Discovery Park - Newsletter #56

Sunscreen contains toxic chemicals and your skin will absorb those toxins into your body. Not good. If you are particularly sensitive to sunburn, I would suggest wide brimmed straw hats. There are also UPF 50 shirts and clothes (UPF is the fabric equivalent of SPF). You’ve probably never heard of them, but they will provide sun protection. I have not been able to determine the toxicity of these fabrics, but the basic premise is that a thicker and more dense weave keeps the sun from reaching your skin. Do some research.

On the other hand, the sun is really good for you. As the rays fall on your skin, your body creates Vitamin D which is incredibly beneficial. But it takes 24 hours for that process to happen. If you take a shower and use soap, you just washed all the Vitamin D down the drain. That slightly slippery, slimy feeling on your skin is the Vitamin D being formed. You can rinse off and use soap in the areas that didn’t get sun, but let the vitamin D be absorbed. Lots of sunshine all over your body is very healthy. You probably can’t wait for a warm, sunny day in the spring to soak up that sunshine. Your body knows you need it. DON’T! Most sunburns happen in the spring or the beginning of a vacation. Sunburns obviously hurt and are embarrassing.

Personal story: When my daughter was about 8, she was invited to be the flower girl at my nephew’s wedding at a beach area on the east coast. We went a day early and loved playing in the sand and running along the water’s edge. That night we were all burned – badly. We slathered on Noxzema in an effort to cool the pain. The next day we were the talk of the wedding. My daughter walked down the isle throwing out the flower petals. She had on a white backless dress with two obvious white crisscrossing stripes from her bathing suit against the flaming red sunburn.

Back to the story. “So I need the sun, but I shouldn’t go out in the sun.” YES! Here’s the trick... When that first beautiful spring day comes, limit your exposure to only 15 minutes. I know you want to enjoy it more, but don’t. The next beautiful day, enjoy 20 minutes. Keep gradually adding on to the time. Your body is preparing your natural sunscreen. That beautiful tan comes from melanin being formed in the top layer of your skin – a natural sunscreen. This is valid for all races. Just because your skin tone is dark doesn’t mean you can’t get sunburned.

What about a beautiful sunny winter day? Enjoy that sun! You won’t get burned. During the winter, the low angle of the sun causes the rays to travel through more of our atmosphere. That extra density eliminates the rays that are damaging.

Consider also that flu season always happens during the fall and winter. No vitamin D being created on your skin. Everybody blames it on being inside more, but it is really more to do with your vitamin D level. Vitamin D has to be constantly revived. If you seem to always be fighting colds and feeling sickly during the winter, you should probably study the vitamin D issue.

Cedar Point 1972 – She was a waitress at the Silver Dollar Saloon and I was a Riverboat Captain. This is the night we got engaged (she didn’t know it yet).

So obviously I’m not a doctor and not prescribing any treatment. I’m talking about sunshine from a personal perspective. I married a wonderful young woman when we were both in college. Although she was fair skinned, she had a beautiful tan in March. This is before tanning beds. She had been studying during the winter quarter at University of the Americas in the mile high area of Mexico. That dark tan caused skin cancer. She died of skin cancer 8 months after we were married.

Every day I am out on the farm taking care of animals and building stuff for Discovery Park playground. I don’t get sunburned, but my shirts always look pretty faded by fall. Last year I took a day off to go to the beach. It felt wonderful laying in the warm sand, soaking up the sun for about 45 minutes. The next day I had a mild sunburn! Just a little peeling on my back which rarely was exposed to the sun. Forgot my own lesson.

PS – There are times when you’re out in the sun and your arm feels like it’s sizzling and burning. Stay inside that day – DON’T GO OUT. The dangerous rays from the sun (UV C) are pushing through the atmosphere. NOT GOOD!

It’s Fun Being a Kid Again!