At first thought, it may not seem that creativity has much to do with the skin. How can painting, drawing or playing music affect our skin?
These creative endeavors strengthen our connection to self and community, improve self confidence and reduce stress. All important to our overall health and wellness, which influences the health of our skin.
Even the most zen of us can probably use even more stress reduction in today's world. I do not think you can go overboard on healthy stress reduction techniques. Everyone understands that stress is bad for our brains, but I want you to think of stress as bad for our entire body, including the skin. Most people do not appreciate just how much stress the skin is exposed to. Think about it. Our skin is negatively impacted by mental stress through the gut brain skin axis and direct effects of the stress hormone on our skin as we have talked about previously. But there is also environmental stress that impacts our skin health. Sun exposure, pollutants, and poor skin care habits, for example. Think of these as other forms of stress to the skin. I would argue that the skin is the organ most affected by stress, because it takes a beating from what is going on in our bodies, but also from our environments. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Stress is the worst thing for our bodies and skin. We want to do all we can to minimize stress from all causes.
The great thing about doing something creative is that these activities often positively affect personal wellness and spread the wellness benefits to others. Being involved in a creative activity not only reduces stress, but often enhances social connections. For example, if you play an instrument for others, you not only benefit, but so do others. You as the musician become connected with your audience, but there is also group social engagement and likely new social connections made. Seeing these connections in the audience further enhances the confidence of the musician, thus further alleviating stress, and the benefits grow and expand further. The same would happen with an artist discussing their work.
What if you are not a musician or an artist? There are so many ways to be creative! Try a new recipe. Grab a friend and go to the store together, and relish in having the confidence to make something new that your family appreciates. Love to organize? Clean out your closet. Reduce stress you may be holding on to related to so many material items. Take the time to find a worthy organization to donate to, which would improve your community.
Creativity is an amazing tool in our arsenal to reduce stress and strengthen relationships, which improves not only our health and wellness, but also the health and wellness of others, and positively benefits our skin health!
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