Is your lifestyle on your face?

The fact that the condition of your skin could be related to global warming may not seem surprising. But the fact that the global financial crisis (GFC) may actually help your skin might seem to be stretching credibility.

So how could having less money, perhaps being out of work and having more time on your hands possibly help your skin? To understand the answer you need to know a little about the causes of modern ill-health and how this has changed over time.

As little as 50 years ago, the biggest cause of illness was “germs” — bacteria and viruses that caused infectious diseases. Some of these are still around and some affect the skin. But, by and large, we have medical treatments for most.

With increasing economic development, however, there was a swing — from infectious or acute diseases with an external cause to non-infectious, chronic diseases with a cause based in the environment and our way of life. Heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancers, chronic skin problems and many other ailments such as these have no obvious “germ”. They come from the way we eat, move (or not), sleep, worry, work etc. And this, in turn, comes from the modern techno-industrial environment in which we live. Still, I can hear you ask, what has that to do with skin?

Skin is a body organ. In fact, it used to be called the biggest organ in the body (fat has now taken that crown). An organ is an active structural part of the body designed to perform a particular function by responding to the internal and external environment. Just like a person, an organ can be insulted by that environment, and also like a person, it can respond by reacting in a number of different ways to that insult.

If you are insulted personally you can react by being angry, crying, running away or beating up the insulter. If the skin is insulted, it reacts through developing a rash, acne, pimples, whiteheads, psoriasis or a range of other skin problems, somewhere on the body. Skin insults can come from the external environment or from issues that occur within your body or mind.

Internal factors such as nutrition can also act as insults on the skin. In general, a diet high in mono-unsaturated fats (nuts, avocados, olive oil etc), tea and low glycaemic index (GI) carbohydrates (generally non-refined, fibre-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables) has a positive effect.

Foods that cause the greatest insult are saturated fats, sugary, processed foods and too much food in general. Foods that are bad for the skin usually also require a lot of energy to produce and this, in turn, can have an adverse effect on the environment.

Eat foods with low HI (human intervention). Not eating anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food is probably not a bad guide — for both your skin and the environment.

External stimuli that insult skin include the weather, smoking, chemicals, clothing, shampoo, cleansers, chemicals and air-conditioning and heating. Internal stimuli include stress, obesity, diet, inactivity, inadequate sleep, infection and allergy.

All these are influenced by the economic as well as the physical climate. Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Hair follicles are made up of single strands of hair layered with little “tiles” like fish scales, which are packed tightly on a healthy strand. Shampoo strips the hair follicle of sebum, or grease, and leaves the hair dry, lank and, surprisingly, greasy (as it reacts by over-producing sebum to compensate for that removed. It’s an unnecessary accoutrement encouraged by cosmetic marketers. If you want to save money, cut it out totally. It may take 2–3 weeks for the scalp, which has been over-producing sebum in a response called “reactive seborrhea”, to settle down, but a dab of conditioner every couple of days is all that’s needed.

Similarly with soap. We use 22 bars a years, on average, in Australia. The Europeans use eight. Is our skin any better than theirs? I think not. Soap applied to the privates in small amounts is unlikely to be harmful, but excessive scrubbing of the body and face strips the skin of its valuable protective oils.

Air-conditioning is another big one. Skin dries out quickly in dry conditions, leading to any number of skin problems: acne, dermatitis and comedones (blackheads) are all possibilities. Skin responds best to a humidity of around 40–60 per cent. Yet most air-conditioning is set at 20–30 per cent. A day at the office or in an air-conditioned home, car or airplane is likely to lead to skin like a dried-up prune and a feeling of tiredness and lethargy as well. Turn off the air-conditioner. Save money and save your body’s second-biggest organ.

Low humidity is also more characteristic of cold weather. Hence, a skin problem known simply as “winter itch” is more common in winter and colder parts of the country. Compensating for the cold by overheating with a fire or heated air, however, is unlikely to help, as this adds further to the dryness. Preventing moisture loss, such as by using a moisturiser, is a more appropriate treatment.

A lot of people today think they must have a constant body temperature, that they should never be either too hot or too cold. But this is like trying to keep the heart rate at a steady 70 beats per minute. As soon as this is tested, for example, by running for the bus, the heart comes under pressure to which it is unaccustomed, causing potential problems. Similarly, skin learns to respond best with variations in temperature. You’ll learn to tolerate the occasional warmth or cold better over time and your skin will thank you for it.

