The latest research suggests that our skin, the body’s largest organ, is an active participant in our physical well being. That is, it is not just a mirror for our lifestyles that reflects the effects of years of smoking, drinking, sun and stress hinting at our inner health. Studies suggest that wrinkles, dry skin and sunspots cause ageing, instead of the other way around.
In 1958 the Baltimore Longitudinal Study was a scientific investigation of ageing. One of the most striking findings confirmed that how youthful you look is an impressively accurate expression of your inner health. By 1982, men who had been assessed as looking particularly old for their age at the beginning of the study, 20 years earlier, were more likely to be dead. This is supported by more recent research, which found that, of patients who were judged to look at least 10 years older than they should, 99% had health problems.
Research suggests that skin health can be used to predict a number of seemingly unconnected factors, from your bone density to the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases or dying from cardiovascular disease. Indicating that healthy skin keeps healthy people healthy whilst unhealthy skin drags ones health down further.
As we age, it's common wisdom that our chronological age will eventually catch up with our looks, skin becomes thinner and less even-toned, with lower elasticity, as the cells responsible for producing pigment and collagen die off or become "senescent" – meaning they stop renewing themselves and continue to exist in a kind of dormant state.
But the environment that tends to do the real damage. 95% of the total UV radiation that makes it to the Earth's surface is ultraviolet A (UVA). This portion of the sun's rays has a longer wavelength, which allows it to penetrate deep into the dermis where it breaks down collagen and stimulates cells to produce melanin.
At the microscopic level, the skin that has been aged by the sun is thicker, with tangles of misshapen elastin and collagen fibres. At the visible level, it is often irregularly pigmented and significantly more wrinkled. This is true whether you have very light skin which is incapable of tanning, or very dark skin. Even deeply pigmented skin can burn and is susceptible to sun aging, though it will take longer for wrinkles to arrive.
If you spent your whole life indoors with the curtains drawn, it's possible that you might not see significant alterations to your skin organ until you reach your 80’s.
Chemical Transformation
In 2000 by observing the way most organisms respond to stress, a group of scientists at the University of Bologna, Italy suggested a new way to think about ageing.
In a young, healthy person, the immune system is routinely deployed to maintain order – patching up damage and shooing off infections. But as we get older, or when we are in poor health, these inflammatory responses can pass a certain critical threshold where they go into overdrive, releasing a cascade of potent chemicals that rampage around the body, destroying healthy cells and mutilating our DNA, including inflammation that accompanies the ageing process.
The latest research suggests that wrinkled, diseased, or damaged skin becomes part of this system of inflammation, releasing a chemical cocktail that leads to yet further damage and inflammation. These chemicals degrade collagen and elastin, causing further skin thinning, wrinkles, and reduced elasticity. They disrupt the skin's barrier, increasing water loss and susceptibility to stressors. The feedback loop is further compounded by senescent cells in the skin – either created by natural ageing or UV damage – which also release their own inflammatory chemicals.
But this is just the beginning. As the largest organ in the body, the skin can have a profound impact. The chemicals released by diseased and dysfunctional skin soon enter the bloodstream, where they wash around, damaging other tissues. Amid the ensuing systemic inflammation, chemicals from the skin can reach and harm organs that seem entirely unrelated, including your heart and brain.
The result is accelerated ageing, and a higher risk of developing the majority of –or possibly even all related disorders. So far, aged or diseased skin has been linked to the onset of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cognitive impairment, as well as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
The good news is that there is a lot you can do to improve it, the easiest way to improve the health of this organ is to use a reputable product rich moisturiser, like Australian’s Beauty Cult Combined Moisturiser and Serum. There is direct evidence that the use of moisturiser does reduce inflammation and that it may help to prevent dementia
Along with an uneven skin tone and wrinkles, both chronologically and photoaged skin is significantly drier. The humidity levels of human skin peak in the 40th year of life, after which they plummet, producing lower and lower quantities of its natural moisturisers – lipids, filaggrin, sebum and glycerol. This is a problem, because dehydrated skin is less effective as a barrier between the insides of our bodies and the outside world. When our skin is desiccated and flaky, its usual tasks – of keeping out infectious agents, environmental toxins, and allergens, while keeping in moisture become significantly more challenging.
However, adding moisture back for example a twice daily application morning and night of Australian Beauty Cults all in one combined moisturiser and serum is not particularly complicated and in the field of ageing, this simple intervention is showing remarkable results.
In one study, an international team of researchers – including Man – asked older volunteers to apply a topical moisturiser twice a day for one month. Compared to older participants who had not received any treatment, the subjects' skin was significantly restored, with lower levels of three different classes of inflammatory chemicals.
These promising results were quickly followed up with another study by the same team, which involved treating adults over 65 years old with a moisturising cream twice a day for three years. The participants' cognitive functioning was measured at the beginning and end of the study – and after three years, though the control group had declined significantly, those who had been hydrating their skin had not deteriorated.
Decreased hydration levels in the outer layer of the epidermis are likely the major contributor to inflammation, because dry skin tends to have higher levels of inflammation, however, many natural ingredients can help. Australian’s Beauty Cult’s combined Moisturiser and Serum includes Retinol, Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin C, Jojoba Oil Rich in Vitamin E, Niacinamide, Marine Collagen, Resveratrol, Caffeine, Avocado Virgin Certified Organic Oil.
So consider how much skin you have and all that skin you see is matching on the inside and when your skin is damaged, every inch is capable of releasing toxic chemicals. Skin care is more than just looking good, do your Health a favour and use Australian Beauty Cult’s two step skin care routine of cleansing with our Vitamin Complex Foaming Facial Cleanser and together with twice daily application of our Combined Moisturiser and Serum, everything you need and nothing you don’t!