The skin covers almost the entire human body, while 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 of the environment. The surface contains a large number of wrinkles, folds, ridges, which form a characteristic relief, which is purely individual for each person. In this article, you can familiarize yourself with the most interesting facts about skin that you may not have heard of 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 radiation, including ultraviolet.
A very interesting fact about the skin is the one that says that through the skin, the body and the environment exchange essential substances with each other. Thus, we can say that it is considered to some extent an auxiliary respiratory organ.
Under certain conditions, the skin is able to serve as a kind of synthesizer of nutrients. In the case of sunlight on it, complex processes are observed that contribute to the synthesis of vitamin D. In this case, tanning is useful, but you should also remember the destructive properties of ultraviolet rays, which adversely affect all living cells.
The skin also performs a tactile function. The fact is that there are special receptors in it, thanks to which a person has a sense of touch.
What other interesting facts about the skin? It should be noted that she takes part in the formation of appearance. Features of the skin on the face and subcutaneous facial muscles allow you to visually distinguish one person from another.
The skin consists of three main layers: the epidermis, dermis, and also 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 mass of the skin reaches up to 4 kg. At the same time, it covers an area of about 2 square meters.
Skin flies in the air
Dust in the premises is almost 66% composed of dead skin cells. An interesting fact about the skin is that the body can get rid of 30,000 such dead cells in one minute. Throughout his life, a person "dumps" about 18 kg of skin from himself. The full update process will occur about 1,000 times.
White skin
Also interesting is the fact 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 north. There are people who do not have this pigment at all. This phenomenon is called albinism, which is very rare. For 100,000 people, there is only one that suffers from albinism.
Moles on the body
What other interesting facts about skin exist for children and adults? It should be noted that each person on this planet has from 30 to 100 moles on his body. However, there are cases when the number of nevuses on the body reached 400. There is a hypothesis that says that owners of too many on the body of their moles are less likely to suffer from various age-related diseases.
In women, she is 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 wrinkles in women appear much earlier than in men.
Insect bites
A very interesting fact about human skin - insects most often bite their feet. In addition, it was found by scientists that a person who has recently eaten a banana is more likely to be bitten by a mosquito. In addition, mosquitoes prefer to bite blonde people.
Tickling
Man is not able to 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. In their body, there are about 2-3 million. The largest number of sweat glands is located on the palms of the hands, 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 per square centimeter of body. If you compare, then on the clean surface of the skin of these microorganisms, there are only about 2000.
Melanin
In the human skin there is a special pigment, which was discussed above. It is called melanin. The content in the body of this pigment determines the skin tone. If there is a small amount of melanin, then it will be light in a person, and if there is too much pigment, then the skin becomes darker.
Freckles
As a rule, freckles form on the skin in adolescence. When a person reaches the age of thirty, they almost completely disappear from the body. Their presence indicates a lack of melanin in the body.
Smoothness
The skin becomes smooth thanks to collagen. At a young age, the cells of this protein are twisted, making the surface of the skin look smoother and tighter. However, with age, collagen cells receive the least amount of nutrients, begin to clog up with heavy metals. All this provokes their straightening, which causes a decrease in the tone of the skin. Collagen consists of 70% dry dermis. Its productivity decreases by 1% every year.
Why does the skin wrinkle?
The outer layer, which is called the epidermis, ensures skin waterproofness. The cells of the upper layer are closely connected to each other, and on the surface there is a fat layer. It begins to thin if the skin is exposed to water for a long time. As a result of this, water enters the skin cells, which is why the cover begins to frown.
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. In different parts of the body there is a different number of such sebaceous glands. For example, on the back of the palms they are almost absent, and on the chin, nose, ears, under the hair, as well as on the chest, their number is about 400-900 per square centimeter. Black spots and acne often appear in these areas. Black dots will indicate clogged pores.
Asterisks and nets
If a deficiency of vitamin D is observed in the human body, then spider veins or nets begin to form on the body. This disease is diagnosed in 90% of people. To avoid this ailment, you must adhere to a nutritious diet.