Doonas, or continental quilts, that don’t breathe are another problem. These can be the equivalent of 6–8 blankets. But, unlike blankets, you can’t just peel them off as you get hot. Because you heat up slowly, you’re usually asleep before the body recognises it’s too hot. Then the only place to sweat (unless you stick an arm or leg out) is through your head, causing overheating problems on your face and head, and making your hair feel lank and greasy. You’ll want to shampoo in the morning to get over that feeling … but then we’ve seen what that does.

Blankets are cheaper and hospital blankets (ones that breathe) are even better. Count on warming up after you’re in bed. You don’t have to be at an instantly ideal temperature from the start.

And what about those expensive five-star hotels where you can’t open the windows? You have to use the air-conditioner (because it doesn’t switch off) and then they give you a doona to sleep under so you don’t get too cold! So through the night you’re too hot with it on and too cold when you throw it off. All the time, the air-conditioning is adding to the overheating of the planet and they have the hide to leave a little note in the bathroom saying, “We care for the environment. Please use your towel more than once” (subtext, “because it saves us money on laundry”). Go for the one- or two-star hotels where the breeze howls through an open window and you can remember what life was meant to be like.

Modern cars are no better. Those who are old enough will remember the little side windows you could turn in for a breeze when it got too hot. Modern cars have to have windows that are either up or down. When they’re down, you can’t hear and you get blown away. When they’re up, you need the air-conditioner to keep cool and this is 20–30 per cent humidity, which dries the skin and … around we go again.

Get out on a bike, catch public transport or walk. You’ll save money, the environment — and your skin.

Other ways to save money, help the environment, say to hell with the GFC and improve your skin at the same time are:

• Give up the fags: Even 1–2 a day can lead to wrinkles and inflammation of the skin.
• Can the expensive moisturiser: A $5 jar of natural basic cream works just as well in preventing evaporation from the skin as a $200 bottle of the best name brand.
• Eat less food — particularly less saturated fat: As well as making you fat, too much food, even at one sitting, can cause a rise in inflammatory effects.
• Go light on cosmetics: Many are made up of a mix of chemical ingredients. You only have to be sensitive to one and your skin will feel insulted.
• Get a good night’s sleep: Save on the late nights out — poor sleep is closely associated with poor skin, heart disease, diabetes and just feeling crappy. It’s probably the least considered modern health problem.

Skin insults come out in what is generically called “dermatoses”. These can be a range of skin effects. And when it comes down to it, most have an environmental, lifestyle or psychological cause. They also cost money. So save this, help the environment and you’ll have skin like it was meant to be. After all, can you imagine an Aborigine not going to a corroboree 1000 years ago because she had zits?

Some skin questions and facts

What are wrinkles and how can you prevent them?

Wrinkling involves thinning of the outer layers of skin. This occurs naturally with age, but smoking, sun exposure and other environmental insults can exacerbate it. It can be delayed and even repaired to some extent by lifestyle changes, such as avoiding over-dryness and using a moisturiser. But the longer the problem exists, the more permanent it becomes.

Why do we have hair?

Sweat is only effective it if can be cooled by the surrounding air. Sweat that drops off the body doesn’t have this effect and is thus wasted. Hair is designed to hold sweat until it can cause evaporative cooling in the parts of the body (scalp, groin, armpits, legs etc) that have high sweat production. Land-based athletes, who shave for better performance, are actually fooling themselves. Sweat is the athlete’s cooling friend and shaving reduces this.

Is there such a thing as a bad hair day?

The scalp has an abundance of sweat glands. So in conditions where this is the only part of the body where heat is allowed to escape (ie if one is over-dressed or under over-insulated bedding such as a doona), sweating occurs through the head. This mixes with the “natural” oil in the hair and forms a greasy mix or emulsion that makes hair dull, lank and greasy. This is made worse by shampooing, so a bad hair day is a reality and can be self-made.

Do sunscreens cause vitamin D deficiency?

Because vitamin D comes from sunlight and vitamin D deficiency has recently been found to be common in many people (particularly the elderly), it’s been suggested this comes from over-use of sunscreens. This is highly unlikely. Vitamin D is still produced through sun creams, although it does require longer time in the sun, and only a short amount of time (ie 20 minutes with exposed arms or legs) in normal daylight is usually enough for fair-skinned people to produce adequate vitamin D (the dark-skinned have more of a problem).

Garry Egger MPH PhD is Adjunct Professor of Lifestyle Medicine and Applied Health Promotion at Southern Cross University and an advisor to government groups and the World Health Organization.