14 DAY TRIAL // If there is one thing nobody can stand about summer, that is the nasty-looking burns bound to appear on the otherwise flawless skin of those ill-inspired enough to sunbathe for too long and not use any sort of protection.
Well, in case you were wondering what sunburns are and what exactly causes them, here's a video that will hopefully shed some light on the matter.
Light that reaches us from the Sun contains a great deal of radiation in the ultraviolet spectrum, which means that it can damage the cells that form our skin. Interestingly, our body detects this radiation and reacts to it.
In a nutshell, us getting tanned is just our body revving up the production of melanin, a pigment that can absorb ultraviolet radiation and thus keep us safe.
As for sunburns, they are basically agglomerations of cells in our skin that melanin failed to keep safe and that, having had their DNA damaged, choose to kill themselves to avoid becoming cancer precursors.
With all these cells committing suicide, blood flow to the area increases to speed up healing and the skin becomes red and warm, i.e. a painful sunburn.
The reason doctors keep telling us to use sunscreen when going to the beach or when simply spending too much time outdoors in broad daylight is because sunscreen packs compounds that block ultraviolet radiation.
