Top 10 Bizarre Things You Should Know About Your Skin

Do you know what is the largest organ of the human body? Yes, it is the skin, and it weighs approximately 15% of our total body weight. Learning more about your skin’s particularities is highly important for a healthy body, so let’s dive right in!

The skin is an organ because it consists of several tissues and cells of different and specific functions. It is an organ of protection, first and foremost, and it changes depending on age, internal health, and external factors.

Due to its specificity across different areas of the same body, the skin is a sensitive, ever-changing organ. Since the skin around the eyes is made of a thinner layer of the epidermis, it needs different care than the skin on your legs, for example.

The structure of the skin

There are three main types of layers of the skin: epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous layer. The epidermis, the outer layer, contains cells that produce the pigment (colour/nuance of the skin), and they protect the immune system.

The dermis, the middle layer, contains connective tissue, capillaries, nerve tissue, and hair follicles. It also contains the sweat glands, and the body oil glands (sebum).

The subcutaneous layer is the innermost layer of the skin and contains the large blood vessels, nerves, fat and connective tissues. It regulates body temperature and protects the internal organs and muscles from damaging impacts. It also produces the hormone called leptin which stabilizes the metabolism.

Now that we understand how important the skin is for our survival, let’s see what are the negative factors that affect the health of the skin, and therefore, our general health.

Internal negative factors

The internal factors that can influence the health and aspect of your skin are genetics, hormones, and disease such as diabetes. Genes determine our skin type and ageing process, so we cannot do much about it, except reduce the factors that would worsen our genes’ predisposition. Genes can influence our cell regeneration and biological ageing; they can also determine how our sebum and sweat glands function.

External negative factors

External negative factors are the most known by people, because we hear about them in TV commercials, and they are highly visible at the skin level. The most common negative external factors for the skin are:

Sunburn/UV radiation
Excessive spray or artificial tan
Drastic change in temperature
Chemical products
Excessive washing
Smoking

10 Bizarre Things You Should Know About Your Skin

It renews itself every 28 days;
Approximately 50% of the dust in your home is dead skin;
Body hair growth rate is 2 to 6 years;
The thickest skin is on the sole of your feet;
The thinnest skin is on the eyelids;
We lose around 20 - 100 hairs daily;
Scars don’t have hair and sweat glands;
Sweat doesn’t smell, but the bacteria in it does.
The skin has its own 1000 species of bacteria;
Babies develop their skin tone in 6 months.

The human body deserves care and respect, including the skin. This means that we need to be careful about what we eat and what we expose ourselves to, from a stressful environment to weather conditions. Don’t forget that health care is a modus vivendi.