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Here Comes the Sun By: Crystal Cobert Giddens, LE, INHC We inherit a lot of our health, and looks, from our parents. Take a look at your mother and chances are you take after her or maybe your grandmother. If your nana and your mom have pretty good skin, chances are you will too. Combine your inherited traits with all those long days you spent at the lake, the times you forgot to wear sunscreen, those glasses of wine you drank and all those times you laughed at your favorite movie or cried through life’s challenges…and you have a journal of experiences that lead you to where you are now. Today. What you see on the outside of your body is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside of your body. Even though you can’t see the effects of aging on your inner organs, like your kidneys or your heart, you can see the byproducts of time (and some habits) on your largest and only external organ: your skin. Wrinkles are an external result of everything that goes on within your cells. Everyone’s body will age, but some habits, like spending too much time in the sun, will speed up the effects of aging. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation dramatically accelerates wrinkles by breaking down collagen and making your skin less pliable or elastic. This process is known as photo aging. Exposure to UV light can also cause age spots, which can provide a great indicator of the amount of UV damage you have accrued over a lifetime. UV radiation is part of the natural energy produced by the sun. On the electromagnetic spectrum, UV light has shorter wavelengths than visible light, so your eyes can’t see UV, but your skin and eyes can feel it. Tanning beds also emit UV radiation. There are two basic types of ultraviolet rays - UVB and UVA. UVB rays have a shorter wavelength and are responsible for producing that uncomfortable effect known as sunburn. UVA rays have a longer wavelength, penetrate more deeply into the skin, and play a greater role in premature skin aging. Getting sunburned was a normal part of summer vacation. We would spend hours on the beach, hanging out by the pool or laying on the deck. My mom would use baby oil with a few drops of iodine and she would slather me with sunscreen that smelled like coconuts and had an SPF of 10. The problem is, I never tan. I burn. every. single. time. Then I got older, became a parent and made sure my daughter was always slathered in SPF 100 and wore a hat. Eventually, I made her wear spring suits (a mini version of a wet suit) or a rash guard every time she went to the beach. For some reason, that SPF 100 didn’t protect her from getting a sunburn, even when we reapplied every 2 or 3 hours. She got a lot of sunburns, just like I did when I was her age. This kid was painted in sunscreen, with the highest protection I could find, and she still got some pretty significant sunburns. Sunburns contribute to permanent skin damage. UV exposure is cumulative and will increase your risk of skin cancer as you get older. While your body can repair some of the DNA damage to your skin cells, it can’t repair all of it. The un-repaired damage builds up over time and triggers mutations that cause skin cells to multiply rapidly. The degree of damage depends on the intensity of the rays and the length of time your skin has been exposed without adequate protection. The UVB rays penetrate and damage the outermost layers of your skin. Overexposure causes a suntan (increased melanin production) or sunburn, and sometimes blisters (some of this depends on your skin type and ancestry). UVB rays are connected to the sun protection factor (SPF) on sunscreen products…and here is the part that we weren’t
taught when we were young: The SPF number tells you how long the sun’s radiation would take to redden your skin when using the product compared to your time in the sun with no product. So, for example: I can start burning within 5 minutes of unprotected sun exposure. That means an SPF sunscreen of 30 will only give me 35 minutes of protection. My 5 minutes plus the 30 minutes I gained from using a sunscreen. What happens after 35 minutes? I start to burn. Now what about those sunscreens that read SPF 50 or 100? Well, technically that means you would have 55 or 105 minutes of protection before you would start to burn, right? Nope. Studies have proven that most products, no matter what the label reads, won’t protect you longer than your body’s natural ability to fight the sun’s rays plus 30 minutes. In fact, the FDA has been working to change the labeling laws in the U.S. for sunscreens in hopes that people will get a better grasp of the efficacy of wearing a sunscreen, the importance of wearing protective clothing and finally embrace wearing hats. Why the fight to change labeling regulations? In the U.S., there are an estimated 76,000 new melanoma cases every year. According to the American Cancer Society, the rates of melanoma have been consistently rising for the last 35 years. There were a lot of sunburned kids running around back in the day, and there are too many kids and adults that wear sunscreen and still get burned today. Even though melanoma accounts for only 1% of skin cancer, it causes the majority of skin cancer deaths.
So how do we change those statistics for our children and future generations? ~ Use a high quality, organic sunscreen on your exposed skin, every day. Even when it’s cloudy or cold and reapply often ~ Teach your loved ones to apply sunscreen daily, especially children. Before school, before recess, before soccer and on the weekends. ~ Use a sunscreen that only contains the active ingredient(s) zinc or zinc and titanium dioxide. Avoid chemical based sunscreens. Mineral based sunscreens actually prevent the absorption of those harmful rays from penetrating your skin. They are environmentally friendly and won’t harm our ocean’s wildlife or our coral reefs ~ Wear a hat and enjoy the sunshine! FACES of Saratoga ~ Organic Skin Therapy 489 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY faces of saratoga.com 518-396-7403
