Play It Safe In The Sun

By Byron Jonas

Protecting yourself from the sun is an imperative preventive health measure, especially for those who spend a large majority of time outdoors. If your children are involved in school sports or any other outdoor activities, make sure you take the time to educate them about how to be sun smart.

With just a few simple precautionary measures, you can protect your loved ones from the harmful effects of over-exposure. The summer sun often lures us into spending long days basking in it's warm rays and enjoying our favorite sports and outdoor activities. By being safe about the sun and protecting your children, we can avoid suffering the harmful side effects and dangers of over-exposure.

Especially when it comes to young ones, it seems that we are all just waiting for those long sunny days to come around; there is nothing like spending a beautiful day outside and enjoying the summer sun. However, parents need to take the time to educate their kids and make sure they know how to be safe in the sun.

Over-exposure to the sun is the cause of a number of short and long-term health effects, a fact that is often overlooked as the sun just feels so good! The most rapidly occurring negative effect that the sun has on our bodies is sunburn, which can vary across a wide spectrum of pain and intensity, the most severe cases even leading to hospitalization.

Premature wrinkles are one long-term side effect of too much sun; educating your kids about this early on is an effective way to make them aware of the dangers of too much sun. Preserving our youth is important to just about everyone, and by protecting our skin from sun damage we can do our best to avoid aging before our time.

Another much more serious side effect from too much sun is skin cancer. A beautifully-bronzed body was once a coveted beauty trait, but as we now know the price to pay for this is way too high. Skin cancer is a serious disease that can be easily prevented with simple measures. Especially during the summer and school sports seasons, parents need to make sure their kids are protected from the sun's rays.

Many people mistakenly think that the only time to worry about sun protection is during the summer months or on extremely sunny days. Surprisingly, sunburns can even occur when it does not appear to be overly sunny outside. Just another reason why you can never be too careful when it comes to sun protection.

It is much better to play it safe when protecting ourselves and our families from the sun. Experts advise using sun protection techniques anytime you are outside, which is a good rule to follow. It is also a good idea to use a daily moisturizer that has a SPF; this will protect your face every day from the damage-causing UV rays of the sun.

When your loved ones head out to enjoy the summer sun, make sure the sunscreen gets thoroughly applied first and also re-applied every few hours. With just a bit of common sense, you can enjoy the sun safely, all season long. - 30540

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