This Happens In Your Body If You Don’t Bathe

What happens in your body if you do not bathe for several days is noticeable. It is not only a myth that the smell and dermal infections due to lack of hygiene. Science has studied these effects and has even identified a pathology known as dermatosis neglecta.

We must know that the skin is constantly colonized by microorganisms. This flora present in the epidermis is made up of bacteria and fungi. Bacteria are of different types and present some variations with climate and age.

The flora of the skin fulfills different functions, and body hygiene intervenes in the process of maintaining it. What happens in your body if you do not bathe is that you stop intervening in a positive way in this growth of bacteria and fungi, giving it the opportunity of uncontrolled reproduction.

The lack of showers or body baths makes it easier for the skin flora to expand, assimilating pathogenic microorganisms that no longer perform healthy functions in the body. In short, we become more susceptible to external bacteria and fungi.

Changes in your body if you don’t bathe

When you don’t shower for several days, your body starts to change. Although some changes are internal, such as the change in metabolism, most are external, concentrated in the skin. Among these changes we have:

• Metabolism slowing: showers and baths stimulate internal cellular processes. The metabolism increases with our hygiene because it is stimulated to generate energy. On the contrary, without proper hygiene, power generation processes slow down.
• Accumulation of dead tissue: the washing serves so that the dead cells of the epidermis are finished detaching. In this way, new cells can take their place, also reducing sebum production. In people with acne this is very important.
• Dermal infections: as we have already mentioned, what happens in your body if you do not bathe is that the implantation of pathogenic microorganisms is favored. A clinical form that we will see later is dermatosis neglecta .

• Bad smell: by not bathing regularly, your skin starts to smell bad. Although sweat is often attributed the cause of the unpleasant odor, that is not exactly the source. The lack of showers generates the implantation of bacteria that are not part of the normal flora of the skin; Those bacteria accumulate and store dead cell debris that rot. That’s where the smell comes from.

The neglecta dermatosis

Relatively recently, in 1987, researchers described this pathology. It is not a new disease, but more and more studies are being carried out on this type of injury.

In dermatosis neglecta , which occurs on your body when you do not bathe frequently, pigmented plaques appear on the skin. These plates are textured and have a high concentration of sebum. The primary cause is poor hygiene.

Poor hygiene is not always related to individual laziness or disinterest in personal appearance. In psychiatric pathologies, for example, patients do not clean themselves because of their mental condition. There are also local forms, around surgical scars that are not sanitized due to pain in the area.

Another clinical form that causes confusion with dermatosis neglecta is terra firma-forme dermatosis . The main difference is the age of onset, since in the terra firma-forme those affected are adolescents who neglect their hygiene due to behavioral changes typical of the stage, including characteristic poor hygiene habits.

There are no symptoms of dermatosis neglecta other than plaques. The bad smell accompanies the lesions due to the accumulation of cellular debris and the bacteria that proliferate there. Treatment is none other than washing, and antibiotics are not required.

It is also not good to bathe too much

What happens to your body if you don’t bathe is harmful, but we also know that over bathing can be counterproductive. The ideal is a middle ground and a balance.

Excessive showers are the cause of dermatitis. There may be an excess of desquamation with loss of cells important for the protection of the epidermis.

In addition, in the bathrooms we usually use chemical products such as soaps, gels and shampoos, which are not without effects. The skin reacts to these compounds, and adverse effects may appear.

In conclusion

What happens in your body if you do not bathe are a series of reactions that culminate in the affectation of the skin. More than three days without showering can be harmful due to the alteration of the usual dermal flora, leading to the production of a bad smell.

You also shouldn’t be obsessing over and bathing excessively. It is essential to find a balance point that allows you to maintain body hygiene at adequate levels.