How to properly protect yourself from too much sun

How skin cancer develops. What the sun protection factor means. Why it makes sense to apply sunscreen even when the sky is overcast and in the car: The most important questions about healthy sunbathing

The increasing desire to travel in recent decades and the cult of sunbathing have had a worldwide consequence: an enormous growth rate in skin cancers. This is because the sun's UV radiation not only causes painful sunburns, but also causes damage to the genetic material in the cells of the skin. Mutations triggered by this often lead to the formation of tumors.

How skin cancer develops

Skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer today. In particular, strong UV exposure in childhood and adolescence increases the risk of such a disease, which often only occurs decades later. This is because the cells divide more frequently during growth, so even those with genetic damage are more likely to multiply. In infants and young children, the body's own sun protection is not yet developed.

The skin type determines the length of sunbathing

The right sun protection depends mainly on the skin type in question. This ranges from blond or red-haired people with very light skin (which shows redness after just a few minutes in the sun) to people with dark brown skin and black hair, for example from Central Africa, who can stay in the sun almost indefinitely. The determination of one's own skin type should be taken over by a specialist, according to dermatologist Dr. Norbert Buhles.

Although offers on the Internet also offer a certain orientation, people often misjudge their skin type. How strong the protective agents to be used must be also depends on the strength of the respective solar radiation. This is weaker at the poles than at the equator, higher in the mountains than in the lowlands and also depends on the season and time of day as well as the weather conditions. An indication of the intensity of the radiation is provided by the UV index, which is available daily on the Internet. On the scale, where values of 11 or more stand for an extreme health hazard, a German summer reaches a maximum of 8. In the Alps, however, the strength can even exceed the usual level of Mallorca (9). Snow, water and sand further enhance the effect because they reflect sunlight.

Sunburn even when the sky is overcast

Although a dense cloud cover keeps out a large part of UV radiation, it can be as intense as on cloudless days when the clouds are scattered, as isolated clouds absorb only a small amount of radiation, but mainly reflect and scatter it. The same applies to veil clouds, haze and sea fog.

What does the sun protection factor mean?

But which sun protection factor (SPF) in sunscreen should consumers choose? In principle, the SPF indicates how much longer someone can stay in the sun without getting sunburned. For example, a person with the lightest skin type in Germany can spend around ten minutes outside in maximum sunlight without protection. A sunscreen with SPF 30 extends this self-protection time by a factor of 30 to five hours. At the equator, the same person remains unharmed for only about five minutes without sunscreen and 150 minutes with the appropriate sun protection.

Reapplying is important

So much for the theory. In fact, the specified SPF is almost never reached because many people apply cream too sparingly, usually smearing only a quarter to half of the necessary amount. For a height of 1.80 meters, it must be 40 milliliters (about three tablespoons). In addition, many people reapply too rarely - it makes sense to do this every two hours. Although reapplying the cream does not prolong the protection, it maintains it, for example after bathing.

Do not exhaust the theoretical term of protection!

Those who rely on products with a sun protection factor of 50 are still usually well protected. However, even this is not a carte blanche for overly intensive sunbathing, because sunscreen alone does not offer sufficient protection against the long-term effects of radiation. Experts advise only exhausting a maximum of 60 percent of the increased protection period offered by sunscreen, as radiation damage to the skin can occur long before sunburn. UV protection must also be observed in the car: While the windshield allows almost no harmful radiation to pass through, the side windows usually only retain the UV-B component. Protective visors are therefore particularly useful for children in the back seat.

Even in the car, applying sunscreen makes sense

On long journeys to the summer holiday, all occupants should apply sunscreen under certain circumstances. Clothing always offers good protection against UV radiation, but this varies depending on the fabric and weave: Synthetic materials are usually superior to natural products, and densely woven and dark fabrics are also loose, light.