This may come as some surprise, but our skin is the body’s largest organ, measuring about 1.5-2 m2 in adults and weighing in at about 15 per cent of our total body weight! This just goes to show how important our skin is to the body and metabolism. Skin performs multiple useful functions. It is a stable, but flexible outer covering that, while only a few millimetres thick, is a barrier protecting our bodies from harmful elements in the outside world such as the cold, moisture, and sun rays, along with germs and toxic substances. It’s basically the safe environment suit we come wrapped in!
Because of its huge importance to our overall health and well-being, not to mention our good looks, it’s vital that we do everything possible to keep our skin healthy. By using high-quality skin care products like the exfoliating glove by CheekyGlo that gently rubs dead skin and impurities off of our bodies, ensuring that our skin looks and feels its best as it continues to protect our insides from the world outside!
Just by looking at a person’s skin, you can learn a lot about them, their likely age and relative health for example. Dramatic changes in skin colour or structure can be a warning sign of a serious medical condition, such as the yellowing associated with jaundice, a symptom of the disease hepatitis. People who have too few red blood cells in their blood might appear very pale, and people with rough, red skin have probably been spending too much time out in the sun and wind without adequate skin protection.
Keeping skin properly moisturised is very important, and there are plenty of home remedies like face packs made of naturally beneficial ingredients like honey and bananas, as well as commercial moisturisers that also provide UV protection. Using sunscreen with a high SPF, or “skin protection factor”, is a necessary step before anyone goes outside in the daylight, it’s that serious a problem.
Skin that’s red and dry from sun exposure can lead to dangerous conditions like melanoma, or skin cancer. Unusual skin colouration like brown spots and lumpy growths are telltale signs, and should be checked by a doctor right away! Sun-loving Australians are particularly at risk, so much so that the government has begun an awareness campaign to teach people the dangers of solar radiation!
If you feel your skin is hot to the touch, you had best seek shelter immediately, sunscreen or not! Skin plays an important role in regulating the body’s temperature, helping prevent dehydration and protecting you from the negative effects of too much heat or cold. The nerves in our skin allow your body to feel sensations such as warmth, cold, pressure, itching and pain. Some of these sensations can trigger a reflex, like automatically pulling your hand away if you accidentally touch a hot stove.
So, there’s really something to that old saying “save your own skin”, because as it turns out, it’s what saves you!
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