Sun Safety Week and Society's Obsession With Being Tan
It seems that most women and men feel the need to be tan in order to fit into society's definition of attractive. Of course, there are obvious detrimental effects of catching too many sun rays.
National Sun Safety Week, which takes place from June 1 to 7, according to http://www.sunsafetyalliance.org/, is a great way to get more information about the dangers of the sun.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has its own Web page dedicated to providing information on how to "protect your skin from the sun": http://www.healthfinder.gov/prevention/ViewTopic.aspx?topicID=44.
Here are tips on how to prevent skin cancer from the U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services:
- The best way to prevent skin cancer is to protect your skin from the sun.
- Stay out of the sun between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
- Use sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher.
- Cover up with long sleeves and a hat.
- Check your skin regularly. This is called a skin self-exam.
Despite all the information and awareness, as a college student, I see so many men and women with fake tans, real tans and sunburns. I'm sure they know what they're doing - they just don't want to be labeled as "too white," which seems to be considered unattractive.
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I see my five and six year old boys being educated differently about the dangers of too much sun than I was. Education is the only way forward.
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of sun as long as you're aware of the dangers and protect yourself against them. I go to school where we get a few feet of snow every week in the winter and there's hardly no sunny days from October-April. People are depressed and tensions are high...even people who snow board and are super active in the winter still get cranky. I started going to the tanner once a week (just laying the bed or stand up for 10 minutes) and it made a world of difference. I'm not an advocate for tanning everyday or anything, but a little sun can make you feel a lot better. It's stupid for people to be afraid of going outside, wear sun screen and get out there!
Vitamin D deficiency is an underlying cause of many lethal cancers, such as lung cancer, ovarian and breast cancer, including Melanoma skin cancer. The amount of Vitamin D required for children was just DOUBLED by the Pediatric ASsociation to 400 iu's because of a reaccurrence of the vitamin deficiency disease of rickets. Remember, Vitamin doesn't come from milk, it was added by the government of England when they recognized that all the children forced to work in mines got rickets and instead of concluding that children shouldn't work in mines, they decided to fortify their milk instead. The optimum levels of Vitamin D, a hormone made in the skin by sun exposure, are often recommended up to 10,000 - 20,000 iu's for adults. Skin cancer is easily detected and can be treated early and is rarely fatal. Historically, the vast majority of all types of lethal cancer occurred in the northern portions of the USA...at least prior to the sunscreen and dermatological industries scare tactics that started in the 90's. It just became 'fashionable' to be a pale 'working woman' in the 80's instead of a tanned housewife. Feel free to 'search' Vitamin D deficiency or Vitamin D etc and read for yourself from a wide variety of qualitly sites. Judicious tanning during the hours of 11 am and 3 pm (ie 15 mins to an hour several times a week or more) are needed to stay healthy and prevent cancer. Not to mention, Vitamin D plays a critical role in the obesity epidemic...which in turn has created other epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and, again, lethal forms of cancer. The research is there, but...no one makes any money if you get some sun stay slim and healthy...but they do if you buy sunscreen and get cancer.
I hope all the vain people get what they truely deserve.
Fortunately with regular check-ups and self-exams skin cancer is quite easily identified (and then treated). The REAL anti-cancer tip is getting some sun! Vitamin D is a potent anti-cancer agent that is only just now becoming well-researched. Once you've got a base and you know you won't burn feel free to spend some time in the sun, soking up rays and getting lots o' the sunshine vitamin!