‘You don’t really tan… Always wear sunscreen’

A few of my coaches last week on the beach – mainly male – either forgot, or thought they didn’t need, sunscreen because they ‘tan’.

…They soon found out that they just burn!

Baz Luhrmann took columnist Mary Schmich’s essay called ‘Advice, like youth, is wasted on the young’ and turned it into the famous song, ‘Wear Sunscreen’.

One of the opening lines is, “If I could give you one piece of advice, wear sunscreen.” (By the way, after you have read this article go listen to that song, if you follow those five minutes of wisdom you won’t go far wrong). Being a natural redhead – aka ginger – I always wear sunscreen. In fact, I put it on every morning before I leave the house in this weather. If, like me, you got burnt once please don’t put yourself in that position again.

Not only is it painful, annoying and means very little sleep that night but it can have a long-term effect on your health.

Frequent exposure to sunburn can lead to cancer, speed up the ageing process and leave you with a few too many wrinkles.

My advice is don’t substitute your health for a tanned body (or, in most cases, a red face). You can still wear sunscreen and get a tan!

Here is some other advice to help reduce the risk of sunburn:

Wear protective clothing

When the suns out it’s not always good to have the guns out! Covering up your skin as much as you can help protect your body. Even if you do expose your body to the rays it is okay to slip some clothing on now and again.

Don’t spend all day in the sun

You can’t play the Vitamin D card all the time, sometimes you have to retreat back into the shade. Limiting your time, especially between 10am and 4pm, when the sun rays are at their strongest, may be the wisest thing to do.

Invest in good sunglasses

Keep your eyes protect in the sun with sunglasses that say it blocks 99 per-cent or 100 per-cent of UVB and UVA rays. This isn’t always the most expensive pair.

Plaster yourself with sunscreen and then some

Layer up on the sunscreen at least 20 minutes before exposing your body to the sun. Don’t forget to reapply every two hours and if you are in the water make sure it’s water resistant and reapply when you dry yourself off.

Watch out for others

Make sure you are looking out for others in the sun especially those that can be most venerable like children, the elderly and your drunken mates! Don’t be afraid to ask them if they have sunscreen on and when did they last apply it.

Have sunscreen at the ready

I have sunscreen in my van, house, caravan, even in my football and golf bag! I would always advise that you have sunscreen in your car and house as a bare minimum.

The next thing we need to look at is staying hydrated. We need water for our body to function. If we didn’t have water we would die, it’s that simple. In this heat it’s important to remember that we lose a lot of fluid and become dehydrated through sweat, especially at night, and from one of our favourite pastimes in the sun, drinking alcohol.

Here are few tips to keep on top of your hydration levels:

Aim for two to three  litres of water, and then some

To keep it simple, for every 30kg of body weight you need one litre of water so a 60kg person may need two litres, while a 90kg person would need three litres. In this heat you may have to add at least another litre and more if you sweat a lot.

Wake up with a pinch of salt

At night we can lose anywhere from one litre of fluids through sweat and with this lose essential minerals.

That’s why it’s vitally important that we replace these straight away with a glass of water and a pinch of salt to help get our bodies back to where they need to be.

Always have water close by

Make sure you have water close by or when you’re in the shop buy a two-litre bottle of water rather than a smaller one. Trust me, you will drink it.

Beware of fluids that dehydrate you

Caffeine, alcohol and fizzy drinks can have a negative effect on your hydration levels. Be careful how much of these you are consuming each day in this weather and make sure you are drinking them with some water.

Still enjoy the weather, but just make sure that you look after your body, it will thank you in the long run.