The term "sunburn" describes red, painful skin that’s sometimes swollen. It arrives because of overexposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. How much UV rays reach you depends on the sun’s angle. The greatest time for sunburn is usually high noon in most locations. That’s when the sun’s rays pass most directly through the atmosphere.
Sunburn is more than a mild annoyance. Even mild ones are painful, and severe sunburn may require hospitalization. In medical terms, sunburn is caused by the body’s reaction to DNA excitation by the UV rays. In bad cases, it can cause skin cancer and other serious problems.
Sunburn is, of course, noticeable when the skin turns really red. But it may be accompanied by drowsiness and dilated pupils. The actual symptoms vary and are dependent on the amount of melanin in your skin, the length of exposure, and other factors. It typically takes a half-day to a day for a sunburn to peak. At that point, you may just have tenderness. In severe cases, you can get blistering, chills, nausea, fever and vomiting. In some cases, sunburn resembles shock as fainting or weakness may result.
It doesn’t take long for a sunburn to occur. For some, a burn can happen in 15 minutes or less. Once it happens, there’s little to be done to limit the damage that has already occurred. But there are some tricks and tips you can do at home to ease your discomfort. Some are obvious, but others are time-tested that date back to the day when more people were out in the sun working.