{"id":5697,"date":"2020-06-17T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/?p=5697"},"modified":"2020-07-16T09:30:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T08:30:31","slug":"wellness-wednesday-here-comes-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wellness-wednesday-here-comes-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellness Wednesday: Here Comes the Sun!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\">University of Kent Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager, Brenda Brunsdon<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s scorching outside! We\u2019ve returned to the beautiful weather we were basking in last month.\u00a0 And the shops are open so we can start some retail therapy.\u00a0 However, we are facing long queues if we want to get in and spend our cash.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s something we\u2019ll only entertain if we\u2019re truly desperate for the high of getting that special purchase or an unmissable bargain.<\/p>\n<p>With the weather as it is, if we\u2019re lounging outside sunbathing, standing in a queue to get into our favourite store or working in the garden or allotment, we need to consider how to keep ourselves safe in the sun.\u00a0 The British Association of Dermatologists offer advice based on an easy to remember SOS theme: Save Our Skin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slip On a Shirt<\/li>\n<li>Seek Out Shade<\/li>\n<li>Slap On Sunscreen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Accessing their website below provides additional information on sunscreen, skin advice for skin of colour, sun protection advice for children and babies, a Vitamin D factsheet and sun awareness leaflets<\/p>\n<p>The NHS also offers comprehensive advice on how to keep your self safe in the sun; the link to their website is also below.<\/p>\n<p>Some research advice does show that it\u2019s not good to shun the sun\u2019s rays completely.\u00a0 With care, exposure to sunshine can have some excellent health benefits.\u00a0 Up to 15 minutes a day without protection can be okay \u2013 so depending on the length of the queue to get into TK Maxx you might be able to kill two birds with one stone! Sunlight stimulates the body to produce Vitamin D.\u00a0 We can produce this in the summer and store it to keep us through the winter.\u00a0 Research has shown that Vitamin D is important in helping our immune system, forming strong bones, helping us with mental health disorders and assisting us with better sleep.\u00a0 There are links to two articles below exploring the health benefits of Vitamin D gained through sunshine; the one by Lizette Borrell references a number of research projects.<\/p>\n<p>There is a lot of innocent joy to be gained from simply feeling the warmth of the sun on our skin.\u00a0 A recent survey undertaken by Vitamin N, a group of organisations with interests in the environment and mental health, showed that children were enjoying time outdoors during the lockdown and flagged it as something they would miss most when they return to school.<\/p>\n<p>If possible, take some time to connect with the fresh air and sunshine while taking care to stay safe in the sun.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bad.org.uk\/shared\/get-file.ashx?id=3911&amp;itemtype=document\">British Association of Dermatologists\u2019 SOS Poster<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk\/sun-awareness\/\">British Association of Dermatologists\u2019 Sun Awareness website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/live-well\/healthy-body\/sunscreen-and-sun-safety\/\">NHS Sunscreen and Sun Safety website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicaldaily.com\/sun-exposure-vitamin-d-and-other-health-benefits-sunlight-246487\">\u2018Sun Exposure: Vitamin D And Other Health Benefits Of Sunlight\u2019 by Lizette Borrell, Medical Daily<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/health\/depression\/benefits-sunlight#sun-safety\">\u2018What Are the Benefits of Sunlight?\u2019 by Timothy J Legg, Healthline<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/newsround\/52908598\">\u2018Children Say They Will Miss the Outdoors After Lockdown, According to Survey\u2019: BBC website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Kent Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager, Brenda Brunsdon It\u2019s scorching outside! We\u2019ve returned to the beautiful weather we were basking in last month.\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wellness-wednesday-here-comes-the-sun\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5725,"featured_media":5702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5700,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5697\/revisions\/5700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kentsport-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}