By Anaiya Patel

Whether it comes in spray, liquid, or solid form, whether it be sunny or cloud, and or even whether it be 30 or 70 spf, sunscreen is important for everyone no matter your age, skin tone, or health. Even if you are a young student with a darker skin tone and are in good health, sunscreen plays a vital role in preventing risks of skin cancer. Anyone can get skin cancer and it’s imperative that we take care of our skin as we only have one, especially as the days continue to get hotter and the sun beats down harder due to climate change.

Adithi Arunkumar (11th) says, “I started applying SPF 40 sunscreen on the most exposed areas which are my neck and face every day since middle school because I know it’s good for you skin and helps with the UV rays from the phone.” It is said that people should reapply sunscreen every two hours in order to effectively protect their skin from the sun when they are outside. So let’s say that you have an afterschool sport, and are required to play outside in the sun such as tennis, it’s important to reapply sunscreen whenever you get the chance regardless of if you tan easily or not as your skin is being constantly damaged by sun exposure.

Eiman Idriss (11th) says, “I wear 70 spf sunscreen because I was influenced by peers and it added a glow and I got excited.” There are two types of rays: UVA and UVB rays. According to nm.org it states, “UVB rays primarily contribute to sunburn through DNA damage, while UVA rays are more associated with tanning and aging.” These rays are literally everywhere, when it’s cloudy, snowy or when you are simply laying on your bed inside your house and the sun is shining through your window. Even if you don’t go out often applying sunscreen can still help your skin as it reduces premature aging of the skin such as wrinkles, sagging and age spots.

Arunkumar adds, “Spreading awareness for being indoors and not just being outside is important as anything is better than nothing.” Skin cancer doesn’t discriminate. According to skincancer.org it says, “1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70.” Idriss adds, “I wear sunscreen during my skincare routine in the morning as it’s cheap and it doesn’t break out my skin.” It’s good to build habits of putting sunscreen on as even putting it on once can help prevent risks of skin cancer. Dermatologists recommend using a sunscreen with at least 30 SPF, blocking 97% of the sun’s UVB rays. So while sunscreen doesn’t block 100% of rays it’s still better than nothing especially in this day and age where climate change rapidly increases temperatures and increases humidity levels.

Wouldn’t you agree that preventing a health issue is better even if it may be tedious than working on treating the symptoms of a health issue? This ruling applies to all sectors and aspects of life. Putting on sunscreen once per day takes around 2 minutes so why not? Sunscreen has multiple uses and regardless of the reasons, it’s benefiting you one way or another and virtually has no downsides. So sunscreen is in and climate change is out.