Here’s a question for you: What is by far the largest organ in the body…almost 20 square feet in area, and without it, you would die a painful death? It’s your skin.
What you don’t know about your skin is that there are more living things on it than all the humans on earth combined. There is a whole universe of living things inside and on your body. But don’t go grabbing soap and water just yet – because getting rid of these bugs can kill you..
There are more bacteria on a square inch of your skin than the population of Manhattan.In fact, some parts of your skin, like your underarms, front of your elbow, belly button, between your toes, and private areas have 10 times as many bacteria. Why? because they are usually moist and/or dark, where bacteria can grow more readily.
Most of the other parts of your skin like your forearms, thighs, and back of your hands are dry. So just like a desert, there just aren’t as many living things there because the conditions are not good for them.
But it turns out that almost all the normal bacteria on your skin are good for you. Why? because they keep the bad bacteria away by either taking up space, or creating a microenvironment that keeps bad bacteria from taking hold and growing. And there are billions of bad bacteria floating around just looking for a spot to land so that they can live, and make you sick.
We really need to think of the natural bacteria on our skin not as foreign invaders, but as part of us. Like an organ such as the liver or pancreas. It is Part of our human body without which we really can’t survive.
The average human has 100 trillion bacteria on and inside their body. In fact, you’re body is the bacterial equivalent of more than 1000 toilet seats in a public bathroom. That’s right – if you are scared of sitting on a toilet seat, you should be even more terrified of your own body.
If a different life form from another planet encountered a human being, they would see us a mainly being a convenient host for bacteria to live, grow and thrive on rather than the other way around.
But before you go grabbing for that bottle of Purel, consider this:
using antiseptic hand washes all the time or even bathing too often can be hazardous to your health because killing the natural bacterial flora on your skin is usually not good for you. The reason- because bad bacteria can take its place, and cause problems.
We are only beginning to find out the influence that our natural bacteria have on us. Science is showing that the bacteria not only influence but control our immunity and health.
In addition, some of the latest research shows that bacteria also have a big influence on our mood and behavior.
We have merely scratched the surface on finding out the many ways that bacteria affect us. What we do know is that if you didn’t have all these bacteria and other microorganisms on your body, just like losing an organ…you would either be sick all the time, or die a slow painful death.
