Five Functions of the Skin

How does the skin protect the body?

• Forms a barrier that keeps harmful substances outside and important substances inside the body.

• Dissolves waste materials that come from the breakdown of chemicals during cellular processes.

• Helps the cells in your digestive system to absorb the calcium in your food.

When you become warm, blood vessels enlarge and the amount of blood that flows through them increases. These changes allow heat to move from your body into the outside environment. In addition, sweat glands in the skin respond to excess heat by producing perspiration, cooling you down. This is a function of the skin that does what?

• Protect the body

• Maintain temperature

• Eliminates waste

• Gathers information

• Produces vitamin D

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What function of the skin is important for healthy bones because it helps the cells in your digestive system to absorb the calcium in your food?

• Protecting the body

• Maintaining temperature

• Eliminating wastes

• Gathering information

• Producing vitamin D

The nerves in the skin provide information about pressure, pain, and temperature. Pain messages are important because they warn you that something in your surroundings may have injured you. This is what function of the skin?

• Protecting the body

• Maintaining temperature

• Eliminating wastes

• Gathering information

• Producing vitamin D

Perspiration contains dissolved waste materials that come from the breakdown of chemicals during cellular processes. This is a result of what function of the skin?

• Protecting the body

• Maintaining temperature

• Eliminating wastes

• Gathering information

• Producing vitamin D