This is a collaborative post.
The majority of us take a number of steps to maximise our health and wellbeing. We’ll head down to the gym to make sure we get our recommended one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week. We’ll try to eat balanced diets and keep takeaways and junk food to a minimum. But our self-care routines may need to alter a little depending on the time of year. In this post, we’re going to be exploring why you need to be protecting your health and wellbeing over the summer months, as it’s sometimes easy to take it for granted when the weather is nice!
The summer months pose unique problems that you might not have to consider quite so much at other times of the year. Here are a few different things you can do to protect your health and wellbeing as best as possible throughout the upcoming months when the temperature may begin to rise and the sun poses more of a risk.
Some of these tips might seem obvious, but it’s really easy to forget to take care of your health and wellbeing during the summer. As a result, your skin can dry out and become sun-damaged, your hair can become frazzled and you can end up suffering from dehydration.
Read on to get some ideas of how you can start protecting your health and wellbeing over the summer months.
Use sun protection
Although this should really go without saying, there are many of us who massively overlook the importance of sunscreen and sun protection. Sunburn is a serious issue, especially during the summer months. Chances are you’ll be engaging in more outdoor activities and will spend more time outside. If you’re going on holiday then this is even more important.
If you’re excessively exposed to the sun, you may begin to get sore, red skin due to exposure to the sun’s UV rays, resulting in itching, flaking or peeling. But you don’t necessarily have to literally burn to be damaged by the skin. Simple exposure to UV rays can significantly increase your chances of developing serious conditions such as skin cancer. It can cause your skin to age faster too.
So, you’re going to have to take active steps to protect yourself from the sun! A good place to start is using SPF. This will provide an effective barrier and is available in a range of products, ranging from face creams to body lotions, lip balms and more. If you feel your skin has already been excessively exposed to the sun, you should look into how to deal with sun damaged skin.
Alternative sun protection methods
On top of general skincare, it’s a good idea to remember that UV rays can impact other parts of your body too. It’s a good idea to wear a sun hat with a wide brim to protect your scalp from sun exposure (this is particularly important if your scalp is visible or have thinner hair). You should also make sure to wear sunglasses with UV-resistant lenses outdoors.
Make sure you’re wearing lightweight clothing that won’t over-expose your skin too much to the midday sun as well, however tempting it might be. You can use thin cover-ups to help protect shoulders and try to remember to use suncream on your toes to avoid a pair of accidentally burned flip-flop feet!
Get sufficient liquids
You should aim to stay hydrated all year round, but this is something you need to pay particular focus to in the summer. The hot weather can cause you to perspire more, meaning you really need to keep your fluid levels topped up to make sure that your body can flush its system, carry nutrients around your body, remove bacteria from your bladder and maintain healthy bowel movements.
Staying hydrated also ensures your body has sufficient salts. Be vigilant when it comes to getting your recommended eight glasses of water a day and make sure to sip water while exercising. Failing to do this could cause you to suffer from feeling thirsty, dry or cracked skin, dry nasal passages, headaches, muscle cramps, dark urine and even mood changes or slow responses.
Exercise is still important
It can be tempting to slow down on the exercise during the summer months but it’s still important to keep on top of it. It is difficult when the weather heats up, so you’ll need to get smarter about it. Consider going for an early morning or early evening run when it’s much cooler. Adapt your exercise choices to suit the weather – don’t go in for heavy outdoor cardio such as football or rugby in the middle of a summer’s day, for example.
Remember to try and stay as hydrated as possible when exercising, this may mean you need to double up on your fluids on particularly hot days. And if you really can’t face exercising in the heat, make sure you at least try and get a 30-minute session of walking, yoga or even just some fresh air into your day.
These steps can all help to protect your health and wellbeing at this time of year. It’s definitely worth trying to work them into your routine!
