Monday 23 May 2016

Brace yourselves...SUMMER IS COMING!

After a rainy few weeks the sun has decided to reappear over Barcelona, which is great! But it can cause some problems....
Here are some things you should do to help prevent these problems:
1.       Stay hydrated!
In summer it’s hotter and your body needs to cool down. It does this by sweating- the sweat evaporates from your skin and cools you down. You need to drink lots of water to replace the water that you sweat.
If you don’t, your body will become dehydrated, which will give you a headache. If you get severely dehydrated it can damage some of your organs. You don’t want this!

2.       Wear sun cream!
Sunlight contains UV radiation; we need some of this to produce vitamin D to make our bones strong, but too much can cause sun burn. This is bad because sun burn can increase your risk of skin cancer.
Tanning is the melanin in your skin cells turning darker because of the UV radiation, this reduces how much the UV rays can penetrate your skin and potentially damage the DNA in your cells.  Paler people have less melanin, so are more likely to burn.
Sun burn is when your skin has received too much UV radiation and it starts to damage the DNA in the skin cells on the surface.

Sun cream can prevent this from happening. SPF (sun protection factor) is how many times longer you can stay in the sun before you burn. So if you use a low SPF (like factor 15) you need to apply it more often than if you use a high factor (like factor 50). It needs to be applied regularly to work and if you wash it off by going in the sea or in a pool then you should reapply it.

Last year #SunburnTattoo was trending. Don’t do this.... It’s really dangerous and will increase your risk of skin cancer!!
      
Wear sun glasses!
Buy a pair that protects against both UVA and UVB radiation to completely protect your eyes. The retina at the back of your eye can be damaged by exposure to UV radiation, which can cause blindness, so never look directly at the sun- even with sunglasses on!
4      
Wear a hat!
This can stop your head from getting too hot, which could cause heat exhaustion or- worse- sun stroke. The symptoms of heat exhaustion are weakness, nausea, vomiting, feeling light-headed and muscle cramps. This can be treated by going to a cool, shaded place and drinking water or a sports drink. If it is left too long and the body temperature is more than 41ºC it can progress to sun stroke, which is life threatening and needs emergency medical attention.
Follow these rules and you’ll be fully prepared for the summer sun! Happy tanning...

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