When it’s freezing cold outside, it’s easy to forget about sunscreen in the winter. But, we’ve all tried it, and we’ve all paid dearly for it. Snow and ice, like water, reflect sunlight, making it more essential than ever to use sunscreen and take care of your skin and lips.

The good thing is that when it’s cold outdoors, our skin is often less visible, making our sunscreen regime a little more straightforward. You may be less likely to use sunscreen now that the weather has cooled and you won’t be basking in the sun. But here’s the thing: you really must wear sunscreen in the winter. Read on to find out how to do it right. 

Use Physical Sunscreen In The Winter 

Chemical sunscreens absorb the sun’s rays, but physical sunscreens divert or prevent them. While physical sunscreen, which comprises zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, is the hardest to apply, it produces excellent all-year protection.

Compared to chemical-based sunscreen, which is usually either UVB or UVA blocker, physical sunscreen gives better broad-spectrum coverage. Furthermore, physical blockers act for a more extended amount of time, providing more coverage and needing less re-application. They’re also less abrasive than chemical blockers.

Sweat Is Important 

Many people believe that using your daily SPF moisturiser once in the morning is enough to provide coverage for the entire day. However, even if you’re wrapped up and outside, your skin always perspires, and you should renew SPF during the day. Before leaving the house, apply a naturally healing and moisturising sunscreen in the winter with an SPF of at least 30, and allow it to absorb into your skin fully.

Watch Out For Spots 

Sun exposure causes freckles, age spots, spider veins on the face, rough and leathery skin, small creases that disappear when stretched, loose skin, a blotchy complexion, and actinic keratoses (thick wart-like, rough, reddish areas of skin). The sun also damages the elasticity in the skin, preventing it from springing back and causing wrinkled and leathery skin. To detect UV damage, look for rough, red skin, an increase in moles, and damaged blood vessels on the face throughout the winter. Also, keep an eye out for any wounds or bruises on your skin that aren’t healing properly, as this could be an early indicator of skin cancer.

Food Can Help 

Fruits and vegetables, in general, are strong in antioxidants and help us fight free radicals and sun damage. In contrast, meat, dairy products, simple carbohydrates, sugar, and processed foods increase inflammation and can contribute to the worsening of solar damage. Conversely, foods high in vitamin C and antioxidants such as carotenoids and lycopene, such as leafy greens, peppers, squash, watermelon, blueberries, and tomatoes, can help reduce sun damage.

When you are involved in a car accident, it’s plain to see some of the injuries that can result. You’ll often have cuts and possibly deeper lacerations, as well as red marks on your skin. You might even have broken bones, depending on how severe the accident was. 

However, these initial injuries might not be the end of things, and more can occur days or even weeks after the accident. This usually happens because, due to the stress of the accident, the body is flooded with hormones and chemicals such as adrenalin and endorphins. It is only when the danger has passed and the body reverts back to normal chemical levels that more injuries might be noticed; if they are very serious, you may even need medical attention, as well as a car accident lawyer to help you claim compensation. Read on to find out what health problems can occur after an accident so you know what to look out for. 

Headaches 

Headaches are a common problem that can occur well after a car accident has taken place. There are several reasons that you might develop headaches including whiplash, concussion, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), muscle tension, or even head trauma that you were unaware of. 

No matter what you think the cause might be, or even if you can’t think of any reason to have developed headaches, you must seek medical attention right away as headaches and migraines can be extremely dangerous and indicate a serious underlying problem. 

Bruising 

Bruising is not something that happens immediately in most cases anyway, and it will take some time to develop after an accident of any kind, including a car accident. However, if the bruising is happening in a large area, or in an area that you hadn’t thought you had injured, you should seek advice from an expert. 

Bruising is a sign of internal bleeding (which can be fatal if left untreated), and the discoloration of the skin is blood pooling beneath it. Large bruises on the back, sides, or abdomen that occur days after an accident can be particularly worrying. 

Numbness 

If you suddenly lose the feeling in any part of your body after a car accident and it is numb to the touch, then you may have sustained nerve damage. This can take some time to manifest since the nerves will try to keep working, but as you use the area that is affected, the damage can become worse until you can’t feel your legs or arms (for example) at all. 

Tingling can be a sign of nerve damage too, and it is often the precursor to complete numbness. In both cases, go to an ER or speak to a doctor as soon as you can; never damage can be reversed if acted upon quickly enough. 

PTSD 

We have briefly mentioned PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) already, but it is a big problem that can occur many days or weeks, or even months after a car accident. PTSD happens when the body’s fight or flight response doesn’t ‘switch off’, meaning that the sufferer is always in a state of alertness. This will become physically exhausting, and mentally it can lead to depression, stress, and anxiety. 

Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, insomnia, high blood pressure, withdrawal from society, and mood changes among many other things. 

