Sunshine

Everybody likes sunshine!  It makes you feel good, helps you look good and it helps your body to make vitamin D which you need for a strong and healthy body!  Too much sun though is very bad for you.  Not only can it be very painful if you have sunburn on your skin but there is long term damage from the sun that you can’t even see.  The Australian slogan of Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap is the best advice for protection from the sun - Slip on a T-shirt, Slop on sunscreen, Slap on a hat and Wrap on sunglasses!

Sunburn is the same as a burn that you would get from something hot like the fire.  Your skin will get very red and there may even be blisters, little raised areas of your skin with water inside them.  It can take quite a while for your skin to heal.  As the skin underneath heals, the damaged skin on top just peals away, which isn’t very pleasant!

The lower layers of your skin, the ones you cannot see, can also be damaged by the sun.  This can cause damage to your DNA, the stuff that makes up your genes, and cause your skin to grow out of control!  If you see a mole or any kind of mark on your body appear all of a sudden, or change its shape, you need to see a doctor as soon as you can.  This could be a sign of something happening in the lower layers of your skin or it could be nothing at all – its just best to be sure!

So, what does the damage?  The type of sunshine that causes damage to your skin is called ultra-violet radiation (you might see this called UV radiation).  There are two main types of UV radiation; UV-A and UV-B.  UV-A radiation can damage your skin but UV-B is the main cause of sunburn and sun damage (that means a suntan!) to your skin.

Sunburn and suntans, even those that you get if you use sunbeds, damage your skin, making it look older.  If people use sunbeds or get suntans a lot, their skin can end up looking a bit like an old leather handbag!  This isn’t very attractive and it also means that they are at much greater risk of really serious problems like melanoma (skin cancer).

To protect yourself from the sun, the best things to do is to stay out of it, especially between 11 and 3pm when the sun is at its hottest and doing the most damage!  Take good advice and Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap every day!  Covering up is the best way of protecting yourself but sunscreen can be useful protection too.  All sunscreens have an ‘SPF’ (the Sun Protection Factor) but there are a couple of things to remember:

• You need to apply sunscreen everywhere and rub it in really well before you go out into the sun! 
• Remember your eyelids, ears, lips and your scalp, where your hair parts.  This can be very sore if it gets sunburnt!
• You will need to reapply your sunscreen lots, especially if you have been swimming (even if it says it is waterproof!).
• If you have a sunscreen that has SPF-5 and another that is SPF-10 and you mix them together, you will not get a sunscreen with an SPF of 15!  If you mix sunscreen with different levels of protection, it will only be as safe as the highest level (in our example, you will still only have sunscreen with SPF-10!).

So what happens if you do get sunburnt?  You can cool down your skin using wet towels or a cool bath (ask an adult to help) but remember not to use bubble bath or soap.  There are also lots of special creams that you can use to cool your skin. Stay out of the sun, in a cool place and remember to cover up if you have to go out into the sun.  If you have blisters, a headache or you are feeling sick, you could have sunstroke (sometimes called heatstroke) and you should see a doctor straight away.

Remember, if you are on the beech, on the water or on the slopes, have fun in the sun and be safe!

Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap