Shielding Outdoor Workers: Essential Tips for Summer Sun Protection

In this new article, we will be discussing the important topic of sun protection and how you can protect yourself and others from its harmful effects.

Sadly, the sun’s rays are becoming increasingly stronger, making it essential for everyone to prioritise their skin’s health. While this blog is useful for a broad range of readers, we wanted to emphasize the significance of sun protection for outdoor workers who are currently exposed to the sun daily. Our goal from this article is to equip you with the knowledge and a sun protection plan to effectively shield yourself from the sun’s damaging impact on your health.

Sometimes we can underestimate the power of the sun’s rays and its harm to our skin. Too much exposure of ultraviolet radiation (UV) can lead to various health issues, such as sunburn, eye damage, and an increased risk of skin cancer. With the ozone layer becoming weaker and climate change, UV radiation is becoming stronger, making sun protection an increasingly vital concern for everyone.

Understanding How the Sun Can Damage Us

It’s always great to get some time in the sun and it makes us feel much happier and can lead to a healthy dose of vitamin D, but it’s important to recognize that pro longed and unprotected exposure to the sun’s rays can lead to many ways of damage to our body. In this section, we will write about the ways in which the sun can harm our skin and overall health. By knowing the risks, we can take the measures to protect ourselves in the sun.

1. Sunburn: One of the most common and visual effects of sun exposure is sunburn. When our skin is exposed to UV radiation for a long time without proper protection, it can cause redness, pain, and peeling of the skin. Sunburn occurs when the DNA in our skin cells is damaged by the sun’s rays, creating inflammation as the body’s defence mechanism. Repeated sunburn damage can increase the risk of skin cancer. Make sure to apply a high-quality sunscreen to reduce sunburn. We will go into this further below.
2. Eye Damage: Our eyes are susceptible to sun damage as long term exposure to UV radiation can cause multiple eye issues, including cataracts, photokeratitis, tissue damage and more. Make sure to wear sunglasses that provide good UV protection reduce the risks of damaging your eyes. We will go into this further below.
3. Weakened Immune System: Researchers have found that pro longed sun exposure can weaken our immune system, making us more likely to get infections, diseases and cancers.
4. Skin Cancer: Easily the most dangerous and known risk of prolonged sun exposure is an increased risk of skin cancer. There are two main types of this skin cancer, melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancer. UV radiation is a major factor to the development of these cancers, and people with a history of sunburns or sun exposure are at higher risk.

Now we have a better idea of how the sun can damage our skin and overall health, we will go further and discuss the ways to protect ourselves from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Protecting Yourself from The Sun

In this section of the blog, we will discuss the keyways to protect us from ultraviolet radiation.

1. Sunscreen: This is one of the most common and popular ways to protect yourself from the sun. It forms a protective barrier on the skin. When choosing a sunscreen, look for a broad-spectrum formula that offers protection against both UVA and UVB rays. Apply sunscreen to all exposed areas of your body. For example, we recommend this product as it is is a broad-spectrum SPF30 sunscreen for professional use.
2. Sunglasses: It is important to wear sunglasses that provide a high level of UV protection, look out for “UV 400” or “100% UV protection.” These sunglasses block both UVA and UVB rays, making sure your eyes are protected from UV damage.
3. Stay Hydrated: Make sure you are properly hydrated and have a good amount of water with you when you are in the sun. Pro longed sun exposure can lead to dehydration, which will give you further serious problems such as affecting your kidney health.

Make sure to keep in mind these measures when it is a sunny day, and you will be able to create a good sun protection plan.

Wrap Up

Protecting yourself from the sun is crucial as the summer brings the heat and sun to the UK. The sun’s rays have the potential to cause sunburn, eye damage, a weakened immune system, and an increased risk of skin cancer.

Luckily, by adding the previous measures such as wearing sunscreen, wearing sunglasses, staying hydrated, and being mindful of sun exposure, you can mitigate the extreme risks of sun exposure this summer. Embrace and enjoy this summer sun with a sun-smart lifestyle.

Purchase high-quality and professionally used sun protection sunscreen and dispensers at Wessex Cleaning Equipment today.