Tips for Staying Safe at the Beach
Organic Sunscreen
A lot of people come to south Florida don’t understand the importance of sunscreen. It’s essential to prioritize sun protection and incorporate sunscreen into your daily routine, even on cloudy or overcast days.
Using sunscreen with appropriate SPF and broad-spectrum protection, along with other sun-protective measures like wearing hats, sunglasses, and protective clothing, can significantly reduce the risks associated with sun exposure.
When choosing sunscreen look out for added chemicals to the sunscreen that can make it just as dangerous as the UV rays.
According to the MayoClinic Sunscreen agents containing aminobenzoic acid, lisadimate, padimate O, or roxadimate may discolor and stain light-colored fabrics yellow.
In addition to using sunscreen agents, it is advisable to minimize exposure to the sun from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daylight savings time) when the sun is at its strongest. Take extra precautions also on cloudy or overcast days and around reflective surfaces such as concrete, sand, snow, or water, since these surfaces can reflect the sun’s damaging rays. Wear protective clothing including a hat, long-sleeved shirt, and long pants. Sunglasses also should be worn to avoid sun damage to the eyes (cataract formation). Avoid sunlamps and tanning parlors because these can damage the skin and eyes as direct sunlight can.
Sunglasses
Sunglasses are for more than just looking cool. Although having cool sunglasses does give you a slight boost of coolness. Sunglasses are very important to protect your eyes. Your eyes are very sensitive to the UV rays of the sun just as much as your skin When you wear the proper protection over your eyes you reduce the chance that the sun will damage your eyes.
Stay Hydrated
It’s hot out there and it is easy to become dehydrated while having fun. It is important that you continuedly drink water even if you don’t feel thirsty. also, don’t substitute water with sugary drinks or alcohol because some drinks actually makes you more dehydrated.
Drinking water assures you that your body will be safe from heat exhaustion. If you don’t like water by it self you can infuse it with fruit in order to give it some taste. However you choose to drink it be sure that you do not add sugar or caffeine or it will defeat the purpose or hydration.
Don't Swim Alone
Swimming in the ocean is nothing like swimming in a swimming pool. even if you are a good swimmer it is important to swim with someone or close to a life guard or crowd. Being at the beach can be exciting and sometimes we may forget that there are hidden dangers such as rip currents that can pull you out to sea.
It is important that if you ever get caught up in a rip current be calm and let it bring you out with the current. Once you are out of the RIP current then you can safely swim parallel to the shore. The biggest mistake that people make is panicking and swimming against the RIP current. Because it is so difficult to swim against the current most people get tired and drown trying to get back to the shore. Be careful when swimming in the ocean, never swim alone.
