CLAUDIA AGUIRRE

The Story Beneath Your Skin

I want to show you some stories today that are going to explain how the connection between the mind and body interact and hopefully surprise you with some of the ideas that came about in understanding the connection between the brain and the skin. Our skin has machinery, the same machinery as the brain. And it’s only been a decade or so of research that shows that the skin has the most intricate and sophisticated systems that were once under the sole domain of the brain. So for instance, the stress axis — the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis — found in our central nervous system is also found in the skin, and it’s theorized that this stress pathway actually evolved in the skin first to avoid pathogens from entering the skin. so imagine how understanding these discoveries could change technology and medicine. Twenty years ago, Dr. Michael Gershon revealed that there was a brain in the gut. Today, if you go to a grocery store, it’s difficult to find a grocery store without probiotic drinks or probiotic supplements. And today, I’m telling you that the skin also has a mind of its own. Therefore I want to leave you with this, to listen to your skin.