KEEPING SKIN HEALTHY IN HOT SUMMER WEATHER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 73, 7 December 1949, Page 3

KEEPING SKIN HEALTHY IN HOT SUMMER WEATHER

(By the Dept, of Health) When we eat food, the stomacl and intestines turn it into fuel, tht blood carries this to the muscles which use it up, but produce heal 1 in doing so. This heat soon piles up and has to be got. rid of through oui cooling system, our skin. An automatically controlled cooling system keeps our bodies at a steady temperature in health. II you get cold the skin contracts and you see the gooseflesh—the bldod retreats inwards and keeps warm; if you’re hot, you flush—the blood comes to' the surface to get cooled —and you also sweat. Evaporating that sweat uses up some of our excess heat. The sweat has also carried away some of our waste products. The skin has this very important function to perform—to regulate our body heat. It can’t work properly if the sweat'and grease glands get blocked so it needs only daily cleansing. In summer time the daily swim does this—failing which, the daily bath. The contraction and relexation of surface blood vessels, skin glands arid pores are helped by skin exercise. This sounds difficult, but is very simple. In thij; summer weather the best skin’ exercise is exposure of the whole body to the air for a short time each day—if you have the privacy needed. Follow this with a brisk rub down with a towel. This simple procedure keeps the skin supple, able to adjust to sudden changes of temperature, and hardens one up against colds. You don’t need a sunny day, though gradual tanning is an extra health measure for the skin, as well as for the whole body. In the hot weather reduce the call on the skin’s sweating mechanism by wearing light clothes. Guard against changes of temperature or evening chiHs by having an extra wrap available. Cellular type of underclothing is excellent. Light coloured top clothes are best in hot weather—they don’t take up so much of the sun’s heat as darker clothes.' i