I created this report to demonstrate the increasing evidence of the positive impact of body care beyond the skin.
As a consultant dermatologist with decades of experience, it is clear to me that the effects of body care are more than just skin deep. While there is regular dermatologic discourse and debate on how our lifestyle affects our skin (think sun exposure, diet, smoking and alcohol intake), how our skin affects our health is often overlooked - despite the many rounds of scientific and scholarly research proving beyond doubt the significant impact our skin has on our physical and mental well-being. What’s more, it’s becoming increasingly clear that what we deem “self-care” - the routines, methods, fragrances and textures associated with body care - are also imperative in maintaining not only positive mental health, but also peak physical health. To demonstrate the importance of body care, I’ve taken all the most relevant dermatological research and distilled it into five unmissable insights below - along with my advice for what this groundbreaking research means for your body care routine.
Dr. Alexis Granite Consultant Dermatologist Founder, Joonbyrd.
1. Skinflammation
It is commonly accepted that as we grow older, our age becomes apparent on our skin through wrinkles, lines, skin laxity and pigmentation.
But what is less regularly discussed is the invisible repercussions our skin health is having on our internal physical and cognitive performance.
The Baltimore Longitudinal Study followed thousands of people over the course of decades, and found that photoaged, wrinkled, diseased or damaged skin releases chemicals that lead to disruption and inflammation in the body. This is called “inflamm-aging”.
This inflammation exists not only in the skin (degrading essential collagen and elastin, and disrupting the skin barrier) but deeper within our bodies - entering the bloodstream and subsequently causing damage to other tissues.
Further to this, there is also evidence that the skin barrier function impacts cognitive performance as we age.
Since the brain and the skin both develop from the same embryonic layer in the womb (the ectoderm), these two organs remain connected throughout life. In fact, research has demonstrated that compromised skin barrier function correlated with more rapid declines in verbal memory4, that chronic inflammatory skin conditions (such as atopic eczema) are linked to increased risk of dementia, and that inflammation caused by photoaged, wrinkled, diseased or damaged skin can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Read the full report here to find out the formula.
2. Gut Reaction
There is increasing evidence demonstrating the interplay of the skin and the gut. Commonly cited as the “gut-skin axis”, scientific research strongly suggests that our gut microbiome impacts our skin, and vice versa. Research has shown that when the skin microbiome is unbalanced, it can trigger an immune response or inflammation within the body which impacts the gut microbiome10 - decreasing good bacteria and resulting in the immune system becoming more reactive, which ultimately causes inflammation in both the skin and the gut. In fact, there is a correlation between chronic inflammatory skin conditions (such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis) and inflammatory bowel diseases, and it’s been reported that people with psoriasis often have less diverse and fewer good bacteria in their gut.
Read the full report here to find out the formula.
3. Healing Touch
There is strong evidence that touch can provide a strategy to improve skin conditions (particularly those worsened or triggered by stress), with research suggesting a tactile approach has the potential to decrease physical symptoms of pain and inflammation, while also improving immune function and wound healing. Beyond the physical impact, touch can also trigger positive repercussions for our mental state. “Pleasant touch” - defined as gentle stroking or massage - stimulates our nerve fibres to release oxytocin and dopamine, and reduce cortisol levels. The impact of this sensation cannot be understated, with various scientific studies demonstrating the substantial psychological effects, including improvement in participants’ ability to withstand stress and a decrease in depression and anxiety.
Read the full report here to find out the formula.
4. Stress: Out
There is emerging evidence showing that the brain and skin respond to stress using very similar systems (once again, demonstrating the inextricable link between skin and brain as developed in the womb). When your skin senses stress, it releases particular chemicals which not only trigger inflammation, but also impact your central nervous system, sending signals to your brain which affect your mood and your behavior, with the ability to trigger stress and anxiety. A study from the UK All-Party
Parliamentary Group (APPG) On Skin appears to confirm this - finding that 98% of people with skin problems believe their condition negatively impacts their psychological well-being19, with commonly cited feelings including loneliness, depression and anxiety.
This relationship between skin and stress works both ways. It is thought that cortisol (the stress hormone) can also affect skin barrier function, decreasing naturally occurring lipids and proteins, which impairs the skin’s functionality. A study investigating the relationship between psychological stress and skin barrier function found that in periods of high stress, skin took longer to recover, implying that when cortisol levels are high, the skin’s ability to heal is compromised.
Read the full report here to find out the formula.
5. Scenti-Mental
Ever spritzed your favorite scent, and immediately been transported to another time, evoked a memory or changed your mood? You are not alone: research demonstrates that a hugely significant 70% of our emotions are prompted by scent.
Our sense of smell is directly linked to the limbic system in our brain, the area that processes our emotions (the amygdala) and memories (the hippocampus). Our olfactory system is unique in this way, our other senses are processed in different areas of the brain that are more focused on cognitive functions (e.g. literacy, reasoning, or mental arithmetic), which explains why a smell can trigger an emotional response almost instantly. There have been many studies concluding that the positive impact of fragrance is largely linked to memory and past experience. This makes logical sense, since smell is the only fully developed sense a fetus has in the womb, and is the primary sense for children up to 10 (with discourse suggesting that it is in this period that you will determine scent likes and dislikes that will stay with you for the rest of your life). Therefore, how scents affect us can often be driven by “associate learning” - that is how a certain event comes to be linked to another, for instance, the smell of a familiar scent lulling you to sleep.
With this said, a recent study found that there was little discernible difference between mood changes when smelling a “familiar” or “exotic” scent, suggesting that perhaps the scent itself (and not the memory of the scent) can have an impact on our mental state.
This is further supported by emerging scientific evidence of specific scents affecting brain function. A study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience assessed the effects of rosemary on cognitive performance, finding that exposure to the scent enhanced memory quality but inhibited memory speed in certain tasks - which suggests that different scents might impact different cognitive functions.
The same report spoke beyond cognitive function, to the impact of scent on cognitive disorders, citing that scents such as rosemary, lavender and sage can have a potential therapeutic effect on neurological disorders such as dementia, Parkinson's disease, neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, and epilepsy.
Further to this, there is an interesting correlation between scent, memory and emotion. A study found that individuals with major depressive disorder were more able to recall happy memories when exposed to familiar scents, demonstrating that scent has the ability to disrupt negative thought patterns26. When you couple this with further existing evidence between fragrance and emotion - such as the scent of oranges reducing anxiety and improving mood - it stands to reason that there may be psychological and even functional effects for many (if not all) fragrances.
Read the full report here to find out the formula.
