The sun’s strength is huge at 7 or 8 this weekend, meteorologists warn. But what does that actually mean? And why is that important to know? These are good questions, because there are many misunderstandings about the sun. “Tanning? That’s actually a sign of sun damage.”
To start with that first question: what exactly does solar power do? Meteorologist Raymond Klaassen of Weerplaza can be brief about that. Sun power indicates how strong the direct sunlight is that descends on our beautiful province.
“The higher the sun, the stronger the sun’s power.”
“The sun’s power is strongest in the afternoon, for a few hours, because the sun is then at its highest point,” the meteorologist explains. “The higher the sun, the stronger the sun power. Today and especially tomorrow it will be cloudless, so you will get the full sun radiation on your skin.”
And then you come to that other question: why is that important? Well, you simply want to avoid strong sunlight because that radiation is bad for your skin and can cause skin cancer. So rub it in well, but the easiest thing is just to get out of the sun.
“The sun supplies ultraviolet radiation,” says Klaasen. “A high sun therefore means more sun power and more UV radiation reaching the earth. And therein lies the problem. That so-called UV radiation has a harmful effect.”
“Sunglasses are always the advice.”
If your skin often burns, for example, skin cancer can develop. In fact, skin cancer is almost always related to sunlight. “And you can also get cataracts from looking into the sun. Sunglasses are always the advice,” says Klaassen.
You shouldn’t actually get a nice tan with high sun power. But that is the goal of many people when they sit in the sun. Sunscreen should prevent you from burning. Yet things are already going a little wrong there, dermatologist Sharon Dodemont said in an earlier article by Omroep Brabant.
“Only when this damage is very large does your skin turn red.”
“You get brown because your body produces extra pigment. Your body does that to protect itself, because it notices that there is damage. Only when this damage is very large does your skin turn red. If you’re tan, it’s really just skin damage. So tanning is bad for you.”
There are also many misunderstandings about the protection of sunburn. Many people don’t really know what the factor, as you often read on the packaging, really means.
“The factor actually says how much longer you can put in the sun.” Suppose you can sit in the sun for 10 minutes until you burn. If you then lubricate factor 30, you can sit in the sun for 300 minutes.
“People often apply too thin.”
However, this calculation is not always correct. “People often apply too thinly. If you sweat, the sunscreen also disappears from your skin. In fact, you just have to reapply every two hours and if you sweat very much every hour. So be careful,” concludes Dodemont.
READ ALSO: Misunderstandings about sunscreen: ‘We are already seeing people in their twenties with skin cancer’