Skin Science: Microbiome

Here I sit, listening to Dr. Steven Gundry on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, learning about health. I think the older I get and the further into my career, I find our health and what our bodies can do is so incredibly interesting. But what does our body’s health have to do with what’s showing on the skin?

To answer that let’s talk about our Microbiome, what it is, how it helps, and why it’s so important. First, the microbiome is made up of the microorganisms living within our body, and skin flora is the microorganisms living within our skin. These bacteria are the frontline against invaders in the gut, keeping these bacteria healthy keeps us healthy. They protect us against disease, help us digest our food, and produce vital vitamins for us. Our microbiome is so important to our health and our skin health, but what happens when we aren’t caring for it properly?

I talked about this in my Instagram post about stress and my other post about the microbiome itself. Stress is a common issue and something we all battle with regularly, maybe more so lately too. But what does it do internally? Stress leads to leaky gut (cue the microbiome) which in turn leads to harmful endotoxins leaching into the bloodstream which in turn causes a boatload of inflammation. Leaky gut is also linked to autoimmune diseases, nutritional deficiencies, mental fog, and a lot more.

A reaction called ‘corticotropin’ or CRH is triggered by stress and it releases hormones which in turn cause excess sebum production and produces a pro-inflammatory byproduct which then produces acne in the skin. Sebum is produced by cortisol being released from adrenal glands and changing the receptor activity in the skin that controls it. This process can also affect blood sugar which in turn affects our collagen production. Inflammation is triggered by skin mast cells becoming more active and responsive which releases inflammatory chemicals.

So now we’re stressed, broken out, inflamed, and our collagen production is poor, what do we do? Lower your stress by creating some regular routines that keep you calm. Meditation and yoga both utilize breathing techniques that calm the mind and body. CBDs also show a huge improvement in stress management, minor aches and pains, and more. If you need more stress-reducing practices head over to my other blogs, ‘Positivity, ya you know me’ and ‘self-love put yourself first’.

We talked about stress and the microbiome but what else is going on in there? Our bodies are machines, our systems are all working together, and, when one part is thrown off, the whole system is off. This is especially prevalent in our microbiome, it needs balance and when it’s thrown off, the chain reactions are easy to see. This stems in its love of symbiosis and biodiversity, it is when we lack diversity and become dysbiosis that problems arise. 

Since we have so much bacteria internally it is important to keep a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria. When we lack good bacteria the bad bacteria wreaks havoc and lowers our skin’s pH level which increases inflammation, sensitivity, redness, and ultimately blemishes and breakouts. Dysbiosis is linked to an array of skin issues such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, dandruff, and hypersensitivity.

So what do we do to maintain symbiosis and avoid dysbiosis? Our diet is a great start, (I am in no way claiming to be a dietitian or nutritionist so please talk to your doctor or nutritionist before making any major changes to your diet.) eating fresh, healthy food and limiting our sugar intake can improve our gut health. As well as consuming pre and probiotics to help keep a healthy and happy gut. Lastly, stress is obviously something that strongly affects our bodies, and minimizing it can help stop negative reactions from happening internally. Stress is a difficult thing to wrangle but it can be managed, nobody is perfect, but even working a few stress-reducing practices into your daily life can do wonders for your mental health. 

I hope you found this blog packed full information; interesting, helpful, and maybe it resonates with you and empowers you to make healthy changes. I love talking about this topic and definitely plan to talk more about it in the future. Drop a comment below with any questions you may have or anything you’d like me to touch on in the future. I hope you all are happy and well and I look forward to seeing you back here in a couple of weeks!