is also affected by stress."

And even if stress does not actually show up on your skin as one of these conditions, it is one of the chief contributors to an increased population of free radicals in the body, which, in turn, has been discovered to be a major cause of premature aging. Emotional or mental trauma can cause you to screw up your face or frown or pout, and constant muscular contractions can eventually become permanent fine lines and wrinkles.

The "fight-or-flight" mechanism is the body's built-in way of responding to stress. In times of "fight-or-flight," the flow of blood (and nutrients) is directed to the areas of the body considered vital for responding to the stress and withdrawn from areas considered non-essential, such as the skin. So is the flow of oxygen, making it difficult for the skin to "breathe."

When "fight-or-flight" situations become frequent, the skin is consistently starved of both blood and oxygen, making it dull and lifeless, less supple, less hydrated and more prone to clogged pores and breakouts.

The author goes on to recommend some ayurvedic stress relievers. And come to think of it, besides doing tons of yoga and being blessed with some kind of crazy good alien genes, Christy Turlington probably bathes in her ayurvedic skincare line, Sundari, nightly. I would, too.