Can you have a Healthy Glow? Because I just finished a post, Healthy Tan this caught my attention. What is the world thinking? There sure seems to be a lot of emphasis on the “healthy” benefits of cooking your skin!
What the facts say:https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/the-myth-of-the-healthy-tan This is re-enforcement of this fact for me. Do you need to be reminded?
I am under the influence of all influencers out there! Yes, what I see influences me, I am human.
The people who appear for ads are tan and “beautiful.” Do those ads mention skin damage or wrinkles? Not one word about how you are setting up an aging situation. Even though you are young, the sun will age your skin so fast. Early skin aging is another way to say “Wrinkles!”
Do your feel that only those who have tons of money can afford to wear sun-blocking clothing? Sometimes we may have what we need to block the sun from our skin in our closets. Sometimes we may need to make a stop at Walmart. Yes, you can get UPF garments at Walmart!
Why Do We Have Skin?
Let’s review some skin basics to give us some ideas to think about. The main purpose of our skin is to hold our bodies together! To protect us from all the things in our world that would cause our bodies harm. Like bacteria, and viruses. Then there are allergens and fungus. Add to that, water and chemicals.
Another one of your skins chores is to help regulate your body temperature by sweating or helping adjust blood flow as needed to keep you healthy and comfortable.
Now here is the little bit that gets us in trouble for getting a healthy amount of sun. Our skin can synthesize vitamin D which is very important for a healthy mind and body. This natural vitamin D is important for a healthy body and mind.
So here is the double-edged sword that we find all too often in our world.
How much sun is needed to produce vitamin D? This is where we get the statements about needing to get out in the sun and “get some color.”
According to our skin color, our age, where we live, how much smog is in the air, 5 to 30 minutes is plenty of time in the direct sun. There is still some question about the amount of skin you should be exposing yourself to the direct sun.
This estimate is for getting sun on the face, and arms with no sunscreen at all. One source for a healthy time in the direct sun
How Much Do You Know About Skincare?
Are you are wondering if all this hullabaloo is worth your effort?
Do you really need to make some changes and improve your routine for being in the sun and taking care of your skin? I don’t know about your thinking, but mine has changed.
What I am not liking is what I am seeing in the mirror. Is it too little and too late? Continue reading and make your decisions about what is best for you and your family.
Your skin is an organ and holds our body fluids in so that we don’t experience dehydration. Without enough fluids to function correctly, you will not be able to stay healthy or mentally alert.
Your skin holds the nerve ends so that you feel pain or hot or cold or wet or dry. Just as your other organs, your heart and liver, and all the rest are necessary, and so is your skin.
Protecting your skin by wearing sun blocking clothing as well as sunscreen assures that you will be healthier.
So How Much Is Too Much Sun?
Have you noticed that some news outlets are using the “Healthy” way to tan to grab your attention? Pay attention, there is no such thing as a healthy tan. Sure you can use sunscreen and still get too much sun, and be in trouble.
For healthy exposure to the sun, you should have yourself covered and sunscreen on any exposed parts of your body, after the safe time for you.
Research has found that sunscreen with over an 8 SPF will prevent your skin from absorbing enough vitamin D to help you stay healthy. So if health is what you want, you will need to leave the sunscreen off.
This leaves you with the option of short exposure of 15 minutes per day that most skincare specialists agree is the most you should expose yourself in our part of Central Texas.
Or to get out in the sun earlier or later than the 10 AM to 4 PM that is considered maximum sun time for us. The dosage recommended is 2 times a week Your body gets some of this vitamin from food. So it will take very little time for you to have a healthy amount of this important vitamin in your body.
Another fact I have gathered along the way is that Glass Blocks the skin’s ability to absorb vitamin D. Think about this for a moment. The color you get on your skin when riding in a car is simply the sun burning your skin. What is happening is that you are getting set up for skin cancers like Basel Cell Carcinoma! Or worse.
Your skin tries to protect your body by turning brown, making the sun not pass through your skin so quickly. However, to turn brown it must be overexposed to the sun.
When you overexpose your skin and end up with sunburn, you face the risk of your skin not being able to heal itself.
You may not be able to produce the same sized skin cell to replace what has been turned brown and will eventually flake off. Will they be the same thickness? The same shape? How will your body mutate in its effort to stay healthy?
If you are not as fair-skinned and have more natural pigmentation than I do, you will take longer to sunburn, but you will burn. Your skin will also produce skin cancer, it will just take a bit longer.
In the direct sun rays, we are all in danger of skin damage. We all have to be aware, make some changes, and take better care of this bag that our body is in. It is an amazing organ and can protect us from lots of dangers. The sun is one enemy we do have to stay alert for.
In the complexity of figuring out what is best for you and your family for healthy fun in the sun, consider the advantage that sunscreens and sun blocking clothing give you. Skin Cancer Prevention
Sami’s Take On “Healthy Glow”
We are all learning in this time of having more information about how to keep ourselves safe from too much sun. Not one time do I remember being told I couldn’t go out and play because the sun was too hot.
Like everyone, I had neighbors who were outside more than me. Some less. There are new guidelines to help us be able to enjoy being in the sun. However, when the sun rays are at their hottest (from 10 AM until 4 PM in my part of the world) we should seek shade or stay in where it is cooler.
Then we are learning about the importance of covering our skin. That it is very dangerous to get too much sun on our skin. The trends of yesterday no longer are healthy for my skin. Even if you think you look good with a tan!
A sun hat, sunglasses, and a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt can do wonders for helping your sunscreen protect you. These sunblocking items won’t rub off or wear away. They will protect you as long as they are on your body.
Our ideas of what is attractive need to change. We need to learn that a tan is dangerous, and that skin cancer can be the result of too much sun.
Just because it hasn’t happened yet does not mean it won’t. Add sun blocking clothing to your plan of staying healthy.