Why happiness may be skin deep

OUR skin may be partly responsible for how happy we feel, a clinical study has found.

- By Jaymi McCann

Dermatologists discovered that higher levels of the skin bacterium Cutibacterium are closely associated with improved mood and lower stress levels.

The results were most obvious when the skin swabs came from the face or underarm.

Cutibacterium is a beneficial, naturally occurring microbe that lives on healthy human skin and prevents harmful bacteria from taking over.

The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, involved 53 volunteers who pro-vided swabs from their face, scalp, forearm and underarm.