06 August 2009

SUNGLASSES RAISE RISK OF CANCER

This reminds me of the related article I posted here on 07 July 2009 "Alarming Discovery on Sunscreen. Anyway, you can read the full article on sunglasses vis-a-vis cancer by clicking the link below:


The gist of this study is: "Sunglasses make the brain think it's dark and this means you're not starting the natural process of tanning. You're more likely to burn and therefore at more risk of skin cancer".

I reckon that the proper approach to this is to avoid the sun when it is at its peak usually from 9-10 to 2-3PM. The problem is when running an ultra race even during the hottest portion of the day. Personally, I would wear the proper clothing and sunglasses but only after I have exposed myself to the sun for several hours. In other words, I would expose myself, say from 6AM to 10AM so that my body would have already produced the natural substances for protection (melatonin, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, etc.) before donning the protective clothing and/or sunglasses.

4 comments:

  1. Very informative and first time to read such thing. It's a common blunder to wear sunglasses as early as 7am, to protect the skin underneath our eyes which are so sensitive and need further protection from the sun. Now I have other needed informations...

    Thanks.

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  2. Hi!
    My first time to visit your blog. Your posts, this one included, are very interesting!
    I've never run more than 42k so I haven't felt the need to wear sunglasses. And I'm still thinking if my body will cooperate when I try to ran an ultra (when, I don't know yet since I just started running the 42k races this year...) but I have a lot of respect to all ultra runners!
    --Alfred

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  3. Alfred, don't let the ultra bug bite you. :)

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  4. I just read Haruki Murakami's book and after reading that part where he joined the Lake Saroma ultra, it got me really interested...

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