The sun is probably the biggest challenger to your effort to
maintain a youthful appearance. And, by the time you realize
it, it's probably too late. It has been estimated that 85% of
the damage the sun inflicts on just about all of us occurs
before our 15th birthday.
So when we were young, enjoying all those beautiful sunny days,
our skin was incurring damage that would not show up for another
30 years or so. And what damage it is!
The sun causes many of those wrinkles on our faces, hands and
other parts of the body that were exposed to it, by breaking
down collagen and elastin and damaging the skinīs ability to
retain moisture. We wind up with loose, baggy, dry skin, which
can actually look like tanned leather.
Also the sun's damage causes the skin's melanin to give out. You
lose the protection the melanin gave you, plus your blessed with
those little "age" spots to boot. As all this happens, your risk
of skin cancer increases.
No matter what your age or sex, if you want to look young, you need
to use a good broad spectrum sun screen with an SPF rating of at
least 15. Researchers have found evidence that using a sun screen
constantly can reverse some of the damage you've already sustained,
in addition to stopping more damage from occurring. If used
constantly, whenever you're exposed to the sun, you should see a
gradual improvement in your skin's appearance and feel.
Use sun screen in cloudy weather and even if you spend a lot of
time in rooms with a lot of sun exposure. While glass can block some
ultraviolet radiation it does block it all.
Apply sun screen liberally on all areas of the skin exposed to the
sun. Repeat every two hours: studies have shown that most suncreens'
protection drops off dramatically after that time. Also reapply if
you go swimming or do anything that causes you to sweat a lot.
Do yourself a favor and use sun screen constantly. Do any even
bigger favor to your children and grandchildren. Make sure they get
used to using sun screen while they are young, so that they don't
have to suffer the sun's effects as much as we do.
