Out & About

Exciting events and striking scenery in the Pinal County area!

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Photo by Jeff Graves

Deck the House Light Tour Gingerbread House category 1st place winner 2022 Photo by Bea Lueck

BLOCK EFFECTS

of Stress on Your Skin

The negative effect of stress on the heart is the most immediately life-threatening, but the misery and imbalances it causes can also show itself prominently in your skin, making it all too obvious to everybody what you’re going through.

Whether most of your interactions these days are at the office, at home or over Zoom, your skin can serve as a window into your body and whatever turmoil it’s experiencing due to stress. But attacking the problem from both sides can resolve your skin stress issues more quickly than you’d expect.

STRESS REDUCTION

Learn how to turn to some quick-fix stress busters that in many cases can derail its buildup before it even starts — plaster on a smile even if you’re not feeling it, get some of the clutter off of your desk. Even vigorously chewing gum can break its hold on you.

Drill down into what’s causing the stress and address it the best way you can, whether it’s confronting a harmful situation or turning to longer-term practices like yoga or meditation when the stressor is harder to eliminate. If tension has found its way into knotted-up muscles in your back, legs or arms, try using a foam roller to draw more blood flow to those areas and release them into comfortable stretches.

SKIN PROTECTION

Stress can cause our skin to overproduce oil by scrambling hormonal signals to our glands, but the breakouts that result can be quickly treated with salicylic acid, though it should be used sparingly to not dry out the surrounding skin.

If small wounds on your skin are not healing as quickly as they normally do as a possible side effect of stress, try using products with glycerin and hyaluronic acid to repair your skin barrier, and get foods with plenty of antioxidants into your diet.

Eczema, psoriasis and rosacea are common skin conditions that can be triggered by stress. Follow your health care provider’s recommendations and use prescriptions to keep these under control, along with reducing the stressful environments of your life as much as possible.

“Breathe, Darling. This is just a chapter. It’s not your whole story.” —S.C. Lourie

Baby Steps Lead to

Better Tomorrow

by Tiffanie Grady-Gillespie, Certified Physical Trainer, Certified Corporate Wellness Coach, WickedFiTT

As we move forward into this new year, I am more than happy to close the 2022 chapter and start 2023 with hope and healthy optimism.

This is a perfect time for all of us to reflect on the past and plan for the future.

While we can’t erase a chapter from the past, we have a new page to create every day and improve that chapter of our stories.

Positive change is about doing something different that leads to beneficial outcomes. If you feel the same way, then you should know there are small positive changes we all can do. And P.S. They are free!

1. Be willing to close the door on old things and habits that don’t aid in your positive growth.

2. Failure isn’t a bad thing — Fall down seven times; stand up eight.

3. Try to avoid those negative thoughts, including self-talk.

4. Focus on creating a life that makes you happy. You steer your own ship.

5. You can always start over, again, and again ... 6. Be open to change. Be active in chasing those dreams — When you are awake.

7. Set better boundaries.

8. Be kind.

When we look at the big picture we can get overwhelmed with all of the steps involved in achieving any goal.

I suggest taking baby steps each day. You never know which small steps you take today could lead you toward a better tomorrow.

Just breathe and keep moving forward. Stay hopeful. Storms don’t last forever.