20 Jun Steps to protect yourself from skin cancer

Many people I know get regular exercise and eat pretty well.
But for being so health-conscious they use surprisingly risky judgment when it comes to the sun.
Did you know that malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, has been the fastest growing cancer in America for the past 20 years? In a recent report, it was ranked eighth among occurrence of cancers in this country and accounts for nearly 2 percent of all cancer deaths, according to www.About.com, but is moving up the line.
Many people take skin cancer very lightly.
“Oh, it’s nothing, a doctor can just cut out the mole or little skin area affected,” people might think.
Often, that is the case and the person with the melanoma can go on about their merry way.
However, malignant melanoma is also one of the fastest moving cancers and if it’s not caught in time can spread quickly to other parts of the body where it can do grave damage.
If you have a lot of moles and-or freckles on your body, or are very fair-skinned, you are more at risk for skin cancer. Also, if a mole has a change in shape and-or color, it may need to be checked by a dermatologist.
T o protect your skin, wear sunscreen, avoid tanning beds, and avoid any situation where you might get sunburned – be especially careful with children‘s skin in the sun as numerous studies show early childhood sunburn can lead to skin cancer as an adult.
The U.S government recently came out with new guidelines for how sunscreen labels are marked.
Only products that carry a “broad spectrum” label will be proven to offer some protection against UVA radiation as well as UVB radiation, according to a long-awaited new rule from the FDA.
“This is a very significant day for us. The FDA is announcing major changes in how sunscreens are regulated in the U.S.,” Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA center for drug evaluation, said at a news conference. “This will allow people to make better decisions and better protect themselves from sun-induced damage.”
Products currently labeled as “broad spectrum” may or may not protect against UVA. The new rule reserving the “broad spectrum” claim only for products that protect against UVA and UVB will not take effect until the summer of 2012.
To learn more about skin cancer on an excellent website, go to Tiffany’s Melanoma Foundation.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com