Sunscream!
It’s that time of year again to get into the great outdoors. You could be enjoying a day on the beach, or river, or just out doing some yard work. You know who you are. You wait ‘til the first nice sunny day or weekend and may not remember to put on the sunscreen until it’s too late. And there you have it, SUNSCREAM! “Hey! Nice burn!”
Our skin is the largest organ in our body and it needs to be cared for and protected from mechanical or chemical injuries, and bacterial invasion.
There are many articles and ads telling us that our sunscreen may actually be causing us cancer instead of protecting us from the sun’s harmful UV rays. These ads can provoke fear instead of giving accurate information. To avoid all the confusion you can simply visit the website that was created to report on products that are tested and approved by The Skin Cancer Foundation Seal of Recommendation (www.skincancer.org/seal).
You can easily view products that are tested and earn the seal of approval for safety and effectiveness. Products like active and daily-use sunscreens, children’s sunscreen, moisturizers and makeup, lipstick, sunglasses, awnings, umbrellas, clothing, and laundry detergents with UV additives. There are only 4 brands of sunglasses that have been tested and approved. With all the many different brands of sunscreen and UV-protection out there it’s good to know we can all go to a trustworthy website to make sure they have been tested and approved by The Skin Cancer Foundation Seal of Recommendation. There are 994 recommended products. You can find the complete list at www.skincancer.org/seal. Note that U.S. requirements for testing are higher than international brands.
There is a lot of information that you can tap into on the website if you would like to know more about sunscreens, UV protection, self exams for men and woman, prevention, anti-aging, sunburns, and the list goes on. If nothing else, I hope that sharing this will all make us a little wiser when it comes to protecting our skin from environmental changes. Don’t forget to drink your water! Your hydration has a huge impact on the health of your skin, especially with the younger and older folks who have a decreased ability to sweat causing them to overheat and dehydrate quickly. The hotter it gets outside, the more the chances for heat stroke and exhaustion increase. Just because you’re in a pool cooling off, remember you’re using more of your energy to move around in the water and the chances of dehydration and heat exhaustion are still higher. The amount of water that is recommended to stay hydrated each day is half your bodyweight in ounces. And this amount increases when your activity level increases, especially in hotter temperatures. Don’t forget the water-proof active sunscreen before and after swimming. Most people apply once and do not take into consideration how long they have been in the sun, while reapplying is directed on the product’s label, especially if you’re sweating it off or washing it off in the water. I would rather see you enjoying ice cream over sunscream.
