On the Quest for Beauty: Stressed? We Know Why...

This blog is dedicated to my husband who sees my imperfections and doesn't mention them.

I love trying new beauty products. Place me in a Sephora or Ulta store and I feel I am in paradise. For hours I can pleasantly entertain myself looking at the plethora of different shampoos, facial washes, makeup and perfumes, envisioning myself as a size 0 with glowing clear skin, no split ends, and being stopped by every man in America asking “What’s that scent you are wearing? (Ok, maybe not EVERY man)

One of my downfalls , as my mother will readily tell you, is that I am a sucker for cool packaging and intriguing ingredients. That inclination has resulted in trying hundreds of different products over the years – good and bad. Some products I have used ever since I was in college and I would rather exit the house with no makeup and hairy arm pits then see my fav end up on the proverbial chopping block. Others I have readily discarded vowing never again to be duped by flowery ingredients which deliver zero results.

Because of my “beauty product love”, I probably have more knowledge roaming around in my head than Wikipedia. So I decided to start this blog to share my adventures with you on the quest for beauty, giving my recommendations and warnings so your money can be well spent. The subject matter may be a tad vain, but ultimately every woman has an innate desire to look and feel her best and there is nothing wrong with that. Happy reading, and if you don’t come for my daily blabberings at least drop by for my contest giveaways that I hope to do every other month.

We're going to file this one in the same bummer category as menstrual cramps and child-bearing hips: It turns out that women are more susceptible to stress and anxiety than men are. In research just published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, scientists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that female rat brains are more sensitive to a hormone produced at times of anxiety called "corticotropin-releasing factor" (CRT). Not only are the female brains more susceptible to low levels of CRT, they are also less able to cope when levels are high. (Though the research was carried out in rats, CRT is known to play an important cognitive role in humans.)

In the future, this may lead to gender-specific drugs to combat anxiety and depression. In in the meantime, here is how to mellow out, without meds:

Exercise: You've heard it a million times—and pretty much any form of exertion, from a brisk walk around the block to 90 minutes of cardio, has been shown to help the brain manage stress.

Don't gorge yourself: It's not just that a post-binge hangover can add to your burden of worry. Studies show that comfort food may not be so comforting. Researchers have found that mice that are calorically restricted so they stay hungry seem to show less depression than mice who have free access to food.

Unplug. All those pinging, buzzing devices "have become a huge source of anxiety,” says Rita Emmett, author of Manage Your Time to Reduce Your Stress (Walker & Co.). She advises setting hours when you’re not reachable—and sticking to them just as you would to work hours. “Having downtime—taking lunch, shutting off the phone—has been shown to improve productivity,” she adds.

Clean Up. Have you watched Hoarders and thought "Wow, that person seems so at ease?" We didn't think so. “People who live with piles of paper always say, ‘I know where everything is.’ But their hearts are pounding as they search for a receipt,” Emmett says. “Or maybe they’d like to have people over but are too anxious about it because of the way their place looks.” Often, she says, clutter is a source of stress we don’t even notice.