Everyone loves when the sun shines on your Sands Beach Resort holiday. There’s nothing to beat waking up every morning and stepping out of your villa or apartment beneath endless blue skies and the warmth of the sun on your skin.

But it’s also important to remember that while the sunshine sends our endorphins into hyper-drive and turns our family vacation into fun filled, heady days it can also be a real killer – literally.

The Canary Islands have often been described in history and literature as being the Islands of Eternal Spring because their perfect climate rarely gets too hot and certainly never gets too cold but in truth, without the summer trade winds to fan them, the islands in summer can be extremely hot.

Here in Lanzarote we have to be particularly careful as the delicious breeze can mask the true heat of the sun and lull us into spending far more hours on the beach or in the pool than is healthy for our Northern European skin. And as anyone who has ever suffered sun burn or worse still, sun stroke will attest – it’s simply not worth it.

So, with the sun almost at its summer zenith and summer in full swing, here are a few reminders that will help to ensure holidays in the sun fill our cameras and heads with wonderful memories rather than with painful ones. Remember – the longer you take to get a sun tan, the longer it will last when you get back home. Sun burn really doesn’t look cool and peels off as quickly and easily as it arrived.

Essential advice for avoiding sun stroke and sun burn:

• Put your sun screen on first thing in the morning before you get dressed, that way it has time to bond with your skin.
• Use a high factor screen, particularly on sensitive areas such as face and neck, chest, shoulders and knees. Children’s skin is particularly vulnerable so always use a factor 30 or above. Sun factors below 15 have very little effect in protecting skin.
• Re-apply sun screen regularly, particularly if you’re using the showers and pools.
• Wear a wide-brimmed sun hat to protect the top of your head, the back of your neck and your face from the sun.
• Limit the number of hours you spend in full sun, particularly between 11am and 3pm.
• Drink lots of water. In tropical climates such as ours it’s recommended that you drink 2 litres of water a day – that’s a large and a small bottle each. Avoid caffeine, tea and alcohol until the heat of the day begins to cool.
• If you fancy a snooze – head to the shade.

A few things you may not know:

• Leaving your sunscreen bottle in direct sunlight can reduce its effectiveness.
• Wet clothes let in more harmful UV rays than dry ones.
• Cloud is not a barrier to UV rays – many a person has been badly burned by that misconception.

Here at Sands Beach Resort we want you to have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the glorious weather but above all we want you to stay safe.