7-minute read
Preamble
This is the first of 2 articles on why we need to give special attention to our skin.
In this article, Part 1, I will focus on the research over the last few decades showing the environmental impact on skin health, the risk of damage and how we may reduce this.
In the next article, Part 2, I will focus on the most recent research on what works in skincare to reduce the environmental impact on the skin and ageing.
Skin & Lifestyle
Your skin is your biggest organ - protecting your internal organs from the environment, but in fact it is much more than that. Your skin is a whole system comprising an extremely complex array of cell types and structures. It is divided into 3 major layers, with the epidermis as the outmost layer that lies over the dermis, which in turn is positioned over the hypodermis or subcutaneous tissue, as shown below.
Of course, as we age this organized structure becomes drier and more fragile on the surface, thinner in its depth, floppier in configuration due to loss of elasticity and the result is skin ageing. This could manifest as soft wrinkles, sometimes deep wrinkles, a loss of the youthful glow we so crave to maintain, and sometimes the breakdown of this system can lead to the development of skin diseases.
Add to this natural process the fact that as we age the capacity for skin regeneration decreases and the immune cells in the skin area, as well as all over our immune system become less efficient, the risks of skin breakdown and failure become more real. Besides, since the skin is our barrier to the environment, this breakdown will lead to the potential for infections and other conditions in the organs that the skin protects. So, the long and the short is that you want to maintain healthy, well looked after skin for as long as you can.
Scientific Evidence Validates the Critical Role of The Skin in a Healthy Body
Just so you see how critical the skin is in our body and healthy life, it is useful to understand that our skin covers an area of about 1.5 – 2.0 square meters and weighs between 3.5 – 10 Kg, being about 15 percent of our total body mass. Impressive!!!
But what the scientific evidence has shown over the last 5 – 6 or so decades is that the skin’s role in health is way more significance than the protective role that most of us recognise as a reason to look after our skin. This evidence is extremely well summarised in the 28th December 2024, New Scientist issue, from which I would like to highlight a few key points from reported research.
Skin Inflammation
Damage to the skin layers stimulates our immune system cells in the skin to producing inflammatory molecules that are meant to help repair the affected area. In general, this means that the blood flow to the damaged area increases to promote healing and removal of the components that are damaged or causing damage. This is done by specialized white blood cells that literally gobble up the ruptured cells, waste and pathogens, then take this digested material into our lymph nodes, to be disposed of in the circulatory system, and further disposal through the kidneys and liver - our major detox organs.
However, if the skin inflammation is ongoing for extensive periods of time, the area becomes a massive congregation for more white blood cells to congregate to the area, which means more increased blood flow, occupying more space in the affected area, extending to adjacent tissues, leading redness and pain. This is the classical reaction when you cut your finger or you have a breakout – the skin around the cut or break out swells, the area becomes painful as it heals and depending on the depth and size of the damage, it will take a few days or weeks to heal.
Researchers from the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, showed that this continuous cycle of inflammation on the skin is associated with triggering widespread inflammation that contributes to skin ageing. They noted also that those people that looked older than their actual age were at greater risk of developing cataracts, osteoporosis, hearing loss and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as decreased overall cognitive function.
Pollution Exposure and How to Decrease its Impact
Why is Pollution Damaging?
The skin is constantly exposed to the ambient environment, with onslaughts from exhaust fumes, smoke, other aerial particles, and of course UV rays. All of these lead to the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that damage DNA. These ROS are formed by imperceptible reactions within our cells where electrons and light changes the character of many of the proteins and lipids (fats) in our bodies.
These proteins become very excited (by carrying extra electrons), in fact they get far too excited like a fly trying to get out of a room with a big glass window and not seeing where the open pane is. So, the fly bumps into everything, annoyingly. Unfortunately, unlike the fact that you can zap the fly and get rid of its offensive buzz, the ROS molecules remain trapped in our cells causing havoc within the intra-cellular organelles and getting to our DNA. In this frenetic movement the negatively charged ROS molecules change the position of critical atoms of your DNA, resulting in changes in the genome structure or its regulation, and ultimately these processes leading to ageing.
This is called Extrinsic Ageing, as it’s due to external factors that affect your genes such that they may also start behaving differently, sometimes radically differently, and often silently, until a condition manifests in some advanced state.
If these genes are critical for the correct cell expression, these cells start making mistakes that could lead to disease, possibly as inflammation and potentially cancerous behaviour.
So, it is really important to avoid or to diminish the potential of ROS to develop.
How to Reduce the ROS damage?
Of course, we are never going to prevent all ROS damage unless we lived in protective bubbles, (and I don’t mean Covid bubbles!). There will always be some damage, and in reality, some of the damage results from our own internal metabolism and genetics. This known as Intrinsic Ageing, as it is due to our own internal biological clock affecting our cellular mechanisms. However, we can increase our intake of molecules that help to neutralize the impact of ROS, the antioxidants! These include eating the green and red leafy vegetables and fruit.
Over 50 years of ROS research data has been analyzed by researchers in the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Dusseldorf, Germany, and the finding clearly indicates that consumption of carotenoids, (the antioxidants found in carrots, tomatoes, berries and in other red/orange vegetable and fruits), help to neutralize the effect of ROS, and in particular those ROS generated by UV light exposure. However, don’t get too excited as carotenoids cannot replace sunscreen.
Also, this research showed that since alcohol intake depletes our natural skin antioxidants (very similar to carotenoids), it is highly recommended to take carotenoids supplements when drinking alcohol.
So, it is a no brainer to have a plate of vegetables and fruit at a cocktail party, or at the pub!
Skin Food for Youthful Complexion – A Rainbow of Colour
Research from the North Carolina State University has shown that nutrients rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin E foods (such as citrus fruits and nuts and seeds), contribute to the regeneration of collagen, the structural molecule in the dermis responsible for the firmness of our skin. These vitamins are excellent antioxidants, but they are also oxidized by ROS, so they need constant replacement. Other antioxidant sources in our diet include grapes - the source of resveratrol, broccoli and cauliflower - the sources of the antioxidant sulfaraphane.
The message is keep eating your greens and reds, and drink plenty of water, but don’t flood your body, just stay well hydrated.
Other Ways to Reduce the Impact of ROS
Keep using sunscreen and wear a hat or stay out of the say in the 11.00 am – 3.00 pm peak, especially in Summer. Although there is debate as to whether or not people should use SPF containing products in Winter, on the balance of the high potential damage from UV, the consensus is tending to using SPF all the time. However, you must re-apply regularly, approximately every 2 hours regardless of the SPF level.
So… What about Ageing and Impact of Lifestyle on Skin and Overall Health?
The recent research data analyses have also revealed something most startling is that as little 3 percent of the skin natural ageing processes, whether Intrinsic or Extrinsic, are due to genetics! For most of the last century it was thought that the onslaught on our genes and the “coded” genetic information in our genes accounted for 25% of the ageing process, but this has been revised to vary to be somewhere between 3 and 15 percent.
WOW… this gives us the ability to make good lifestyle choices to maintain a healthy skin, as well as a healthy body and mind. This is extremely empowering, and it certainly should motivate us to change our lifestyle and even better, “to teach our children well”- and from earlier on, quoting from the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song - Teach Your Children.
This is not about introducing kids to skincare for adults as has been the trend catastrophically exploding in social media, but rather ensuring that everyone in the family understands why it is important to eat well, have varied foods, enjoying in moderation the partying, drinking, exercising, have gatherings with friends and family, and engaging in any and all sorts of activities. Choosing to have a balanced approach is infinitely better than getting a quick fix for something that has gone wrong.
Understand how food, water and personal care products work and chose to live a phenomenal good and healthy life. Don’t succumb to quick fix fads, and there are some expensive ones out there! You’ll be so much freer and independent applying sensible informed approaches. You’ll feel good, and in feeling it… you’ll look amazing and will be a magnet for people that want to be with you because you are so much fun to be with.
Also, become aware that you really are what you think.
So, if you see yourself as old and bedraggled without the latest fad in skincare and fashion… guess what - that is how you will become. So, break the cycle, let your skin mirror your life, and your life give a glow to your skin.
Take Home Message
We are constantly bombarded by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect our health, positively as well as negatively. These contribute to our bodies ageing, but we don’t have to age gracefully, instead we can choose to age with fun, joy and responsibility with everything in moderation… save for the occasional excess. I mean it… occasional. So, you don’t have to be a goody-goody-two-shoes, rather kick your sandals off and breath.
In the next article I will discuss what recent research has shown really works in skincare, and I will give some very simple gender-neutral make-up tips that will make you look great, regardless of your age or gender.
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