Beware! The sun isn’t always your friend…
Spending time in the sun is a great way to relax, enjoy your weekend, and get a great tan. You need time in the sun in order to have healthy skin, as the sun is the best source of the Vitamin D your skin needs.
Australia
We all know that spending TOO MUCH time in the sun can be bad for us, but did you know that there are some places around the world where the sun can actually be dangerous? In some parts of the world, the ozone layer has thinned out to the point that you can get a sunburn and seriously damage your skin in a very short amount of time.
If you’re worried about the sun, here are 8 of the most dangerous places in the world:
- Arctic Circle — There aren’t too many people living in the Arctic Circle–close to 1 million people from Russia, Scandinavia, Alaska, Canada, and the other countries that fall within this circle of latitude. According to TIME magazine, the ozone layer over the Arctic Circle has become precariously thin, especially the ozone immediately above the North Pole.
- Antarctica –– Once again, this isn’t one of the most populated parts of the world. There are no permanent residents on the continent, but at any given time of the year, between one and five thousand people are working at the research stations there. The ozone has also become depleted over Antarctica, making it dangerous for those staying there to be exposed to sunlight for too long. Who knew you could end up with dangerous hyperpigmentation from such a cold place?
- Chile –– Did you know that you can get a sunburn in just 7 minutes if you go outdoors at the wrong time of the year? The ozone layer above Chile is thinning, meaning there is far less protection from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
- Australia/New Zealand — These are two different counties, but both of them are seriously risky for those worried about skin cancer. In fact, these countries are the ones with the highest number of cases of skin cancer every year. Thanks to the holes in the ozone layer, it’s dangerous to be outdoors at certain times in the year.
Egypt
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- United States –– You’d think that the U.S. would be a safe place to be, but the truth is that the U.S. gets the most sun of any place on Earth. In the state of Arizona, the city of Yuma gets 11 hours of intense sunlight per day, while Phoenix gets 10.6 hours. Add that up, and that’s 4015 hours of powerful sunlight in Yuma every year, and 3872 hours in Phoenix. Las Vegas and Tucson are also on the list of the sunniest places on the planet!
- Egypt –– The Egyptian desert is famous for its intense heat and dryness, and the city of Asswan gets 10.6 hours of sunlight per day. Kharga also gets over 10 hours of sunlight, making Egypt a fairly perilous place to live if you’re worried about the health of your skin.
- Sudan –– Egypt’s neighbor to the immediate south, Sudan is another country with dangerous amounts of sunlight every day. With 10.4 hours of sunlight in the city of Dongola and 10.3 hours of sunlight in the city of Abu Hamed, you can definitely see the need for A LOT of sunscreen while visiting the Sudan.
- South Africa — As one of the countries closest to Antartica, it should come as no surprise that South Africa makes this list. With more than 11.4 hours of sunlight every day during the sunny months, it’s a place where you need to be very careful for your skin!
