A fine line goes between enjoying the good impact of the sunlight on both our skin’s and general health and the bad, devastating damage it can cause us. The mechanism called tanning can teach us a lot about the benefits and damages the sun causes us, should we understand how it works. On this article we will talk about this amazing mechanism and of how it affects our health.
Tanning As a Defense Mechanism
What is the idea and purpose behind tanning? First, we’ll say the obvious which all of us already know – in the process of tanning our skin turns of a darker shade. Why is that happening? Because the sun burns it? No. Long before the sun gets to burn our skin, and actually, as the sun’s UV light (or artificial UV light) hit our skin, our skin starts to produce melanin and vitamin D. The melanin is the factor of the darker pigment of our skin.
So let’s get back to the question why is it happening? Because darker skin absorbs less radiation than light skin, and by turning it darker, it ensures our skin is less affected and harmed by the radiation. And so, the next time our skin will be exposed to UV light, it will be more protected.
The Danger of Over-tanning
During a long exposure to UV lights the tanning process proceed up to the point where our skin does gets burned and damaged. But the actual possible damage to our skin out of over-tanning is so much devastating than simply a sunburn on our skin. It can lead to serious skin’s diseases, including sun fungus and worse cases of skin cancer.
So, we can go out there and can enjoy the direct sunlight on our skin and we can even benefit it, but we need to remember to control the level of our exposure in order to maintain our general health and the health of our beautiful skin.
How else can We Protect Our Skin While Tanning?
In addition to controlling our exposure to the sun’s radiation, we can also use skin care products that meant to protect us as enjoying a day at the beach – such as sunscreens. Using sunscreens will somewhat reduce the effect of the unhealthy impact on our skin. To complete the care for our skin, it is best to use post-exposure skin care products to treat our skin and allow it to rejuvenate itself.