As many of us have come to trade the office for a makeshift desk in the living room, with Zoom calls coming to punctuate our daily routines with alarming regularity, we’ve also had to come startlingly intimate with our own facial features. While it’s not to say that we didn’t admire ourselves in the mirror before going into the office before, now we’re bombarded with a reflection of our image constantly around the clock. Whether it’s Zoom, Microsoft Teams or a FaceTime, it’s hard to escape our physical features.
For some, this has been a jarring transition as we scrutinise ourselves like never before. But when it comes to our skin, most of our attention goes solely towards the products we use and their application in our skincare routine. As it turns out though, there might be other factors at play as researchers are suggesting the city we live in has a significant impact on our skin.
When it comes to our skin, environmental influences are hugely significant. Factors like UV exposure and the levels of air pollutants can have an impact on not just our complexion, but in some extreme cases, even lead to more serious complications like skin cancer. Intent to dive deeper into just which cities in Australia and around the world are most affected by such factors, the fine folks over at LOOKFANTASTIC analysed cities to find out which rate highest for air pollution and UV light.
To conduct the study, cities were given a normalised score out of 10 for each factor, with the worst city scoring 1, the highest scoring 10 and so on for all other cities calculated relative to this. They also took an average of these scores to calculate final score out of 10 for each city. The results found that when it comes to the Australian city least affected by the environment, Ballarat reigns supreme with a score of 8.55 out of 10. Thanks to its elevation, the city has one of the lowest average temperatures in Australia, as well as low sunshine hours. It also has a very low level of air pollution. In contrast, Adelaide ranked the lowest in Australia, with an overall score of 5.98, while Wollongong in New South Wales came in with a score of 6.00.
Globally, Edinburgh had one of the lowest levels of annual sunlight, making it one of the best when it comes to SPF protection. Scotland’s capital also scored highly for its low air pollution. It was followed by Helsinki in Finland, which enjoys low levels of pollution and also has a relatively low average annual temperature of 6.1 degrees Celsius. For those who crave the warmth of sunlight and love to suntan, they might not be the best places to live for you, but these cities do lower exposure to the sun’s UV rays which could help prevent dryness, irritation and even skin conditions such as acne and eczema. That said, even if you can’t afford to take up and relocate, SPF is always an important step in any skincare routine and should be applied daily.
To read more or to view the full list of cities, visit the official website here.
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