YOUR SKIN PLAN
PHASE ONE
The focus for this first phase is to calm inflammation, support your skin barrier, reduce internal stress signals and get your foundations more consistent.
Because you have previously been on Roaccutane and your breakouts have started to return over the past couple of years, we want to look at the full picture rather than just throwing stronger products at the skin.
Your current key focus areas are:
- Supporting your skin barrier
- Improving bowel regularity
- Supporting blood sugar balance
- Reducing sunbed use
- Calming the nervous system
- Creating simple AM and PM habits that work around shift work
Important note on sunbeds
I know sunbeds can feel like they dry breakouts out short term, but they are not a safe or long-term solution for acne.
Sunbeds expose the skin to concentrated UV radiation, which can damage skin cell DNA, increase premature ageing, worsen pigmentation and increase skin cancer risk. For your skin specifically, sunbeds can also make post breakout marks last longer, increase redness, dehydrate the barrier and make the skin more reactive over time. Rather than trying to stop everything overnight, I would like you to start reducing from once per week to once every 2 weeks, then work towards stopping completely. We can replace the “I feel better with colour” feeling with safer options like gradual tan, spray tan or tinted SPF.
No tan is worth stressing your skin or your long-term health for.
YOUR
LIFESTYLE
You described stress as medium, but also said you always feel on edge. That “on edge” feeling is often a sign your body is spending a lot of time in fight or flight.
This can affect-
Skin inflammation
Oil production
Sleep quality
Digestion
Cravings
Hormonal balance
So the goal is not to remove all stress, because life doesn’t work like that. The goal is to teach your body how to come back down.
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH STRESS.
Stress has been highlighted as a prevalent factor that is negatively impacting your health and wellbeing. The following guide is here to help you understand and manage stress so you can start to physically feel and see results. Navigate the guide from the tabs above, or the buttons below.
STAGE OF STRESS:
TYPE OF STRESS:
You struggle with:
Emotional, Physical, Environmental
STAGE
O1.
ALARM PHASE
Your System Is In Active Fight-or-Flight.
Right now, your nervous system is in the early stress response.
Adrenaline and cortisol are elevated.
Your body is alert and reactive.
You may feel:
Wired but productive
Anxious or overstimulated
Prone to stress cravings
Reactive in decision making
Struggling to fully switch off
Blood flow is being diverted away from the logical part of the brain, which is why when stressed you may operate more on reflex than reason.
At this stage, your body is still adaptive — which means it responds well to calming support.
Our focus is lowering stimulation and signalling safety.
NERVOUS SYSTEM SUPPORT
Ashwagandha
L-theanine
Passionflower
Valerian
Holy basil
5-HTP (where appropriate)
Magnesium
LIFESTYLE FOCUS
Reducing caffeine
Breathwork
Gentle evening wind-down routine
Lowering stimulation at night
Essential oils such as lavender or lemon balm
TYPES OF STRESS
Stress can show up in 3 ways:
Physical Stress: Work pressure and overcommitment, being busy with no true rest, over-exercising, injury recovery, poor sleep, blood sugar instability.
Emotional Stress: Unhappy or unsafe relationships, loss or grief, past or present trauma, feeling unworthy or misaligned with your true self, living in constant self-criticism.
Environmental Stress: EMFs, pollution, endocrine disruptors, ultra-processed foods, free radical exposure.
REGULATING EMOTIONAL STRESS
Healing does not begin with elimination diets or new supplements. It begins with safety. Some foundational shifts include:
In relationships, friendships, and work environments.
If something consistently dysregulates you, it needs addressing.
REGULATING PHYSICAL STRESS
Healing often requires doing less — not more.
If someone is training five days a week with high-intensity cardio or HIIT sessions, we may look at reducing this to around three sessions per week, lowering the overall intensity, or replacing some workouts with more restorative forms of movement. This could include Pilates, yoga, walking, or strength training with longer rest periods between sets.
Exercise should regulate the nervous system — not overstimulate it.
REGULATING ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
It’s impossible to remove every environmental exposure completely, and trying to do so often creates more stress than benefit. The goal is not perfection, but gradually reducing overall load where it feels realistic and supportive.
Supportive shifts may include using stainless steel or cast iron cookware, drinking filtered water, choosing organic produce where possible — particularly for high-pesticide foods — and avoiding smoking or vaping. Other helpful strategies can include improving indoor air quality through ventilation or air purifiers, turning Wi-Fi routers off at night if practical, placing phones on airplane mode while sleeping, introducing more indoor and outdoor plants, and reducing the use of synthetic fragrances within the home.
YOUR DAILY ROUTINE:
This routine has been custom made for your needs and lifestyle:
Habit stacking
We are going to attach new habits to things you already do so they feel easier.
Morning habit stack
When you wake up
- Open curtains or get daylight on your face
- Drink water or electrolytes
- Eat breakfast before caffeine
- Do skincare
- Skin soaking - After cleansing, press a damp lukewarm cloth onto the skin for around 20–30 seconds. This helps hydrate the skin before moisturiser and supports the barrier
- Take 3 slow breaths before leaving the house or starting your day
Even if you are on shifts, this becomes your “start of day” routine, whatever time that is.
After-meal habit stack
After one meal per day
- Stand up
- Do 5 minutes of light movement, stretching or tidying
- This supports blood sugar, digestion and the nervous system
Nothing crazy. Just enough to tell your body, “we’re safe, we’re moving, we’re digesting.”
Evening habit stack
Before bed
- Skincare
- Bright lights off and use lamp
- Phone and devices, away. Try read for the last hour of your day
- Warm drink if you like one like camomile tea
- 5 rounds of breathing
- Write down anything you need to remember for tomorrow or brain dump
This is to help your brain stop trying to solve life at 11pm
Daily bowel non-negotiables
Your bowel movements are currently very sluggish, so before we overcomplicate things, we’re going back to the basics your digestive system needs every day.
1. Chew your food properly
Aim for around 20–30 chews before swallowing.
Digestion starts in the mouth. The more you chew, the less work your stomach and gut have to do, which can help with bloating, heaviness after meals and sluggish digestion.
2. Sit down to eat
Try not to eat standing up, rushing around, driving or scrolling.
Your gut works best when your body feels calm. Sitting down helps your nervous system move into “rest and digest” mode.
3. Take 3 slow breaths before meals
Before eating, take 3 slow breaths.
This is a simple way to tell your body it is safe to digest. Especially if you often feel on edge or in fight or flight.
4. Add fibre daily
Start small so you don’t overwhelm your gut.
Easy options
- 1 teaspoon milled flaxseed in yoghurt or porridge
- Chia seeds in yoghurt
- Blended fruit
- Smooth soups
- Potatoes with the skin on if tolerated
- Veg blended into sauces
5. Drink water before caffeine
Before Red Bull, coffee or any caffeine, have water or electrolytes first.
This helps hydration, bowel movements and stops your body running on stress signals first thing.
6. Don’t ignore the urge to go
If your body gives you the signal, try to go when you can.
Ignoring it regularly can make constipation worse over time because the body stops sending the signal as strongly.
7. Gentle movement after food
After one meal per day, do 5–10 minutes of light movement.
This could be
- A slow walk
- Tidying the kitchen
- Gentle stretching
- Walking around the house
This helps digestion, blood sugar and bowel rhythm.
8. Create a toilet routine
Try sitting on the toilet at a similar time each day, ideally after breakfast or your first proper meal.
You don’t need to force anything. It’s just about giving your body the opportunity to build a rhythm again.
ADDITIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES
These documents have been together as general educational tools to help you understand stress better, and therefore be able to control it.
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