Have you ever thought about braces as an adult? Have you ever look in the mirror and thought that it would be nice to have straighter teeth? Or perhaps there is a different reason why you think braces would be a good idea. Sometimes it can be hard to know whether you really need them; if that is how you feel, read on for some useful advice and some tips on what to look out for. 

Image from Pixabay

Your Dentist Has Suggested It 

Gone are the days when braces were only for teenagers who had lost their milk teeth but whose adult teeth had come in wonky or too close together. That certainly used to be the case, but today braces are for everyone, and it could well be that your dentist has suggested you get braces to straighten your teeth. If this is something that has been commented on during a consultation with your dentist, it’s certainly worth paying attention to. After all, they are experts when it comes to teeth and oral health in general, and if they feel that braces would help you, you might want to discuss your options with a specialist. 

Gapping And Spacing 

If you look at a celebrity like Madonna or Zac Efron or Elton John, you’re sure to notice that they have gaps in their teeth. This is part of what makes them unique, and because it’s so well known, they wouldn’t change it now that they are famous. 

But that doesn’t mean that you have to like the gaps in your teeth. In fact, it might even be something that causes you problems with your confidence. Getting braces as an adult to correct this issue and close those gaps up can make a huge difference to your smile and ensure that your confidence levels are improved dramatically. 

Overcrowding

Conversely, you might have too many teeth that are too close together and they are crowding one another, the opposite of spacing and gapping. In some cases, this can cause problems when eating, although most of the time it will be a personal choice, much like when it comes to close a gap, as to whether you have braces to correct the issue. 

In this instance, you might also need to have some teeth removed to accommodate the space and ensure that the remaining teeth can be healthy and spaced correctly. 

Difficulty Biting 

Sometimes having braces fitted is not about changing the look of your teeth as such (although that will be one of the most obvious outcomes); it might be necessary due to a health issue. If you can’t bite or chew your food properly because of the way your teeth are set in your mouth you can develop eating problems. You might not eat enough because you simply aren’t able to do it. Or perhaps you’ll eat too much of the wrong types of food like ice cream or pudding because you don’t have to chew it. Plus there are many other problems that can develop too, including the fact that your speech may be affected. 

If this is your situation, then it is your doctor rather than your dentist – or a combination of the two collaborating – that will suggest the changes that need to be made. The sooner you can have your aligners fitted the better, and the change in your life and health will be amazing. 

The idea of exercise is always a positive one. The reality, of course, is often far different. By the time we get home from work we’re often exhausted or too busy to do any meaningful exercise. And it’s not just in the evenings that we have trouble getting it done – exercise is the thing that most often falls to the bottom of the to do list.

Yet knowing how important it is and how it can actively improve your mental health might be what makes the difference and gives you the impetus to do just half an hour or so of good exercise each day. Read on to find out just what it is about working out that keep your mental health positive.

Stress Relief for Better Mental Health

Studies have shown that exercising is good for reducing your stress levels. Stress can take a terrible toll on your mental health, and everyone is stressed to some degree. Some stresses might be small, easily dealt with, short term problems, and these are completely normal.

Others, however, might be much more dangerous. Long term – chronic – stress can cause many different health issues including:

• Heart disease
• Heart attacks
• High blood pressure
• Stroke
• Organ failure
• Ulcers

But it’s not just physical problems that long term stress will cause. Your mental health will suffer too. You could develop depression or anxiety, for example. So ideally you will want to reduce your stress as much as possible, and if you can do it without taking medication then all the better.

Exercise is a great way to relieve stress. When you are concentrating on working out, playing sports, taking a brisk walk, or however else you want to exercise, you aren’t thinking of the problems that are causing you stress. Even if it’s just for a little while, your work issues, relationships, money worries, even your health situation, can be forgotten, and if you can do that, your stress levels will reduce.

Better Social Life

Loneliness is a condition that is bad for your mental health if it goes on too long (although a little ‘me time’ every now and then can actually help you feel better). If you join a gym or go to a regular exercise class, or if you go running and get to see other people, for example, you can alleviate that loneliness for a little while.

Even for the most introverted of people, this brief moment of connectivity could be enough to make your loneliness disappear.

Anger Control

Some people have a problem controlling their anger, and this can make them become stressed which, as mentioned above, has a lot of problems associated with it. It can also cause problems with relationships, leading to loneliness, and it can make work difficult.

A good exercise regime will help to quell those feelings of anger, keeping them under control and allowing you an outlet for your emotions. When you get back to ‘real life’ you will feel happier, healthier, and find it easier to let things go rather than become angry over small issues.

If you find that your anger issues are more deep seated and exercise helps but only temporarily, then seeking expert advice is always the best course of action – your life is important and you need to be happy for as much of it as possible.

Conclusion

Exercise is something that we should all try to incorporate into our lives when we can. It might not be every day, it might not even be a regular occurrence to begin with, but getting started in the most important step. After that, as with anything, the more you practice the better you will get and the better it will feel.