We’re all used to wearing sunscreen on sunny days or on holiday as we know that we’re being exposed to the UV light when the sun is out. But for a lot of the time, we’re inside, it isn’t summer, and its cloudy anyway. And yet, it seems we should still be wearing sunscreen because constant exposure to UV light can contribute to premature ageing by causing wrinkles, lines, and dark spots.
- We know that it’s sensible to wear sunscreen on sunny days.
- Most of us spend a lot of time inside and when we’re outside often it isn’t sunny.
- We should still be wearing sunscreen every day to try and minimise skin damage.
Given the unpredictable nature of UK weather, we’d be forgiven for thinking that saving the sunscreen for holidays and sunny days is perfectly reasonable as we spend a lot of time indoors, summer is only one of the seasons, and we can expect plenty of grey and overcast days throughout the rest of the year.
The problem is that even if we’re inside, even during winter spring and autumn, and even on cloudy days, we’re still being exposed to UV light from the sun which means that really, wearing sunscreen every single day should be as much a part of our skincare routine as cleansing and moisturising.
The reason for this is that we’re all exposed to UV rays when it comes through windows when we’re inside, the windscreen when we’re driving, or even when we’re taking the dog for a walk in the rain. Just going about our daily life exposes us to plenty of UV rays.
So, if our day involves being somewhere with windows (and actually, artificial lights emit some UV rays too even if it’s a low dose), even though we’re indoors, we’re still being exposed to UV light.
Usually, When we go outside and we can see that it’s sunny, we’re more likely to think about sunscreen – often because we don’t want to get sunburn, but we should remember that anything from around 30% to 80% of UV transmission will still occur through varying degrees of cloud cover – and it’s hitting our skin even though we can’t really tell.
Similarly, during the autumn and winter we’re still getting exposure during daylight hours even though the thought of summer sunshine feels like a long way off.
Wearing a daily sunscreen can really help minimise the damage done by the sun’s UV rays by providing a protective barrier and helping to protect against wrinkles, lines, uneven pigmentation and other signs of premature aging.
Increasingly, daily moisturisers already contain SPFs but adding a daily l 30-50 SPF facial lotion or cream to our skincare routine really is a smart decision.