Once again, winter has faded into spring and spring has burst
into summer. Along comes the invincible summer sun, your skin's
arch-enemy, particularly if you exercise outdoors. Most people
know that using a sunscreen is essential protection, but knowing
and doing are often two different things. There are a number of
ways to promote a healthy glow without exposing your skin to
harmful rays.
Sunscreen
Every sunscreen has a sun protection factor, or SPF, which is a
measure of its strength or effectiveness. Each of us needs a
different SPF, depending on whether, and to what degree, our
skin burns or tans. A tan is the direct result of melanin, a
brown pigment found in the epidermis that is produced when skin
is exposed to sunlight. Melanin protects the skin by absorbing,
reflecting and scattering ultraviolet radiation before it
penetrates the dermis, or underlying skin. However, armor that
it is, melanin can't prevent all the negative effects of the
sun, and is often representative of damage. That's why we need
to use sunscreens.
To determine what SPF your skin requires, you must know how
long it takes your skin to burn when unprotected and exposed to
sunlight. As a rule of thumb, anyone whose skin burns, whether
or not it turns into a tan, should use an SPF of 15. Check with
your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking antibiotics,
antidepressives or antidiuretics. Some of these medications
increase your skin's sensitivity to sunlight and may decrease
the time it takes your skin to burn.
Creating A Barrier
When exercising outdoors on a hot, sunny day, light-weight,
light-colored clothing combined with plenty of sunscreen on both
exposed and unexposed skin is the way to go. However, if
overheating isn't a concern, dark-colored, tightly woven
clothing is more effective at blocking UV rays than say, a white
t-shirt, which allows UV rays to reach the skin.
Another barrier against sun damage comes in the form of
eyewear. Protect not only your eyes, but the skin around them by
wearing sunglasses that block 90 percent to 100 percent of the
sun's UV rays.
And, last but not least, wear a hat. Though a cap may be more
comfortable for jogging, try a wide-brimmed hat that will shade
your neck and face while gardening or walking outside.
Start With The Inside
Now that you know how to protect the skin's surface, it's time
to start thinking about what you can do to make it glow from the
inside out. You're already off to a good start with exercise,
which gets the blood circulating and delivers fresh oxygen to
the skin all over your body. The next step is to drink plenty of
water. Outdoor exercise, especially in the summer, increases
your risk of dehydration. This is one risk you don't want to
take since it not only affects your performance and robs your
skin of its vitality, but may be potentially hazardous to your
health. Be sure to drink fluids before, during and after
activity. To replenish your fluids after any outdoor activity,
weigh yourself before you participate and then again after. Any
weight you lost is water and should be replaced by drinking two
glasses (16 ounces) of water for every pound you have lost.
Everyone Needs A Little Sunlight It's been shown that a lack of
sunlight can cause depression. After all, most plants won't even
grow without sunshine. And when the sun comes around and makes
the days longer, our first instinct is to peel off our sweaters
and bask in it. Go ahead. Just take precautions so you won't
have to deal with the unpleasant (and unnecessary) consequences.
What SPF Do You Need?
Follow these steps to calculate what SPF you should look for in
a sunscreen:
1.Determine how many minutes your bare skin can be exposed to
the sun before it burns.
2.Divide that number of minutes into the total number of
minutes you want to remain in the sun.
3.The result is the SPF you should look for in a sunscreen.
For example, if your unprotected skin burns in 10 minutes, and
you plan on being in the sun for three hours, you would need a
sunscreen with an SPF of at least 18 (180 minutes divided by 10
minutes).
