According to online statistics, apparently one in three adults have gotten sunburned every year.
How you get sunburned
The sun emits these rays which contain UV rays; UVA, UVB and UVC. Basically, in short, UVA stands for aggressive which is one of the most rays that penetrates into the deepest part of your skin and it is the one that actually causes the most damage.
UVB is causing burns and that usually affects the surface layer of your skin and most of the time plays the biggest role in getting skin cancer, but also it changes the color of your skin. UVC have the shortest way to the moles and although a lot of the ozone layer absorbs UVC, it is actually one of the most dangerous one.
When do you get sunburned
Sunburns occurs mostly when you don’t wear sunblock or sunscreen, or the protection is either worn off either by water, sweat or just general evaporation as sunscreen is applied to the surface layer of your skin, and it stays there, it doesn’t actually get absorbed deeper down. It is supposed to protect the surface layer and it is applied to the top layer of the skin.
The sunscreen is used to either absorb the UV rays or actually reflects UV rays as well. So there’s two things that sunscreen does for you. Because you apply sunscreen it doesn’t mean you are 100% protected. If you know you’re going out to be in the Sun for a little while you will need to have reinforcements, which means you will need to have cover ups, you need to have a hat, you need to protect yourself and keep hydrated. It’s recommended wearing white or light-colored clothing that will help reflect the sun’s ray.
The stages of a sunburn
Sunburn happens in three stages. When you’re in the Sun you feel the heat, you feel hot and then very quickly feel this burning sensation your skin and then you feel like swollen, bloated like red. After a few days you might feel the tightening and it also might cause severe bubbling after a few days, then it goes on to the healing stage where you start to peel off the smooth skin underneath, and then later you go through basically the patchy and spotty parts of the skin.
Blisters can occur 6 to 24 hours after UV exposure and when blistering occurs, that’s when the cells on the underlying dermis dies. It’s pretty much like a second-degree burn. Peeling occurs when the cells die and is replaced by new cells underneath. The normal cell turnover happens in 28 days but when you get sunburns, this cycle is accelerated and you pretty much shed like a reptile. This molting stage can last up to days, which is great because the longer you suffer the longer you reminded of how you should never ever walk out in the Sun with no protection.
Tips to help with sunburn heal:
- Cool your body down. Take a cold shower or have a green tea bath to slow down the burning process, this will relive the pain and swelling.
- Moisturize and don’t do it again. Use moisturizes with aloe vera and/or vitamin E and always apply sunscreen or sunblock before you leave the house.
- Shop for the list of foods that you will need to eat and protect and save your skin.
To add an appealing process there are five foods and tips that you should know:
- Eating blueberries. It contains the highest concentration of polyphenols which are essential in not only protecting your skin against UV radiation. It also boost skin cellular regeneration.
- Potatoes or sweet potatoes. Cutting thin slices of raw potato and applying it directly onto the sunburn areas. Not only it will ease the pain, but the starchiness of the potato seems to brighten the skin so it would be a good treatment to prevent discoloration. If it was for consuming, it’s recommended to eat sweet potatoes instead. Why? Because it contains all the nutrients to help protect your skin and reduce the effects of sunburns.
- Kiwi. Kiwi will not only help prevent but also treat heatstroke. Kiwi also contains flavonoids and other phytonutrients that is responsible for protecting your DNA and also protects your skin from UV radiation.
- Tomatoes. Tomatoes or fresh tomato juice not only does contain lycopene and carotenoids, it is also full of antioxidants. By drinking a glass of tomato juice a day you can also prevent yourself from getting a sunburn, but also it slows down the cellular damage from free radicals and the production of melanin, which are sun spots and discoloration on the skin.
- Green tea. It’s super high in antioxidants, you can consume green tea as is, and you can also bath in green tea. The antioxidants in the green tea will assist in the skin repairing process. You can also use a teabags and place it in a clean plastic bag, put it in your fridge for about four hours and then you can take them out to apply it directly onto the affected areas.
Make sure you take care of your skin so that you look beautiful all the time, and avoid damaging your skin.
