Help Your Skin Enjoy the Sun as Much as You do

Today, is "Stay out of the sun day".  Ahhh, the sun, it's beautiful, it's warm, it provides us with vitamin D and just makes us feel good.  The problem is , too much of a good thing is definitely NOT a good thing.  The sun's invisible rays can cause your skin to wrinkle and make you look much older than you are,  cause burns, and even cancer in people as young as early 20's. 

According to Kidshealth.org, most of us get the majority of our sun exposure before the age of 18.  Now I don't know about you but that's when we care the least about the damage sun can do to our skin since it still looks young and smooth.  Needless to say, for most kids, sunscreen is barely on the radar.  Unless the parents make them put it on, kids would hit the outdoors without any protection from the sun whatsoever.  I know that's true with my own kids.

I was unfortunately reminded of how easily tender skin can get badly burned after my daughter came back looking like a lobster from a school field trip to the lake and didn't reapply sunscreen after swimming.  Yikes!  It's been almost two weeks and her back is still pink.  I'm hoping she learned her lesson about what kind of damage the sun can do.  I felt the need to use this as an opportunity to teach her what to do in the future to stay safe from the sun's harmful rays. All the following tips can be found on kidshealth.org.

First of all, the sun is at it's strongest between the hours of 10am and 4pm.  Limit sun exposure during that time and apply and reapply sunscreen during that time.

When you apply sunscreen, apply it liberally in a thick coating about 15 to 30 minutes BEFORE going out in the sun so that it has a chance to soak into your skin and form a protective layer.  Don't forget to put sunscreen on under shoulder straps and go a bit beyond clothing edges to allow for movement.  Those areas seem to always get burned because we forget about that.

To be out in the sun, cover up.  Wear a hat that shades your neck and face and clothing that's not see through.  The sun's rays can penetrate thin clothing.

You CAN enjoy the sun.  You just have to know how to do it.