6.Your first natural defense against sunburn – The sun and sunburn naturally

What you read of in the previous chapter represents your first natural line of defense against sunburn. If you want to keep your vitamin D up at a healthy level, you must go out in the sunshine sometimes, but when you do so, you should stay reasonably well covered up and should not stay outside for too long either.

Similarly, if you are enjoying the pleasures of playing with the family on the beach in the sunshine, caution should always be the watchword.

For example, in most places, the heat (i.e. the ultraviolet radiation because they are the same) is most intense between 11 AM and 4 PM, so if you want to enjoy the feeling of the sun on your back, it is best to do so earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon when radiation from the sun is less intense.

Even when you venture outdoors at times of the day when the sun is less likely to cause skin damage, you should take protective steps (which will be examined later) and you must always be on the lookout for signs of possible sun damage.

For instance, fair skinned people who are unused to exposure to the sun will often show a first ‘flush’ or red tinge indicating that exposure to sunlight is affecting them within less than half an hour even if the sun is not fully ‘up’ or the heat has already gone out of the day.

Remember, every one of us is different so that even when you have two people who might appear as if they should react to the sun in the same way – siblings for example – you can never assume that this is the reality of the situation.

Even close blood relatives react to sunshine in completely different ways which is something that you must always factor into whatever you do to combat the possibility of sunburn occurring.

The bottom line is, your best defense against suffering physical problems caused by exposure to the sun is to limit this exposure by staying indoors.

And you must always err on the side of caution even if you are extremely confident that you and/or your family can deal with the sun without any difficulty, because the stories of sunburn (and sunstroke) victims who have ended up hospitalized after adopting this approach are legion.