Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/834468
62 july/august 2017 Knowing this, scientists have studied cellular health systemically to uncover new methods to old problems. Within these studies, we've learned that skin aging is multifaceted (internal, external, and emotional) and depends on whole- body health, as well as inclusive treatment, lifestyle, and diet. Along these lines, epidemiological data points to some specific stressors that are secretly aging us. The good news is we can control these things (and avoid them if we can identify them), and share that news with our clients. The bad news is that the same scientific literature is alarming. NOT A PRETTY PICTURE We have become more stressed than ever, get less sleep than we need, use more antidepressants than in all previous years, eat worse than ever, and are hooked on our phones and digital communication while real-time relationships are neglected. We are also witnessing staggering increases in obesity, suicide, environmental toxins, and pollution, in addition to political unrest and slow economic growth. The onslaught of external, internal, and emotional stressors we endure daily, both consciously and unconsciously, has a sum-total effect of aging us before our time. Our cells can't handle it all well enough to perform simple repairs for healing, and our health and skin are suffering. So, what's the biggest culprit? We are. It's us. We've done it to ourselves through man-made cultural stress, and our cells are dehydrated, unprotected, and affected by hormone imbalance. THERE IS HOPE Finger-pointing aside, there are things we can change now to increase our cell health and immunity. Antiaging skin care is, after all, skin care at the cellular level. Topically, this begins with the keratinocytes. Keratinocytes have one specific job: to separate us from our environment. In doing this job, these epithelial cells form our integumentary system and are distinctly involved with our inflammatory response and, thus, the immune system. What this means, simply, is that your skin is indeed connected to your heart, your brain, your kidneys—so something that affects the skin will affect the entire body and its organs, just as something that affects an internal organ, like your heart, also affects the rest of the body, including skin—it's bidirectional. Science shows this to be true through the neuro-immuno-cutaneous- endocrine pathway, as well as the many other brain-body pathways that display how psychological stress causes profound declines in physical health. Understanding this, research has exposed four agers that are secretly working together to deteriorate skin health and total body wellness. So, what's the biggest culprit? We are. It's us. We've done it to ourselves through man- made cultural stress, and our cells are dehydrated, unprotected, and affected by hormone imbalance.