[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<260> How to Protect Skin Health

The skin, also called the epidermis, which covers the entire outer part of our body, has a surface area of 1.5 to 2.0 square meters, making it the second largest organ in our body after the small intestine. It weighs about 4.5 to 5 kg, accounting for roughly 7% of body weight, and is the largest organ in our body. It is soft and flexible yet quite tough and durable, so if it is not injured, it does not easily break or tear.

The skin protects our body and efficiently performs important functions such as sensory perception, temperature regulation, waste excretion, vitamin D synthesis, various facial expressions, and maintaining the skin ecosystem. Because it is located on the very outside of our body and is highly susceptible to various problems, maintaining skin health is not easy. Skin problems can be divided into wounds and various skin diseases.

When the skin is wounded, there is a risk that pathogens such as bacteria or viruses, or toxic substances, may enter the body, so it is extremely important to repair wounds quickly. Fortunately, our body has an excellent and mysterious system that efficiently heals wounds on the skin naturally by itself. Therefore, it is important to actively cooperate to ensure that natural healing proceeds well when skin wounds occur.

Skin diseases are often not fatal and may be considered trivial, but many people suffer from a reduced quality of life due to symptoms of various skin diseases. Recently, including skin cancer, about 1,100 people die annually from skin diseases, accounting for 0.3% of total deaths. However, skin diseases are very common, with 28.4% of the entire population receiving treatment in 2019.

There are hundreds of types of skin diseases, and symptoms are often similar, making it difficult to distinguish which disease is causing the symptoms. The causes are diverse and often unknown, making it difficult to identify and eliminate the causes to prevent and cure skin diseases.

There are various ways to classify skin diseases, but it is meaningful to categorize them by their nature according to their causes to understand prevention and treatment methods. Here, skin diseases are divided into three categories: first, infectious skin diseases caused by pathogens such as bacteria or viruses; second, immune-related skin diseases caused by abnormalities in the immune system; and third, dermatitis that occurs without direct relation to pathogen infection or immune cell abnormalities.

First, infectious skin diseases can be caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. As seen in the example of COVID-19, preventing infection is very important to avoid these diseases. Additionally, it is important to maintain strong immunity so that even if our body is infected by these pathogens, we do not get sick or can recover easily.

Next, immune-related skin diseases occur when the immune system, which should protect our body from pathogens like bacteria or viruses, does not function properly. These can be divided into three types: infectious skin diseases caused by weakened immunity, autoimmune skin diseases where immune cells attack normal cells instead of pathogens, and allergic skin diseases caused by hypersensitive reactions of immune cells to harmless substances.

Among autoimmune skin diseases are alopecia areata, lupus, and vitiligo, and allergic skin diseases include atopic dermatitis, urticaria, and food allergies. To prevent and cure these immune-related skin diseases, it is important to normalize immune cell abnormalities and maintain strong immunity.

Next, dermatitis unrelated directly to infectious or immune-related skin diseases occurs because genes that should be activated when needed among the more than 20,000 genes that make up skin cells do not activate properly. For skin cells to function normally, it is important that the genes within skin cells are not damaged and that genes that need to be activated are properly turned on when necessary.

According to scientific research, cells in our body can have up to one million DNA damages per day among the 6 billion DNA base pairs that make up a single cell. If these damaged DNAs are not repaired and remain damaged, the genes with damaged DNA cannot be activated, and such cells cannot perform their functions properly.

Therefore, all damaged DNAs in every cell must be identified and replaced with new DNA of the same type. This DNA repair is an incredibly complex and difficult process, performed by an omnipotent intelligence encoded in the genes within the cells that activates the necessary genes when needed. The author refers to this omnipotent intelligence as the "best doctor prepared inside my body."

However, the extent of DNA damage and the degree of DNA repair are deeply related to our lifestyle habits. The number of damaged DNAs decreases if we maintain good lifestyle habits, but increases if we have poor habits. DNA repair is effective with good habits but difficult with poor habits.

If too many DNAs in cells are excessively damaged or if the genes responsible for repairing damaged cells fail to function properly, resulting in many cells not being restored to their original state, we become susceptible to various diseases. If this happens in immune cells, immunity weakens, leading to immune-related skin diseases such as autoimmune and allergic skin diseases. If it happens in skin cells, dermatitis occurs.

To prevent and cure immune-related skin diseases and various dermatitis, it is necessary to improve poor lifestyle habits that cause extensive DNA damage in immune and skin cells and hinder DNA repair. This reduces gene damage in immune and skin cells and creates a good environment where the "best doctor inside my body" can work enthusiastically by ensuring that genes that need to be activated can be properly turned on. This can be achieved through the Newstart lifestyle (see Life Story Part 6) that improves poor lifestyle habits.

Among the eight components of Newstart, the first is a life diet that involves eating a variety of plant-based foods, including various fruits, vegetables, and grains, in sufficient amounts without selective eating of specific foods. Along with this, it is important to reduce intake of sugar?which causes many problems when consumed excessively?processed or refined bad carbohydrates, saturated and trans fats, salt, and alcohol. It is also important to practice the other Newstart components: exercise, water, sunlight, temperance, air, rest, trust, and love.