The sun and your skin do not always have to be at odds with each other. In fact, they can live together in relative harmony, provided you give your skin a little protection before letting the sun shine down on it. The sun has benefits as well as setbacks, so you should be aware of them before boarding yourself up in your house and never going out again.



The world and nearly everyone in it claims that the sun is bad for you, or at least make it sound like 1 hour in the sun means you will have skin cancer for the rest of your life and there is no escaping it. Yes, it is true that there are ultraviolet rays in the sunbeams that rain down on our little planet as well as ourselves, and it is these UV rays that can cause skin cancer. However, what people either do not know or tend to forget is that the sun can make us happy too.



Have you ever felt down or depressed during winter? People do not get out much during those winter months and there tend to be many cloudy and/or snowy days during those months. When people do go out, they are completely bundled up; heavy coats, gloves, pants, and hoods or hats to cover heads in order to keep heat from being lost. So even if the sun is shining brightly that day, chances are you will not be touched by any of the rays. So what does this have to do with anything?

In some parts of Alaska, a great deal of people suffer from depression due to the lack of sun during darker winter months. But you do not have to live in polar regions to be susceptible to winter depression. This form of depression has become known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD).

Seasonal Affective Disorder has been attributed to the need for bright light. If you are not getting a goodly amount of bright light, the internal clock of your body may begin to feel disrupted and after a while you may begin to become depressed.

Sunlight makes for a perfect form of bright light, but without it, people can slip into SAD. Some people have come up with bright light therapy, in which during certain times of the day, extremely bright lights are turned on in particular places in your home. While this type of treatment has shown to help many people, it may not work for everyone.

The sun is also a great source of vitamin D. The production of vitamin D is necessary for your body, so skipping into the sun for a little while is a great way to soak it up. Some people claim that you can get all your vitamin D from certain foods, like fortified cereal and salmon, eggs, or mushrooms. However, the sun is a major source of vitamin D, and avoiding the sun entirely simply is not practical. Living in fear of the sun puts a limit on what you can do in your life and makes no sense.

If you take care of yourself and know the facts, you can safely venture out into the sun and enjoy its warmth and brightness as well as vitamin D goodness. Read up on your sunscreens and know which ones will protect you the most and how long you can stay out in the sun while wearing them. Make special note of how a sunscreen will fare when it comes to water and how often you should reapply. In order to get the most out of your sunscreen, you should apply it at least 20 minutes before going outside.

As long as you do not lie out under the sun to roast away, you will be fine. Try not to worry too much about the problems the sun can bring as the media tends to over hype many things. Remember when chocolate was bad for you? Now they realize it actually contains important antioxidants. Remember when eggs were a no no?

They changed their tune pretty quick when it came to the proteins and other benefits the incredible, edible egg suddenly brought. This is not to say that the threat skin cancer and sunburns are not real, as they are, but it does not do to stress about it when all you need is understanding and a bottle of sunscreen.