It’s officially summer and the warm weather has us all begging to be outside. However, you don’t have to be sunbathing on a tropical beach to get too much sun, even 10 minutes of unprotected exposure to sunlight can result in a sunburn. Activities that may give you 15 minutes or more of sunlight are dining on an outdoor patio, watching your children’s soccer game, shopping in an outdoor mall, or standing outside talking to your neighbor.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States but luckily, is actually one of the most preventable forms of cancer too. Although most skin cancer’s are formed in our early years, it’s never too late to take care of your skin.
To help prevent skin cancer’s from forming this summer, The American Cancer Society started an awareness campaign by promoting the slogan “Slip! Slop! Slap! and Wrap”.
“Slip! Slop! Slap! and Wrap” is a catch phrase that reminds people of the 4 key ways they can protect themselves from UV radiation:
- Slip on a shirt
- Slop on sunscreen
- Slap on a hat
- Wrap on sunglasses to protect the eyes
Along with the helpful tips above, limit the amount of time spent in direct sun when the sun’s rays are most intense, generally from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If you are going to be outside during these hours, make sure you use all of the helpful suggestions above for proper protection.
When traveling this summer, if you are actually lucky enough to end up sunbathing on a tropical beach, you may forget a lot of things, but don’t forget your sun protection. Make sure you also have plenty of medical travel insurance coverage in case of a medical emergency that could end up with a trip to a local hospital such as severe dehydration, food poisoning, sports injuries or auto accidents.
Most of all, have a happy and healthy summer playing outdoors!