Your skin is a lot more complicated and sophisticated than you think! A lot of us don’t give a second thought to our skin, but it is actually the largest organ of your body. An average adult’s total skin mass weighs over 8 pounds, and is 22 square feet.
So what does all this skin do for us?
1. Protection
The skin acts as a barrier to the outside elements – heat, cuts, scrapes, and even atmospheric pollution. Without the outermost layer of our skin, the epidermis, our insides would be outside. The epidermis is actually made of 5 layers itself, and is about the thickness of a piece of paper. It’s entirely made of dead cells that are keritinized with protein that lay flat on the surface, keeping our intestines and organs secure and protected from car crashes, bug bites, the rays of the sun, and paper cuts. The second layer of skin also protects us; the dermis contains blood vessels and melanocytes, or specialized cells that create melanin to block UV rays. Your dermis is full of plump, healthy cells that eventually rise to the top level of the epidermis, where they continue to protect you. It’s also a thicker layer of skin – about 25 pieces of paper thick! That’s a lot of protection.
2. Heat Regulation
The glands in our skin also act without our knowledge, by aiding our skin in our body’s heat regulation. The normal temperature of the body is 98.6 degrees, and our cells operate to keep it at that temperature, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. Your sudoriferous glands, or sweat glands, excrete sweat to evaporate on the surface and cool the body when temperatures rise, and your blood vessels contract and heat the core of your body when temperatures outside the body fall.
3. Sensory
We are able to feel pleasure and pain because of the nerve endings in our skin. They begin in your paparilly layer, within the deepest parts of the dermis. These sensory perceptions are key to responding to different stimulus – heat, pain, cold, and even pressure.
4. Secretion/Excretion
Your skin is actually part of an entire body system, called the integumentary system. This includes hair, skin, and nails, as well as glands. These glands help secrete vitalities for your skin health, such as your sebaceous glands secretingsebum, or oil that protects your skin. They also help excrete waste and toxicities of the body, such as sweat glands that excrete sweat. This is of upmost importance to the body – the ability to keep neccessary things inside, and push unneccesary or harmful things out.
5. Absorption
Your skin also absorbs products, chemicals, and drugs through the hair follicles and pores. The IcyHot medicine or joint relief cream you apply to your sore knee or back is only able to work and penetrate into the sore tissue because of the skin’s amazing ability to allow products to soak into it in a very organized fashion.
As you can see, your skin does quite a bit of work to keep you healthy and moving! That is why is so crucial to take good care of it. Always wear a sunscreen, moisturize and hydrate with vitamins and serums, and pamper yourself with some gentle exfoliation treatments that keep your cells glowing and healthy. Remember – you take care of your skin, and it will certinaly take care of you!