Enjoy the Sunshine Safely This Bank Holiday Weekend | News

Public Health Consultant Hayley Durnall has shared some top tips (with a little help from our patient, Willow) on how to stay safe in the sun. You can watch the video on YouTube here.

As we approach a heatwave over the Bank holiday weekend, we're sharing advice to help families stay safe while enjoying the hot weather.

Sunburn and too much time in the sun increase the risk of developing skin cancer. This isn’t limited to holidays abroad - you can get sunburn in the UK, even on cloudy days. A tan does not protect your skin from sun damage.

Even being sunburnt as infrequently as once every two years has been shown to triple the risk of melanoma cancers.

The positive news is that staying safe outdoors is straightforward if you take a few simple precautions:

 

• Protect the skin with clothing, including a hat, t-shirt and sunglasses.  

• Spend time in the shade between 11am and 3pm, when the sun is at its strongest.  

• Use sunscreen of at least SPF30 and make sure that it has UVA and UVB protection with a four-star rating and symbol on the bottle. Apply it liberally and frequently throughout the day.  

• Keep babies and young children out of direct sunlight.

 

To get the best protection from sunscreen, it needs to be applied more than once a day. Using too little, applying it only once, or failing to reapply after swimming or sweating will reduce its effectiveness. Also, check the expiry date - don’t rely on your old bottles at the back of the cupboard.

Whilst people with naturally brown or black skin are less likely to get skin cancer, you can still burn and should take the same precautions, particularly for younger children.

Adults should apply around two teaspoons of sunscreen to cover the head, arms and neck, or two tablespoons if covering the entire body. If someone is out in the sun long enough to risk burning, they should apply sunscreen twice, 30 minutes before going out and then again just before going out.

Don’t forget to look after your eyes when you’re out in the sun as well; reflected light can cause damage to the surface of the eye and you should wear appropriate sunglasses on bright days, particularly when around snow, sand, concrete or water.

On very hot days, people should also be aware of the risks of heat exhaustion. Symptoms include: 

 

• headaches

• dizziness

• confusion,

• loss of appetite

• feeling sick

• cramps

• fast breathing  

• fast pulse  

• high temperature

 

Children can also become floppy and sleepy.

Someone with potential heat exhaustion should move to a cool place, lie down, drink plenty of water and gently cool their skin with a cold compress and fan. Families find more advice on nhs.uk, as well as when to call 999 if symptoms worsen and they develop heatstroke.

For more information on these issues, visit the health and wellbeing pages on our website here.