Another reason I mistrust the medical profession:*

[capri0mni]

*Usual disclaimer: individual professionals may be pure of heart, and noble of intention, but the system in which they've learned their craft and practice their art, pits them against ... Well, everything that is not the system.

Yesterday, in a radio segment on summer health, I heard the dermatologist who was being interviewed on the dangers of skin cancer and avoiding skin burn say that the best and healthiest clothing you should wear, when you go out into the sun is:

** ** **Drum Roll** ** **

Heavy, dense fabric of a dark color -- such as a nice, heavy weight denim, that lets no light leak through the weave.

ahem.

I joke you not.

She never even gave the hint of awareness that this runs absolutely counter to every other piece of medical advice we're given for surviving in the hot weather.

(though she did kind of admit that not everyone would want to do that... you know, be comfortable with that choice).

Save yourself from skin cancer! Kill yourself with heat stroke!

No wonder our health "care" "system" is such a mess.

Comments

[jekesta]

I completely totally take your point, but recently there has been quite a lot of stuff about wearing dark colours to stay cool in hot weather, because although it absorbs heat from the sun, it also absorbs heat from your body and sends it away. So if there's a breeze, hot clothing can be really good, which is why a lot of people who live in the desert wear robes which are darker. But yes, dense dark denim is maybe not the greatest choice, I know. I'm just cross with people for thinking I'm a fool because I DON'T UNDERSTAND wearing white in summer, it just makes me SO HOT. But that's because my body temperature is *always* too high anyway, so in summer it's even worse and light clothes are TERRIBLE.

[spiralsheep]

YES! Loose clothes are so much better for heat insulation in both summer and winter (with added layers in winter). Think AIR conditioning and how sweat/water moves.

[capri0mni]

Ah, good point about heat absorption going both ways... And people should totally respect that you know how best to be comfortable in your own skin.

But, if that's the case, the chosen expert-of-the-day could have said something like: "I know that most of the advice out there tells you to wear light-colored clothing, but actually..." Instead, it was like she believed her field of expertise was the only one in the world, and she had the only relevant information, and so why are the teeming masses of the public so confused?

And yes, I know that for myself (when I have to be out in direct sun, at least, and not hiding in the shadier corners of my house) wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants make me feel a lot cooler than exposing bare skin. I just wish I could get longer sleeved shirts and pants in light weight fabrics, so the breeze can get through, and help evaporate sweat).

[jekesta]

wish I could get longer sleeved shirts and pants in light weight fabrics, so the breeze can get through, and help evaporate sweat

OH MY GOD THIS. I can't believe all the short sleeved-ness of summer clothes, it makes NO SENSE to me at all.

[capri0mni]

You where else I hate having bare arms and legs? The grocery store. I HATE the super-refrigerated air directly on my skin. I have to wear long sleeves, and pants down to my ankles, or I am so uncomfortable, I have trouble forming a single coherent thought, and end up coming home and realizing I forgot about a third of my list and/or that I bought the wrong things...

[spiralsheep]

As someone who had my first skin cancer aged 23, I keep up with the latest research and suspect her advice is out of date. The two best defences against most skin cancers (but not all cos some are caused by injuries other than radiation-related mutation) for most people* are either no sunlight at all ever (which denim doesn't ensure) OR regular low exposure to sunlight that's strong enough to activate most people's skin self-defences without damage/burning.

* I am an exception to this rule, as are some other people with specific medical conditions.

[pebblerocker]

When I hear advice like that, I interpret it as: Wearing heavy clothes over your whole body is a perfectly OK way to dress in really hot weather because when you're dying, what's a little discomfort one way or another?

It was frosty at my place this morning, really icy. A beautiful sunny day once the fog lifted, but not warm... and this evening, once the sun was just about to set and the cold was descending again, a child rode past my house wearing a T-shirt and very short shorts. I don't think other people experience temperature the same way I do -- or at all.

[capri0mni]

I have only the vaguest memories of being a child, except that a) I could fall asleep anywhere, or any time -- even in a strange bed, or on the floor in a room crowded with loud-talking adults -- and that I was far more comfortable in a wide range of temperatures than I am now.

I think it's because our metabolism shifts as we get older, or something.