Why use sunscreen, when and which cream to choose? A few days before the summer vacation, Doctor Jimmy Mohamed reminds listeners to Europe 1 of the importance of protecting your skin from the sun's rays, which accelerate skin aging and promote skin cancer. The health consultant of Europe 1 also recalls that you have to choose your cream with care.

One week before the summer vacation, there is an essential object that should not be forgotten under any circumstances: sunscreen.

Often taken at the last minute in the supermarket, or lying around in the back of the medicine cabinet, it is however much more important than the charger of the phone, or even the swimsuit.

Even if it is pleasant to sunbathe on the beach, know that our skin does not like the sun and in particular UV rays which will initially accelerate skin aging, but also promote skin cancer.

>> Find Jimmy Mohamed's column every morning at 8:37 am on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

Sunburns are also caught in the shade

Prevention begins in childhood, because the main risk factor for skin cancer is overexposure to the sun without protection before the age of 15.

Indeed, five serious sunburns before adulthood increase the risk of developing melanoma by 80%.

But what are the rules for proper sun protection?

Before talking about cream, you must first follow a few simple rules: do not expose yourself to the hottest hours (between noon and 3 p.m.), put a t-shirt for children at the beach as well as a cap, not to mention sunglasses, because UV rays can also damage the eyes, especially those of children.

For the rest, you just need to buy a sunscreen with a good protection factor, knowing that you can also get sunburns in the shade, under the parasol.

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Protection index of at least 30

UV rays bounce off almost any surface.

It is therefore necessary, even in the shade, to put on sunscreen.

Regarding the choice of this cream, it is better to buy one with a good protection factor of at least 30.

What does it mean ? If, in normal times, you get a sunburn in 10 minutes, a protection factor of 30 will protect you 30 times 10, that is to say 300 minutes. All this is theoretical, however, and works as long as you put on enough sunscreen, because on average you need to put the equivalent of six teaspoons of cream on the body of an average adult. A rule very little respected in practice, since most of the time, the French apply a quarter of this recommended dose.