Sunbathing

[Zuni]

Can somebody explain to me the point of sunbathing?

To me it just seems like the most boring thing ever, so I'm a little confused.

[gmpd2000]

Give your skin a darker color.

and give you cancer

Yup, that's it.

Edited August 28, 2014 by gmpd2000

[Camacha]

Of course, catching some sun is good for you, but splaying yourself out in the baking sun will hurt you pretty quickly. If not short term, it will in the long run.

[Zuni]

so, basically nothing is going for it but people do it all the time anyway. Right. One of those things.

[KerbMav]

It is basically a fashion thing.

Decades ago, when lower class workers had to sweat in the sun and got a deep tan, the upper class shielded themselves from the sun to retain their pale skin, to distance themselves visually by showing "I do not have to work hard".

Later on as more and more work was done indoors, the tan became a sign of "Look, I made it, I do not have to work all day. Or at least I am making enough money I can afford extended vacations in southern countries".

Maybe biologists could join us here, because humans evolved outdoors and the tan is nothing more than our skin building up protection against sunlight. We need sunlight to produce vitamin D in our skin and it is supposed to have other positive effects - just a question of how much is really needed and still healthy.

[LittleQuazar]

Noo, its cose u can live only drinking water and sun gazing

http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/28-08-2006/84110-sunlight-0/

[Javster]

Noo, its cose u can live only drinking water and sun gazing

http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/28-08-2006/84110-sunlight-0/

OBVIOUSLY the sun can provide you with nutrients, in fact sungazing too long makes you fat!

[Rabid Bat]

The point of sunbathing is to prematurely age your skin, give yourself skin cancer and possible eye damage.

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Can somebody explain to me the point of sunbathing?

To me it just seems like the most boring thing ever, so I'm a little confused.

Your body craves vitamin D, the only way to get the vitamin is from exposure to sunlight. You can't get it in a supplement and it's not found in any food we eat. Plus the warmth feels good, makes you happy, etc.

So in short, it's good for you.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Capt.Joseph Kerbertson
Changed correct vitamin.

[lajoswinkler]

Relatively short exposures (compared to the stuff stupid people do) are beneficial because of vitamin D synthesis and serotonin etc.

Exposing yourself more than you need is pure fashion and the main factor behind a large increase in melanoma. Before modern times of supermarkets (I'm using them because they're like a temporal beacon in the timeline) the structure of society was a lot more different. Basically what KerbMav said.

Even the working class protected itself because no one in their right mind thought that baking in the sunlight was a smart thing to do. People wore protective clothing, hats, avoided the sun if possible, just like any other animal when confronted with a negative stimulus.

Nowdays, the fashion industry, something totally nonexistent before modern times, fabricated the need and the appeal of tanned skin. All of the sudden it was fashionable, a social marker for "I'm a cool dude". Sun booths started opening, production of ultraviolet quartz lamps skyrocketed particularly in USA. Being dark was suddenly appropriate... but not too dark, otherwise you "belong at the back of the bus".

More than a decade later melanoma started rising and pharmaceutical companies and doctors realized s*it is about to hit the fan unless something is done. Protective sunscreen creams were developed with increasingly large protection factors. That slowed down the speed of growth of melanoma incidence a bit.

80s brought us the increasing awareness of ozone depletion. Sunscreen factors finally started going over 30, but people still mostly didn't give a f*ck. Melanoma was growing in incidence.

Nowdays, with the spread of WWW, new kinds of douchebags are heard - the ones that blame the sunscreens for melanoma, which is unsupported by evidence. Time will show what will happen next.

Sunscreens are historical firefighters trying to put down a fire in an oil refinery. Without them, hell would break loose, but the hoses aren't enough, so the fire is still growing.

[Seret]

I grew up deep in the Southern Hemisphere, where we had the ozone hole and you could get sunburn in 15 mins. As a result I've got a deeply ingrained instinct to find shade when it's sunny. Slip, slop, slap was pummeled into us as kids.

Now I live in the UK, where as soon as it's sunny all the office workers run down to the nearest park and strip down to their underwear at lunchtime to try and catch some rays. Nutters.

However, in answer to the OP's question: it gives you a tan, which helps you get laid. End of story.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Seret

[Seret]

Before modern times of supermarkets (I'm using them because they're like a temporal beacon in the timeline) the structure of society was a lot more different. Basically what KerbMav said.

Even the working class protected itself because no one in their right mind thought that baking in the sunlight was a smart thing to do. People wore protective clothing, hats, avoided the sun if possible, just like any other animal when confronted with a negative stimulus.

I dunno about that. The older generation really didn't think anything of getting sunburned. My dad (born in the 30's) used to work outdoors all the time without protection, and has suffered the consequences of it in terms of mini skin cancers in his old age. Just look at old photos of WW2 in the desert (Desert Rats, and just look at these DAK idiots). The problem was serious enough that getting sunburned had to be made a chargeable offence under military discipline laws.

I think before people were aware of melanoma they were actually pretty careless. I don't know when actual sunbathing became fashionable, but people did used to strip off when working in hot weather.

[lajoswinkler]

I grew up deep in the Southern Hemisphere, where we had the ozone hole and you could get sunburn in 15 mins. As a result I've got a deeply ingrained instinct to find shade when it's sunny. Slip, slop, slap was pummeled into us as kids.

Now I live in the UK, where as soon as it's sunny all the office workers run down to the nearest park and strip down to their underwear at lunchtime to try and catch some rays. Nutters.

However, in answer to the OP's question: it gives you a tan, which helps you get laid. End of story.

UK is high up north, so the sunlight is not plentiful. Low angle of rays means lower UV content, too. What they're doing is good, unless they're burning once a week. That's even worse than steady, daily exposure without burning.

I dunno about that. The older generation really didn't think anything of getting sunburned. My dad (born in the 30's) used to work outdoors all the time without protection, and has suffered the consequences of it in terms of mini skin cancers in his old age. Just look at old photos of WW2 in the desert (Desert Rats, and just look at these DAK idiots). The problem was serious enough that getting sunburned had to be made a chargeable offence under military discipline laws.

I think before people were aware of melanoma they were actually pretty careless. I don't know when actual sunbathing became fashionable, but people did used to strip off when working in hot weather.

Some people, mainly in cultures where sunlight was scarce. Scandinavian countries, UK, Ireland, etc. American culture is extremely young. Those photos were made in the eve of commercialism.

People in the regions of the globe where sunlight is plentiful developed protection. Wide hats, white, light clothing. Even siesta is one of those protections.

I live in the Mediterranean so every time there are summer tourists from UK and other northern countries, they fry themselves to death and become instantly recognizeable.

They go around looking like very loud hotdogs.

[Seret]

Yep, lobsterman in full effect. They're a national embarrassment

[lajoswinkler]

That's the term? Lobsterman? LOL, I must remember that.

Lobsterman, lobsterman, does whatever a lobster can!

[Kryten]

Your body craves vitamin D, the only way to get the vitamin is from exposure to sunlight. You can't get it in a supplement and it's not found in any food we eat.

As long as you avoid fish, or fortified (i.e. the vast majority in western countries) milk, cereals, margarine, and plenty of others; and ignore the fact that supplements are actually available; then this is true.

EDIT:

That's the term? Lobsterman? LOL, I must remember that.

Do you have the proverb 'only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun'? Or is that just an english thing?

[lajoswinkler]

Do you have the proverb 'only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun'? Or is that just an english thing?

Nope, we don't have it.

I understand that the tourists want to experience the maximum in the few days of going to the beaches, but there's something called a sunscreen. Why don't they use it is beyond my understanding.