IN WINTER, the backs of your palms might develop into dry, pink and cracked. Possibly you end up slathering on moisturiser. In the event you don’t, the itching and ache can develop into a significant distraction.

You would possibly assume that’s so far as it goes: cracked pores and skin is annoying and uncomfortable, however not severe in the identical manner as, say, hypertension. However that assumption, like ageing pores and skin, may not maintain water.

Rising proof means that harm to the pores and skin can have knock-on results for the remainder of the physique, driving irritation, muscle and bone loss, and probably even cognitive decline. The extra your pores and skin deteriorates, the extra the remainder of you ages prematurely. On this rising view, your pores and skin doesn’t simply mirror indicators of ageing – it’s a contributing issue. There’s even tentative proof that taking higher care of our pores and skin might gradual the dangerous results of ageing and enhance our total well being.

Our pores and skin is without doubt one of the first components of the physique to indicate indicators of ageing. It turns into wrinkly, particularly in energetic locations just like the corners of our eyes, and age spots can seem. Such adjustments could appear – fairly actually – skin-deep, however we shouldn’t underestimate the pores and skin’s significance to the remainder of the physique. “The pores and skin is the most important organ within the physique,” says Wendy Bollag at Augusta College in Georgia, US.

And it isn’t nearly measurement. The pores and skin is essential for survival. The outer layer, the dermis, is impermeable to water, making certain that we don’t lose our life-giving fluids to the air. If somebody damages giant swathes…