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Dear Dying to Know:
Wow! Slow down, kid. One question at a time. You need sun to keep you healthy. It helps your body
produce vitamins that your body needs. But ever hear the phrase: "too much of a good thing?" Well,
you can get too much sun! Way too much! And then it's not a good thing at all!
That's because there are various kinds of light rays that the sun produces. Most of them are
ones that you can see. But the sun also produces invisible rays that you can't see -- ultraviolet
rays of light! These are rays that can burn your skin.
Your body has its own defense against these ultraviolet rays. When you are in the sun, your
skin makes more of a brown chemical or pigment called melanin. If you're dark-skinned, your skin
has lots of melanin in it; if you're light-skined, your skin has less. And, if you're in the sun a
lot, melanin is also what causes your skin to darken or tan.
But melanin can only do so much. The sun can still scorch or burn you just the way, boiling
water or a flame can. When you burn, you damage skin cells so much they can't function and die.
Your body reacts with redness, swelling and sensitivity. This is your body's way of bringing extra
blood to the surface to help you heal the burn.
When you get a sunburn you actually lose a top layer of skin along the way. Getting too much
sun, without protecting your skin, can cause long-term problems -- ranging from wrinkled skin to
cancer! So the moral is -- be careful in the sun. Use sunscreen to block out harmful sun rays. Also
try wearing a hat! Now, as for me, I do wear a hat. But that's not what keeps me from burning. I
never stay above ground for very long. If I did, I'd probably dry out long before I burned!
Signed,
Wendell
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