Protect Your Skin This Summer

 Protect Your Skin This Summer

This Memorial Day weekend, the Summer sun will be shining, you’ll be out in your backyard or on the beach, sipping brews and hitting the grill. But, be careful. There’s a silent killer hovering in the ether above your festivities. It’s sun damage. At the very least it’s going to make you a wrinkly old man before your time, and at the very worst it’s going to bring your ‘time’ on a lot earlier than it ought to be. Here’s some tips to keep yourself safe, handsome, and young in the sun.

Protect yourself working out

A lot of guys don’t wear sunscreen when they’re working out because their brains go into a mode where they’re doing something healthy, so nothing bad could happen to them. Staying on the lake, on the court, or on the road for an extended period of time is often worse than just sunning yourself because you’re distracted by the activity, and don’t realize how burned you’re getting.

Take a siesta

The sun is closest to the Earth’s surface, and hence, most powerful, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. So, take a page out of the French playbook, and take a siesta during part or all of that time. Not only will it protect your skin, but taking a break in the middle of the day has been proven to reduce your risk of heart disease. You’re going to live forever having midday quickies with your lady.

Stay out of the tanning booth

Most people use tanning booths because their jobs prevent them from soaking up the rays during the day. But some people actually consider these sizzling, skin darkeners to be safer than actually tanning in the normal sun. This is categorically false. Tanning booths will make the claim that they use ‘harmless’ UVA rays to induce a darker hue, but both UVA and UVB rays are forms of ultraviolet light, and both can cause damage to your skin, and even subdermally.

Eat dark chocolate

A recent study at the European Dermatology London clinic suggested that eating large amounts of dark chocolate can lower a person’s risk of developing skin cancer. The chocolate has to be extra dark, like you like your coffee, because that’s the stuff that is very high in flavanols. These are the antioxidants that help to combat the free radicals caused by UV damage that induce skin cancers. Nom nom nom!

Check in with your doctor

Checking in with your doctor, especially if you’ve got lighter skin and/or spend a lot of time in the sun, is key to preventing serious medical skin conditions. Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is best treated if detected early. If doctors can catch it in Phase 1 or 2, the likelihood of removal and subsequent cure is much greater. Phase 3, however, is usually not treatable by conventional methodology.