Summer is here, and most people are excited to get the most out of it by spending more time outdoors alone, with friends and families. While it’s important to save and enjoy these moments, it is important to do so safely. It might be fun playing and soaking under the sun, but the sun is powerful, and harmful ultraviolet rays can do a lot of harm to the skin if some measures aren’t taken to protect it. Here are some sun protection tips to enjoy the summer safely.
Wearing sunscreen is very important to enjoying the sun and outdoors safely. Sunscreens are excellent sun protection materials. They block out harmful rays from the sun, thereby preventing skin cancer, sunburns, and sun poisoning. It would help if you went for high-quality sunscreen with a high sun protection factor (SPF). Neutrogena Beach Defense Sunscreen is one of the best in the market today.
Water bottles are also one of the cheapest sun protection tools. Why? It is easy to get dehydrated in the summer, especially when you spend a lot of time outdoors under the sun. Always make sure you have a refillable water bottle with you at all times, whether you’re in the backyard of your place or at a park. There are also insulating water bottles that can keep your water ice cold and refreshing for longer.
It is considered beautiful or natural to develop a summer body tan, but healthy skin is more important. Another way of protecting yourself from harmful UV rays is staying in the shade. UV rays are at their highest potential between 11 am and 3 pm. This means you should avoid going outdoors during this time range. Ensure that any time spent outdoors should be spent under a shade, maybe a tree, umbrella, or canopy.
The parts of the body most affected by exposure to sun rays are the forehead, nose, neck, face, and ears. To protect such areas, without using sunscreen, you can simply wear a hat. Note that you should always go for a hat you like so you’ll be prompted to wear it. For actual protection, the hat must have a wide brim covering a large area of your face. You can double the protection by applying sunscreen on your cheeks, forehead, and nose.
It might seem counterproductive to layer more clothing during the summer, but that’s the best way to shut out UV rays. To execute this, go for lightweight materials with a light shade of color, preferably long sleeves. If sunlight can penetrate through the material, then UV rays can also do that.
What most people don’t know or what they refuse to accept is that the UV rays present in sunlight can pass through overcast clouds. Although everywhere may seem dark and shady, up to 80% of UV rays can pass through the clouds, and most people end up with serious sunburns. Precautions to be taken on a sunny day should also be exercised on overcast days.
Just as we protect our skin from harmful UV rays, we must also protect our eyes from the same threat. Eye damage from the sun isn’t something you can predict or even feel. It builds up over time and then damages your eyesight. Over-exposure to sunlight can cause sunburns in your cornea, which can result in blindness. Continuous exposure of your eye to harmful UV rays from sunlight can cause serious damages such as cataracts, cancer of the eye, skin cancer on your eyelid or the surrounding area, and lots more. Sunglasses can help prevent this. When choosing sunglasses, pay less attention to whether it’s fashionable or fitting, and pay more attention to whether it’s 100% UV protection and UV 400 label. If you’re someone who uses corrective glasses or lenses, you can ask your optician for a sunglass recommendation.
Normally, cars and other vehicles are required to tint the front windshield so that it filters out UV rays, but that’s not the case with the side and rear windows. If you’re someone who loves the window seat, you’d like to put on sunscreen every time you’re there, whether in cars or planes.
The best way to stay protected and safely enjoy the sun and great outdoors is to put all the steps listed above into play. That is, you should always try to wear sunscreen when going outdoors, always have your sunglasses with you, have your hat on, look smart and seek shade, and take your bottled water with you.
