Keep Your Skin Healthy

The best way to keep your skin healthy is to avoid sun exposure. The sun can be hard on your skin. Besides sunburn, your skin can show sun damage through dark spots or wrinkles resulting from sun exposure.

Sunlight can help our mental outlook and help us feel healthier. For people with arthritis, the sun’s warmth can help relieve some of their physical pain. Many people also think that a suntan makes a person look young and healthy. But sunlight can be harmful to the skin, causing immediate problems as well as problems that may develop years later.

A sunburn is skin damage from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. Most sunburns cause mild pain and redness but affect only the outer layer of skin (first-degree burn). The red skin might hurt when you touch it. These sunburns are mild and can usually be treated at home.

• Stay out of the sun. Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. This is when the sun’s UV rays are strongest. Don’t be fooled by cloudy skies. Harmful rays pass through clouds. UV radiation also can pass through water, so don’t assume you’re safe if you’re in the water and feeling cool.
• Use sunscreen. Sunscreens are rated in strength according to a sun protection factor (SPF), which ranges from 2 to 30 or higher. A higher number means longer protection. Buy products with an SPF number of 15 or higher. Also look for products whose label says: broad spectrum (meaning they protect against both types of harmful sun rays — UVA and UVB) and water resistant (meaning they stay on your skin longer, even if you get wet or sweat a lot). Remember to reapply the lotion as needed.
• Wear protective clothing. A hat with a wide brim shades your neck, ears, eyes, and head. Look for sunglasses with a label saying the glasses block 99 to 100 percent of the sun’s rays. Wear loose, lightweight, long-sleeved shirts and long pants or long skirts when in the sun.
• Avoid artificial tanning. Don’t use sunlamps and tanning beds, as well as tanning pills and tanning makeup. Tanning pills have a color additive that turns your skin orange after you take them. The FDA has approved this color additive for coloring foods but not for tanning the skin. The large amount of color additive in tanning pills may be harmful. Tanning make-up products are not suntan lotions and will not protect your skin from the sun.
• Check your skin often. Look for changes in the size, shape, color, or feel of birthmarks, moles, and spots. If you find any changes that worry you, see a doctor. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests that older, fair-skinned people have a yearly skin check by a doctor as part of a regular physical exam.
• Keep up regular exercise. Regular exercise helps to keep the skin elasticity which prevents wrinkles. Exercise is also good for your body as a whole as it helps to maintain a low amount of body fat.
• Taking vitamins and minerals helps to keep goodness in the skin. Vitamins and minerals have been developed to help your body. By taking one multivitamin can help to keep your skin fresh and clean.
• Try and maintain a constant sleep pattern. Sleep is the body’s time to restore itself and to re-energies the body’s organs and skin. By maintaining a regular sleep pattern, you will feel more energized and your skin will become more healthy and fresher looking.