The skin is by far the largest organ of the body. Depending on your height and body mass, that It covers an area of about 1.5 to 2 square meters and weighs between 3.5 and 10 kilograms, about 15 percent of your total body mass.
Think of it as a kind of smart armor. It helps you sense the world around you, protects your internal organs and protects you from pathogens. This would be reason enough to take good care of it, especially premature aging of the skin it can impair its ability to perform all of these functions, leaving it at greater risk of infection. Recent research, however, suggests that the effects on skin health may run much deeper.
To understand why, we need to analyze its structure. The skin is made up of three layers: the outer epidermis, which is constantly being regenerated, is waterproof; underneath the dermis, packed with collagen and elastin fibers; and the underlying subcutis, or hypodermis, made of fat and connective tissue and filled with cavities that help protect the rest of the body from shock. Damage to these layers can cause skin cells to pump out inflammatory proteins. In the short term, this causes more blood to flow to the area of the injury, which can speed up healing. But if the high level of inflammation is maintained for a long time, these chemicals can accumulate and, with the help of an extensive blood network in the dermis, they can spread to other organs and damage them.
Accelerated aging
Aging can speed up this process. As we age, our skin loses collagen, water and fat, making it more fragile. Even worse, many skin cells enter a state called senescence, and increase the production of inflammatory chemicals. This potentially toxic cocktail appears to increase the risk of age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia. Although we do not have definitive proof of this hypothesis, several lines of evidence accept now Animal studies, for example, have proven this Skin damage can cause widespread inflammation. Researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, found it That someone’s face looked older or younger than their actual age it was associated with an overall risk of preventing cataracts, osteoporosis, hearing loss and chronic lung disease, as well as overall cognitive functioning.
In the future, there may be “senotherapeutic” drugs to clear senescent cells, including those of the skin, or to release inflammatory proteins. These are it is still developingbut progress is promising. In the meantime, there are many lifestyle changes that can help us take care of this crucial and fascinating organ. Read on to find out more.
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