Although sun exposure can be severely dangerous to the eyes and skin, there are a few benefits to keep in mind.

Pride in one’s appearance starts with the skin, the body’s largest, most visible organ. The skin’s appearance portrays a social and sexual image to the outside world, and humans generally lavish more care on the skin of the face (and women perhaps also on the arms and legs) than other parts of the body.

Although sunlight is enemy number one to the human skin, the sun makes us feel good and the sun’s ultraviolet rays are, in moderate amounts, essential to human beings for vitamin D production.

It is important to note that everybody needs a minimal amount of sunshine on the skin to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium which is needed to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis. Sunscreens block vitamin D production, so if you use them all the time you may consider boosting the amount of vitamin D in your diet.

A golden tan may help to make you feel attractive and healthy, but if tanning is not undertaken with great care, the cost of continual exposure to the sun can exact a high price that cancels all the benefits of sun exposure. Especially fair-skinned people are more susceptible to sunburn which damages the skin. It is advisable to adapt to the sun in gradual stages.

Tan for only one to two hours a day

When you want a good suntan, you do not need to spend a lot of hours of sun, but it is important to make sure that you get one to two hours of sun every day. The consecutive days are going to give you that good tan, not the number of hours in one day. A few hints may help you to expose your body to the sun without damaging your skin:

    • Choose a sun tan lotion with a high level of moisturizer. Use a SPF 8 or 10 lotion and make sure that you spread it all over, do not miss any spots
    • Have a quick shower after your sun tanning time to wash off the sun tan lotion
    • Drink lots of water. Water will keep your body hydrated and therefore will keep your skin hydrated as well
    • Avoid too much sun that will inevitable lead to sunburn.

Suntan in a bottle

Fortunately nowadays self-tan lotions are available. They add a beautiful tanned colour to the skin without any sun exposure at all.

For the best results with self tan lotions:

    • Buy a lotion for your specific skin type or colour
    • Exfoliate the skin before you apply the lotion
    • Apply the lotion evenly over the area.