Everyone knows that our skin is important as it covers up all that gory stuff inside our bodies, but how many people really know what a crucial role our skin plays in our health and wellbeing?
The purpose of this page is to educate and empower you to make informed decisions regarding your use of products on your body. First up, I would like to share with you 6 reasons that your skin is an important organ in your body:
- Absorption: Did you know that whatever you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream in 26 seconds?!! That’s right! Try it! Put a clove of garlic between your toes and see how long before you can taste it.
So what are you putting on your skin? Do you know what chemicals make up your creams and lotions, especially sunscreen and deodorants? Check the labels as you would with you food packages and look up some of those bazaar ingredients (especially the ones with numbers). I will discuss this further in later blog posts. - Protection: from harmful effect of the sun and radiation. The skin is meant to protect the body but we must also remember to protect the skin. Sunscreens are both good and bad. They are often laden with chemicals that are harmful to the rest of the body and some of the ingredients have been shown to actually cause melanoma. (More on this later)
- Regulation: The skin regulates several aspects of physiology, including: body temperature via sweat and hair, and changes in peripheral circulation and fluid balance via sweat. It also acts as a reservoir for the synthesis of Vitamin D which of course we need to absorb from the sun.
- Mechanical Support: the skin is obviously in place to cover muscles, tendons, fascia and organs as well as acting as a barrier to impact and pressure
- Prevention of loss of essential body fluids: the skin and its glands help maintain normal body temperature after receiving about one-third of the blood pumped from the heart every minute. The system also acts as a mini-excretory system, secreting salts, water, and wastes in the form of sweat.
- Sensory: the skin contains a large network of nerve cells that detect and relay changes in the environment. There are separate receptors for heat, cold, touch, and pain. The skin is also a receptor for socio-sexual and emotional sensations.
So you see, your skin has a vital role to play in the health of your body. In subsequent posts I am going to reveal some of the not so harmless chemicals that hidden in everyday products that you put on your skin, and the subsequent affect that they have on your body and it’s systems.
Kath Swallow
Kath Swallow is an Arbonne Independent Consultant and can provide solutions for skincare and nutrition that are Pure, Safe and Beneficial . Visit her website here at kathswallow.arbonne.com
References
Functions of the skin: webpage http://www.drmhijazy.com/
Structure and Function of the Skin: http://www.clinimed.co.uk/Wound-Care/Education/Wound-Essentials/Structure-and-Function-of-the-Skin.aspx
The Integumentary System – Workings: how the integumentary system functions
http://www.faqs.org/health/Body-by-Design-V1/The-Integumentary-System-Workings-how-the-integumentary-system-functions.html#ixzz4a8t9Szlt
