As humans we always ponder on the idea what can I do to make myself look younger and feel better inside and on the outside? We look for different diets, workout programs and different supplements that we can take. I think that we should all take a step back and look at why the skin actually ages. The skin doesn’t only protect our organs, muscles, bones, tissues and etc. from the harsh influences of the environment it is actually a large organ that performs a number of life sustaining tasks. The skin consists of three main layers, the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous which is the fat layer. The epidermis is the top layer of your skin, which is the thinnest. The dermis is the second layer that keeps the skin healthy, nourished and strong. The third and last layer is the subcutaneous tissue, which is the layer of fat beneath the dermis. This layer is between the surface of the skin and inner organs and it helps the body conserve heat energy.
With age the top layer of the skin “epidermis” becomes slower in cell renewal. When you’re young these cells renew themselves every thirty days. As you get older the cells divide slower and slower. As a result the top layer of your skin becomes thinner and fragile. Since the dead skin sloughs off more slowly, this causes the complexion to become dull and it loses its glow. Increase dryness in the top layer of the skin causes the protective surface of the skin to break down.
As we age there is a decrease in dermal volume, at which rate our collagen and elastin renewal declines. The concentration of GaGs (glycosaminoglycan) becomes lower, reducing the skin’s ability to retain water. As the dermal architecture deteriorates, skin starts to lose its plumpness, resilience, and elasticity, and wrinkles become more noticeable. There is a correlation between the decline in dermal volume and decrease in subcutaneous tissues. The loss of subcutaneous tissues happens selectively. It decreases in places such as the face and hands and increases in places where we usually don’t want extra fat, such as the thighs and waistline.
Here are some interesting facts about the skin, which most people wouldn’t know off the top of their heads.
· The skin is the largest organ of the body. In an average woman, the skin weighs close to six pounds, in men, an average of nine pounds.
· The thickness of the skin is 0.1 mm in most places, but it is highly variable. The skin is thinnest around the eyes and thickest on the soles of the feet, where it is 0.8 to 1.4 mm thick.
· The skin renews itself constantly: new skin cells are formed at the deeper levels of the skin and travel to the surface of the skin in twenty-eight-day cycles.
· The skin appearance depends on the health of the top layer, the epidermis, and the state of tissues in the deeper layers of the skin.
· Through its sweat glands, the skin plays a key role in regulating the body’s temperature. The average person has 2.5 million sweat ducts distributed throughout the body, which the highest concentration under the arms, on the forehead, and on the palms and soles.
· We constantly lose moisture through the sweat ducts, even when we’re not obviously perspiring. The minimum amount of perspiration per day is about half a quart, but with excessive perspiration, a person can lose up to ten quarts of moisture a day.
Some info was taken from the book “Secrets of Great Skin” by David J. Goldberg, M.D.
