Other factors that can make you more susceptible
As suggested earlier, if you and your family are planning on going out in the sun, the best way of preventing sunburn is to avoid putting yourself in a situation where the sun has the opportunity of burning you.
For example, I have already highlighted the fact that you cannot suffer the worst effects of the sun when you’re indoors, and that seeking shade when you are outdoors is always a good idea. Moreover, you know that the sun is going to be more intense at certain times of the day, so you should either avoid those particular times or at least make sure you are well shaded when the sun is turning up the ultraviolent meter to the maximum.
If you are walking in the sun at any time, always wear a wide brim hat or at the very least a cap of some description. The ideal arrangement is to have headgear that also protects the back of your neck as well because having the sun beating down on the back of your neck for a long period of time is a very effective recipe for suffering sunstroke!
Wear sunglasses as well because the intensity of the light when you are unused to the sun could cause damage to your retinas and of course, you should never stare straight at the sun even if you are wearing the strongest sunglasses imaginable.
Whenever you are outdoors, you should constantly monitor your condition and that of any family members who are with you. Make sure that everyone is well hydrated at all times because even in the shade, you can lose a significant percentage of your bodily fluids through perspiration.
Do not make the mistake of waiting until your skin starts to turn red before seeking the sanctuary of shade. The fact that you are going red indicates that your skin has already suffered some damage, so you should always attempt to get out of direct sunlight before the reddening process begins.
You also need to be aware that if there is a breeze or wind, it can often disguise the heat and intensity of the sun. Because the wind naturally has a cooling effect, it can mask the fact that the sun is actually burning your skin, so you must be particularly careful in breezy or windy conditions.
Another thing that you should always bear in mind if you are not especially familiar with sunlight is that you should build up your exposure to the sun gradually.
When you expose your skin to the sun, a skin pigment known as melanin absorbs the sun’s rays and offers protection against sunburn. Melanin is a relatively dark pigment, meaning that if your skin is white, there is a noticeable lack of it.
You therefore need to build up your exposure to the sun gradually so that your skin acquires a little more melanin protection each and every day as it is the presence of dark colored melanin that gradually builds up protection over time. It is however also rampant melanin malformation that causes melanoma, which is another reason for being extremely careful by building up your exposure to the sun very slowly.
And of course, it should go without saying that the fairer your skin is, the slower you should build up your daily exposure to ultraviolet light as it should be obvious that it is far easier to burn when you have little or no natural melanin protection.
Some prescription and over-the-counter drugs such as certain antibiotics can make some people more susceptible to the more adverse effects of the sun.
Consequently, if you are taking some form of drugs and you find that you seem to be more susceptible to the sun, you may want to discuss the problem with your doctor if he (or she) has prescribed the drugs, or stop taking them if they are over-the-counter remedy.
Everything that you have read so far in this chapter is an important consideration for protecting yourself and your family against the worst effects of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
However, one factor that is hardly ever given any thought when considering natural ways of protecting yourself against the worst effects of the sun is your diet, whereas in truth, making sure that your diet keeps you in tiptop physical condition is one of the best ways of protecting yourself.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that the majority of commercially produced mass market foods that we consume nowadays are low in vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and other trace elements, whereas they are conversely high in substances that are harmful to our health such as saturated fats.
At the same time, the majority of people consume far too few fresh fruits and vegetables whereas there are more than happy to eat processed, fast and junk food without really giving it a second thought.
Having a poor diet inevitably compromises the ability of your immune system to keep your body in prime physical condition. Furthermore, as it is your immune system that fights against illnesses, disease and other medical problems like infections, you are naturally more susceptible to the potentially harmful effects of the sun if you are not supporting your immune system through your diet.
Hence, instead of consuming processed foods, you should pay far more attention to including foodstuffs that contain significant amounts of the major antioxidant nutrients and elements.
You should therefore increase your consumption of foods that contain vitamins C and E, essential fatty acids like Omega-3 and Omega-6 from oily cold water fish (such as mackerel, herring, salmon etc), carotenes (in carrots) and above all else, garlic.
Garlic contains over 100 provably beneficial natural chemicals and compounds. It is also one of the most powerful natural antioxidant and antibacterial foods known to man. In tests, it has been shown that increasing the amount of garlic you consume can significantly reduce the levels of low-density lipoprotein in the blood, which is a significant benefit as this is the scientific tag for the ‘bad’ cholesterol that can kill you.
As everyone who has ever even garlic will testify, it is a fairly strong tasting (and obviously smelling) food that not everyone loves. However, as you can obtain garlic in odorless capsule or tablet form which do not cause you to taste garlic or suffer other ‘side effects’ such as belching, there is no excuse for not including garlic in your daily diet.
Another highly beneficial way of altering your diet to prevent the sun having anywhere near as much of an adverse effect on you as may have happened previously is to increase the amount of organic fruit juice you consume every day.
This is an extremely efficient way of raising the amount of essential vitamins and nutrients that are included in your diet which for the majority represents a particularly delicious way of doing so.
Perhaps it seems surprising that boosting your immune system by improving the quality of your daily diet should be such a major factor in upping your ability to resist the worst the sun can throw you, but if so, it shouldn’t be.
Whilst most people who ever give it a moment’s thought would probably focus on their immune system as being the center of their protection system against disease, it is far more than this. In fact, your immune system forms your primary defensive barrier against all forms of harm and damage and this includes protecting you against the sun.
Consequently, if you want to improve your capacity for withstanding the sun and perhaps thereby enhance your ability to enjoy extended exposure, you must focus on doing so from within. Remembering that we are all the sum total of everything we eat and drink, it should be evident that your diet plays a significant role in helping you to maintain maximum natural levels of detection against ultraviolet radiation.
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