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Relaxing in the Sun

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When dreaming about the perfect vacation, many people picture hours spent lying in the sun, listening to the ocean waves crash against the shore. However, don't get too comfortable on that beach towel! While letting your stress melt away with the sun's warmth won't necessarily kill you, too much exposure to UV Rays (ultraviolet radiation) does have the potential to be very harmful if you're not careful.

If you're going to lie in the sun and get a tan, determine your skin type first. Getting a sunburn is not only painful but very bad for your skin, so your goal should be to avoid it all costs. The darker your skin is, the longer you can stay in the sun without getting burned. People with very light skin tones could be burned within 15 minutes if they aren't using sunscreen - so be careful! Those with pale complexions should use a sunscreen with an SPF of around 30 (Sun Protection Factor). Individuals with darker skin tones may be fine using sunscreen with SPFs as low as 4. If you're not sure about what type of skin you have, ask a dermatologist or the pharmacist at your local drug store.

Other ways to prevent burning and thus get a safe and even tan instead (since sunburn doesn't help your tan but rather causes skin dryness, loss of elasticity, and sunspots) are to limit your skin's exposure to sunlight to only a couple hours at a time, and try to plan those for parts of the day other than 10:00 am to 2:00 pm - when the sun's UV rays are the strongest. Also, make sure that you're not on any medications that make your skin more prone to burn (many antibiotics, antidepressants, etc. have this side effect). If you're going to be out in the sun for a long time, make sure you sunscreen is waterproof, reapply it regularly, wear light and loose-fitting clothes, don a hat (to protect that delicate face from burn!), and wear sunglasses (to stop cornea damage).

Using these precautions will not keep you from getting a tan - if that's one of your joys of lying in the sun. However, it will keep you safe! And won't you be able to relax better anyway, knowing that?

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