The skin covers almost the entire human body, being the largest organ. The skin has a wide variety of functions. It is closely connected with absolutely all body systems. The value of the skin for a person is quite large. It is the skin that directly perceives the impact from the environment. The surface contains a large number of wrinkles, folds, rollers, which form a characteristic relief, which is purely individual for each person. In this article, you can get acquainted with the most interesting facts about the skin, which you may not have heard about before.
Interesting facts
The main function of the skin is to protect. The skin protects our body from overheating, mechanical damage, harmful substances and microbes, as well as from radiation, including ultraviolet radiation.
A very interesting fact about the skin is the one that says that through the skin the body and the external environment exchange necessary substances with each other. Sothus, it can be said that it is to some extent considered an auxiliary respiratory organ.
When certain conditions are created, the skin is able to serve as a kind of synthesizer of useful substances. In the case of exposure to sunlight, complex processes are observed that contribute to the synthesis of vitamin D. In this case, tanning is beneficial, but one should also remember the destructive properties of ultraviolet rays, which adversely affect all living cells.
The skin also has a tactile function. The fact is that it has special receptors, thanks to which a person has a sense of touch.
Any other interesting skin facts? It should be noted that she takes part in the formation of appearance. Features of the skin on the face and subcutaneous mimic muscles allow you to visually distinguish one person from another.
The skin is made up of three main layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis.
Area and mass
We continue to consider interesting facts about human skin. As mentioned earlier, it is the largest organ in the human body. The weight of the skin reaches up to 4 kg. However, it covers an area of about 2 square meters.
Skin flies in the air
Indoor dust is almost 66% dead skin cells. An interesting fact about the skin is that the body is able to get rid of 30,000 of these dead cells in one minute. For the entireIn life, a person “sheds” about 18 kg of skin from himself. The full update process will then occur about 1000 times.
White skin
It is also interesting that the white color of the skin appeared very recently, about 30,000 years ago. This was due to the loss of part of the melanin pigment in those people who went to live in the north. There are people who do not have this pigment at all. This phenomenon is called albinism, which is very rare. There is only one in 100,000 people who has albinism.
Moles on the body
What other interesting skin facts are there for kids and adults? It should be noted that every person on this planet has from 30 to 100 moles on his body. However, there are cases when the number of nevi on the body reached 400. There is a hypothesis that suggests that the owners of too many moles on their bodies are less likely to suffer from various age-related diseases.
Women are different
One interesting fact about human skin suggests that the skin of women is much thinner than that of the stronger sex. This explains why women develop wrinkles much earlier than men.
Insect bites
A very interesting fact about human skin - insects most often bite the legs. In addition, scientists have found that a person who has recently eatenbanana is more likely to be bitten by a mosquito. In addition, mosquitoes prefer to bite fair-haired people.
Tickling
A person cannot tickle himself. This is due to the fact that a person knows that he is touching himself with his own hands, so the brain ignores these actions.
Sweat glands
Sweat glands are known to control body temperature. There are about 2-3 million of them in the body. The largest number of sweat glands is located on the palms and feet. A common myth that says that sweat has an unpleasant odor is not true. This smell is actually formed by microorganisms that are on the human body. Most of these bacteria are located in the area under the armpits. The number of these microbes in this place is about 80,000 for every square centimeter of the body. By comparison, there are only about 2000 of these microorganisms on the clean surface of the skin.
Melanin
In the human skin there is a special pigment, which was discussed above. It's called melanin. The content of this pigment in the body determines the tone of the skin. If there is a small amount of melanin, then in a person it will be light, and if there is too much pigment, then the skin becomes darker.
Freckles
As a rule, freckles form on the skin during adolescence. When a person reaches the age of thirty, they almost completely disappear from the body. Their presence indicates a lackmelanin in the body.
Smoothness
The skin becomes smooth thanks to collagen. At a young age, the cells of this protein are twisted, so that the surface of the skin looks the most smooth and toned. However, with age, collagen cells receive the least amount of nutrients and begin to become clogged with heavy metals. All this provokes their straightening, which causes a decrease in the tone of the skin. 70% collagen consists of dry dermis. Its productivity decreases by 1% every year.
Why does the skin wrinkle?
The outer layer, called the epidermis, guarantees water resistance to the skin. The cells of the upper layer are tightly interconnected, and there is a fatty layer on the surface. It begins to thin out if the skin is exposed to water for a long time. As a result, water enters the skin cells, causing the skin to wrinkle.
Thick and thin
The thickness of the skin on the feet is the largest. There it is 0.5 cm. This area is also the roughest on the whole body. And the thinnest skin is in the eyelids.
Sebaceous glands
In one day, the sebaceous glands can produce almost 20 g of sebum. Different parts of the body have different numbers of these sebaceous glands. For example, on the back of the palms they are almost absent, and on the chin, nose, ears, underhair, as well as on the chest, their number is about 400-900 per square centimeter. Blackheads and pimples often appear in these areas. Black dots will indicate clogged pores.
Sprockets and nets
If there is a deficiency of vitamin D in the human body, then spider veins or meshes begin to form on the body. This disease is diagnosed in 90% of people. To avoid this disease, you must adhere to a good diet.