When to start nightly bath
What Happens When You Don't Bathe?
you've probably gone a couple of days
without showering maybe a week but have
you ever wondered what would happen if
you didn't bathe for an entire month or
even a year but let's talk about your
skin you might not know this but even
when it's clean its crawling with little
German Jers up to 1,000 species of
bacteria may be enjoying life on your
skin at this very moment along with 80
types of fungus before you get you out
know that most of these germs are
actually good for us they take up real
estate on our skin effectively crowding
out the bad fungi and bacteria some
germs also break down secretions from
our skin cells to produce natural
moisturizers and anti microbials but
sometimes our body's natural defenses
aren't enough to handle some of the more
nasty pathogens especially the ones that
have adapted to evade that so bathing me
comes our second line of effects now
let's say you stop bathing you use no
soap no water no nothing what happens
throughout the day you encounter a lot
of germy stuff from door knobs to
diapers to toilet handles and even your
cell phone when you don't wash yourself
especially your hands you make it easy
for microbes to wind up in your eyes
nose or mouth and give you all sorts of
things from diarrhea to influenza not
washing also makes it easier for germs
that cause skin infections to upset that
all important balance of microbes that
call your skin home so preventing
infection is one reason we bathe why
else so we don't get filthy of course if
you didn't wash at all dirt sweat dead
skin cells and oil would start to
accumulate if you have a chronic skin
condition like acne or folliculitis not
bathing can make it worse and if enough
filth got caked onto your skin it would
form into thick brown plaques all over
your body dermatologists call this
condition dermatitis neglect uh we also
bathe to keep from getting stinky after
all we need friends you might think body
odor comes from sweat but sweat itself
is odorless Bo formerly known as bro
Madras s actually arises when bacteria
feed on proteins and fatty acids and
and convert them into as many as 30
different bad smelling chemicals one of
the worst offenders is three methyl two
hexanoic acid its odor has been
described as goat light and you can
blame ISIL Valarie acid for that pungent
cheesy foot odor can you say PU now
before you go shower crazy here's
something to keep in mind
bathing too often can dry your skin and
strip the body of its natural oils that
can create tiny cracks and inflammation
in your skin making it vulnerable to
infection similarly going overboard with
antibacterial products and kill the good
germs that help fend off the bad ones so
how often should you bathe
dermatologists we spoke with emphasized
it's important to focus on key bacteria
friendly areas like the groin underarms
and face on a regular basis they say
that if you work in health care or
exercise every day it's probably best to
bathe daily but if you're mostly
sedentary you're probably buying bathing
three times a week that is unless you
notice friends or family members given
your dirty looks now you know
