10/4/2012

Good evening everyone!  Tonight I'm writing about something that I've been passionate about for a long time now.  These last couple of days, heck who am I kidding, the last few years, I've seen a lot of these articles about how tanning beds are so bad for you and how you can get skin cancer and how it should be banned for anyone under 18 years old.  It really hits a soft spot for me because, first of all, exposing yourself to the sun (without sun screen) or going into a tanning bed as an alternative since many people work during the prime hours to get your vitamin D, or maybe because the weather permits 3-9 months out of the year is OK in moderation.  It seems that people don't understand that.  Everyone feels the need to slather on sunscreen  and cover up at all times and wouldn't dare step foot into a tanning bed because they read some article somewhere or heard about a friend of a friend who had a scare with skin cancer.

My biggest issue with this is most people have not done their own research and they are truly hurting themselves because of this.  The sun and a tanning bed are your two best sources of vitamin D and the great thing is you could be preventing and curing over 100 different diseases and cancers just by having an adequate vitamin D level.  It sounds so simple, but to put it in perspective, more than 90% of the population is vitamin D deficient.  It wasn't always like this... deficiency increased greatly just about the time sunscreen use really started to take off. The even crazier part about this is when sunscreens started booming, so did skin cancer.  What kills me is nobody realizes this or cares to even look into it because they had a doctor or a TV show to stay out of the sun or read some article that says how it causes cancer.  WRONG!  God made the sun, we need the sun to live, as do many other things, including, animals and plants.  Yes, too much can be overkill but like I said, moderation people!

The reason why this all sort of hits a soft spot with me is because, like I said previously, I recently had a beautiful baby boy.  For the Government to tell me that my child can't tan before the age of 18 would really upset me.  I'm not saying I would let me child just go whenever he wants, but once he gets old enough and we decide to go on vacation to somewhere warmer or summer is coming, I would rather have his skin somewhat prepared with a base tan rather than just throw him out there all pale with a bunch of chemicals on his skin.  What if he has bad acne?  I'd rather him treat it by drying it out from the sun or in a tanning bed a few minutes a week instead of him digesting some sort of pill or a topical cream that will make his skin extremely sensitive to light.  This is what the world has come to, everything is cured with a pill or a cream.  You're telling me you're OK with ingesting all these things with this list of side effects that are 5 pages long, but you're so against getting a little bit of sun a couple times a week or using a tanning bed moderately.

Anyway, to finally get to my story...I recently ran in the warrior dash in Michigan -- it was awesome!  My dad and I ran it together while my mom watched my son.  It was in the 60s that day and sunny, but not a high UV index.  As we were out there, everyone seemed to have some sort of opinion or felt they needed to check with us to see if we put sunscreen on him and ask "where is his hat?"  I ignored the first few people, then I finally had it.  Someone else asked me if he had sunscreen on....NOPE!  He sure doesn't. Anyone who feels the need to put sunscreen on an infant is a nut job for one, and for two, mind your own business. We had his sun shade on him on his stroller and yes, at times the sun was on him but, to me, that is perfectly OK. A couple minutes here and there isn't going to hurt him, if anything, it's helping him.  That's the problem with this world today...how dare you tell me that my kid needs sunscreen. Do your research before you start putting these sunscreens on your children.  There were stories not too long ago about how sunscreen chemicals are killing the great barrier reef and altering the sex of fish....and you're telling me it's OK to put on my baby boy...You must've lost your mind.  Like I said before, moderation is key.  I know an infant's skin is much more sensitive -- that's what you definitely limit the time,  it's better to let him get a little rather than none at all.  I'm proud to say that I will not use sunscreen on my child unless it is absolutely positively my only option.  They now make clothing that protects you: hats, shade...the alternatives are endless.

So, on that note, please do your own research before you share what you read in an article or saw on TV or heard from a friend of a friend! You could be doing yourself and your family a huge favor and will be thankful later on!