Dangers Of The Sun

Do you like sun tanning? And how often do you do it? Whenever passing by a pool or some grass, I can see people tanning. Especially people living in California like being under the sunshine. But this habit causes our skin to get hurt. According to an article in The Santa Barbara News-Press, most skin cancer is caused by chronic exposure to sunshine. The death rate from melanoma – a sort of skin cancer – in the US has increased about 4% a year since 1973, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Melanoma represents only 47,000 of the 1.8 million cases of skin cancer each year, but according to the American Cancer society it will cause 79% of skin cancer deaths. Prevention is the best solution. So I wondered how many people know this fact and what do they usually do to protect their skin. To get the answer, I went to the Camino Real market place in Goleta and interviewed 5 people. First, I met two young teenagers riding a skateboard. When I asked how they felt about sunshine, they answered the opposite of what I thought. They don’t like sun tanning and they know sun tanning was not good for our skin. They don’t like sun-tanning booth to make their skin dark, but do not stay in strong sunshine for a long time. To protect themselves, they usually use sunscreen, sunglasses and a cap. They have been sun burned. The next person who I interviewed was a 17 year-old-student. She also knew that sun tanning is bad for the skin. She has never done sun tanning and doesn’t like it. She said she uses an umbrella, sunscreen and sometimes wraps her body with a big towel at the beach. Above all, she has recognized the reasons for skin cancer and its dangers. The last interviewees were an old couple who looked around 60 years old. The husband didn’t care about sun exposure. But the wife knew about skin cancer because one of her friends died from Melanoma. When she was young, she used to sun bathe but after her friend’s death, she is always careful. From this interview, we notice many people know about skin cancer and how to protect their skin. Being careful always, most people use sun screen for avoiding skin cancer. However, it’s hard to choose a suitable sun screen for me at the diverse cosmetics sea. For lost people at sea, I introduce some tips to get the proper one. To get the right kind, you should check what they indicate. Most people know UVA that we should be protected from. But, actually, there are three kinds of wavelengths – UVA, UVB and UVC. The longer wavelengths of UVB and UVA pass right through the atmosphere, even on a cloudy day. That’s why you can still get sunburned on a cloudy or hazy day. But most sunscreens do not protect the skin from the longer UVA wavelengths. Then you should check whether the sunscreen works to protect UVA or not. The next thing we should know is the SPF. To figure out how much protection a sunscreen provides, most of us look at the number on the label – the SPF, or sun protection factor. Most people understand that the higher the number, the more the product protects the skin. But from certain studies, they show that people often have the mistaken notion that the higher the SPF number of the sunscreen they use, the longer they can stay in the sun. One thing we should think about is that sunscreen should not be used to spend a long time under the sun and we have to use it often. If you maintain these tips, you won’t make a mistake by selecting the wrong sunscreen. Remember, the sunshine looks beautiful, but there is a possibility that it will attack your skin. Now is the time to protect your skin from cancer. If you take care, you can enjoy a happy summer.