re you that unfortunate individual who just a few years ago thought it might be a good idea to bake your skin in the sun so you could have rich glowing brown cocoa colored skin like all of the big movie stars?
Not so long ago (less than twenty years ago in fact) a deep rich sun tan was accepted far and wide as a status symbol. After all it was only the rich people in society who had the time to slather tanning oil all over their bodies and gleam in the sun!
Sometimes people did not even bake in the sun. They went to "health clubs" and baked their skin in tanning and sun beds in an attempt to look glamorous!
Today we know that this is nothing but a good way to get skin cancer!
When it comes to sunbathing and lying in a tanning bed many of us now wish we had known then what we know now!
Wanting to have a tan has only been hip and trendy since the 1950s when boasting the "natural healthy look" first came into vogue. However before that people knew better. They stayed in the shade and carried umbrellas to protect them from the sun. That is because the fashion then was to keep the skin looking as lily white as possible.
Unfortunately our taste in fashion changed and it became desirable to have a bit more of a copper glow. The result has been more deaths than ever in history from skin cancer.
Here are some scary facts about skin cancer in our world today!
-Skin cancer is the most common of all human cancers
-All of the three different types of skin cancer -basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell cancer and melanoma can be fatal if not checked in time!
-Basal cell and squamous cell cancer spread to other parts of the body quite quickly and are stealthy, steady silent killers
-There are over a million new cases of skin cancer diagnosed every year in the United States
-There are more cases than ever in the U.K. even though it is largely a cloudy place where the sun rarely shines
-According to the American Cancer Society statistics, there will be nearly 69,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in the USA in 2009, and melanoma will be responsible for perhaps 8650 of the 11,590 anticipated deaths from skin cancer in the year
-The main cause of skin cancer is the sun which is the main provider in our lives of harmful doses of ultraviolet light
-You are more prone to cancer if you have fair skin that is freckled or fair
-If you have had just one case of sunburn you are more prone to sunburn later in life
-If you have skin moles of any shape or color you are more likely to contract skin cancer
-Health conscious countries like Germany are now passing laws to prohibit young people from using sun beds - in Germany it is estimated over four million teens use them to get a tan.
Many of us sat in the sun all day because we were told by doctors, gym teachers and our moms that it was what we were supposed to do!
It wasn't because these individuals wanted us to look glamorous. It was because sitting in the sun was the only way to get the Vitamin D we needed to build strong bones and teeth!
In Dealing with Sunburns Naturally I take a good hard look at the Vitamin D issue and answer such questions as -
Do our bodies need vitamins every day?
Is vitamin D stored in the body?
Why vitamin D is often called the "forgotten vitamin."
How do we get Vitamin D from the sun's rays?
Is it possible to get too much Vitamin D?
Can we get vitamin D from food instead of the sun?
What is the relationship between vitamin D and having enough calcium in your body?
Can a lack of Vitamin D cause depression?
Can Vitamin D cure the "winter blues" also known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
Can we get Vitamin D from eating fish?
