Outdoor exercise is a great way to improve heart health and it brings variety to your activity to keep it interesting. However, protecting your skin during exercise is important as you may be at a higher risk for skin linked cancers due to sun exposure. More time in the sun, lack of protective clothing, and too much sweating can contribute to increasing your risk of skin cancer while exercising. Skin cancer may first appear as a small spot on the skin and some cancers may reach deep into nearby tissue. Also, over time ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun can take a toll on your skin and connective tissue resulting in more wrinkles and lines.
While exercising outdoors, there are many ways that you can protect yourself and still enjoy the outdoor activities you love. A few of our tips:
- Check the UV index. You can find the UV index and UV alert forecasts for your area by visiting EPA’s SunWise Web site at: www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html.
- When possible, stay in the shade, and avoid exercise between 10am and 4pm when the sun’s rays are most intense.
- Wear wraparound sunglasses that are labeled to guard against both UVA and UVB.
- Sunscreens come labeled with a sun protection factor (SPF), such as 15, 30, or 50. A sunscreen labeled SPF 15 means it will take you 15 times as long to get sunburn as it would if you had no sunscreen on. A sunscreen labeled SPF 30 means it would take you 30 times as long to burn. When choosing a sunscreen, aim to use broad spectrum which includes UVA & UVB protection with a SPF of 30 or higher and is water resistant or sports specific.
- Since up to 80 percent of the sun’s UV radiation can go through clouds and harm your skin, remember to protect yourself on overcast days.
- Carry sunscreen with you and reapply every two hours, especially when you are sweating heavily.
- Add sunscreen evenly and in hard to reach places like the back of the neck, backs of your hands and feet, scalp, and behind your ears.
So next time you are headed outdoors for your exercise, remember the basics. For more information on safe outdoor exercising contact Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department at www.elvphd.org or 402-529-2233. Funding for OHH provided by AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM