To think sunny holidays are actually incredibly dangerous

[Monikaems]

People go to the Mediterranean or other warm destination soley with the purpose of baking themselves in sun, often times this is done without sunprotection but even with sunprotection it can still be dangerous. The UV exposure from just two weeks in the sun can be months and months of what someone would get in the UK.

AIBU to think we should be better educated about the risks of sun exposure. It breaks my heart seeing little kids burnt.

Melanoma rates are increasing every year, we place warnings on sunbeds but not on sunny holidays. It seems absolutely bizzare that there is no warning on sun loungers about the risks of exposure.

AIBU

It breaks my heart seeing little kids burnt.
If something REALLY bad happens to these kids, what do you say? Because if you are heartbroken at sunburn, you're going to run out of ways to describe how sad you are before you get anywhere close to an actual problem.

Should have added we go on at least one sunny holiday a year. We never burn. My DH is Middle Eastern (still wears factor 20 but doesn't sit in the shade quite as much as myself and DS), I'm paler so DS and I are in the shade for a few hours over the 11-2/3 period. Always have hats and a good sun cream on.
At home I check the UV forecast over spring /summer and then decide if suncream is needed.

Warnings on sun loungers

😂😂😂

You see so many horribly burnt people on holiday, and even in the UK, as soon as the sun comes out. I think people do know the risks- unless they've lived under a rock for the past 30 years- but aren't bothered . Same as with healthy eating!

I am in a warm destination at the moment

Hilarious. I assume you're staying inside the entire time you're there?

I think people are being ab bit sneery about the OP.

It's a fair point that there are warnings on sunbeds but not on loungers, although I can see that suggesting the latter does sound a bit silly.

But as someone else said, you'd have to be living under a rock not to know about the dangers of the sun by now. Although again on the other hand, a lot of people IME seem NOT to know. Or maybe care.
I remember being on a beach with a group (in the UK, as it happens, but it was hot) and someone peered at her arm and said thoughtfully, 'Hmm, I'm a bit crispy, but I think I'll get away with it.' I was –why on earth just hope to 'get away with it' and why not be perturbed about being 'crispy'?

On hols I often see no end of people sprawled on beaches, harboursides etc in the hottest part of the day, sizzling away. So IME not everyone knows or cares about sun safety and not everyone is there (purely) to do 'watersports, or see cultural attractions, enjoy different types of food or relax.'

OP you say "often" this is done without sun protection. That is not my experience at all. Every single holiday I've been on in the last 10-15 years, every single person around me on trips, at the pool or beach, walking round European cities on tours etc, of every age and nationality, has applied suncream pretty thoroughly. I can only remember a group of UK teenagers on their first holiday away by themselves being a bit lax but after one got burnt and had to miss a trip to stay in a cool hotel room, the rest sharpened up their game and were slapping on the suncream.

I think the risks are very well known and if people still, after years of publicity and education about this issue choose to ignore the information, well that's their choice. Darwinism I guess.

Next we just need to take steps to avoid chemical creams with carcinogenic oxybenzone that's killing the coral and marine life and doing who knows what to people's insides, and move over to mineral, but that's another story.

I would only consider a warning in sun lounger appropriate if there was some warnings too on the very many causes of cancer

So warnings around the vegetable sections to remind people that not having enough Vegas will increase colon cancer.
Warning on bottle of diet soda
A huge warning when you start your (desired in particular) car as the fumes are known to be carcinogenic.
Same with the many chemical we use in he house etc...

Basically, there are millions of things around us that are carcinogenic. And getting cancer is NOT just about being exposed to that trigger. It’s also about the lifestyle people have and their diet etc etc.

Staying in the sun like this is crazy. Nit the least because it hurts. Getting plenty of sun whilst in hols is NOT an issue. No one is saying that we shouldn’t be getting more sun than there is in the U.K. unless you also assume that people everywhere in the world live extremely dangerous live (they dint btw. The rates of cancer aren’t higher in countries with some sun than in the U.K.). Getting some sun is actually good for your health.
But as for most things p, in moderation.

We live in a very sunny tourist destination and used to manage rental apartments - we were always finding half used tubes of sun cream on departure days, so yes, people are using sun cream, no need for signs on sun loungers

We even have a UV monitor at the beach which shows the current UV level

Look if someone is so much of an idiot that despite all the info we hear about sun cream/ cancer risk/ sun damage they decide not to wear any suncream that is up to them.

The info is out there, we all know. Do we really need warnings on everything?

Funny how the increase in skin cancer has gone up with the increase in suncream use

I am agog at someone's FB pic of her husband ( on his 50s) who has severe sunburn from lying on the beach in this country with no sun cream. All week.
He looks in agony. She is finding it funny.

As an entrepreneur eyeing up the compo trade, WIBU to start a new 'sue them for compo' line in negligent owners of sun loungers ? oh how I wish there was a collective noun for that

A plastic of sun lounge owners?
A burn?
A fake tan?

I know plenty of idiots people who burn after a day out on a good day in the UK. I'm quite capable of protecting myself and DD from the effects of sun and heat anywhere in the world.
YABU

I do however like teyems idea

like eating salad for lunch to have a pizza for dinner

because none of us have ever done this....

Being facetious there, I had a little melanoma scare last year - line under my finger nail - biopsy that turned out clear. Get tested people!!
Melanoma under your nails is one of the only kinds of skin cancer which has nothing to do with sun exposure apparently. And yet I also know someone who had a little red patch on the side of her finger that took her at 45.

I don't really sunbathe anymore, but I do love to be warm in the shade!

This can go the other way. Huge swathes of the population are vitamin d deficient.

Holidays are what you make of them. My worst sunburns were in my teens before I ever went abroad. I got so excited about the glimpse of sun in the UK I stupidly forgot to wear suncream and went lobster red, once with blisters.

You can go abroad and eat pizza and chips and stay in direct sun for 8hrs a day. Or eat local healthy food, wear a decent SPF and stay out of the midday sun. It's like any lifestyle choice really.

Teyem 🤣🤣🤣

I don't know, there's enough to worry about in this world without being concerned that some people are happy to turn lobster red. Let them get on with it.

I also agree that vitamin D deficiency is more concerning. The study in the 1930s of sailors that discovered the link between sunburn and skin cancer has recently been reassessed. They found the same sailors had much lower rates of other very serious disease because they were getting enough vitamin D. My DH is a doctor and he worked in Germany for 6 years seeing people of various nationalities living in Germany (including Brits) he found they were ALL vitamin D deficient and stopped testing them. He just told everyone to take more Vitamin D. The paranoia about the sun in the UK is just because we don’t see enough of it! Of course our pale skins are to compensate for the lack of Vitamin D (by that I mean evolution developed pale skin in Northern climes because they absorbed what little sunlight there was, better).

Take regular sunny holidays, wear hats and take sensible precautions but seriously, we need more vitamin D, not less!

Where are you seeing all the sunburned people OP? Surely you are not in a hot country as that would be incredibly dangerous.

Just to say, that you can burn just as easily on a cloudy day too...it is the UV that causes the damage and 80% of those rays get through the clouds.
You will not always be protected in the shade either as the rays bounce and reflect.

The sun is really important to health both mental and physical. The sun's UV rays help your body make nutrients important for your bones, blood cells, and immune system. It also helps you take in and use certain minerals, like calcium and phosphorus.

The rise of ricketts is scary where kids are not getting enough sun exposure.

Burning isn’t good everyone knows that but labels on sun lounges is just daft.

We live in Spain. It's currently 42 degrees. The streets are like a ghost town, nobody that lives here goes out in this. We go out in the evenings.

In the city centre the only people you see out are the tourists, baking themselves and drinking beer. They're insane.

I also agree that vitamin D deficiency is more concerning.

I agree too. My colleague who never goes abroad and doesn't go in the sun even in the UK, has recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis and was extremely vitamin D deficient.
One of DD's friends has rickets.