Her Sports + Fitness Magazine

Sun Scare

Here's one more reason to slather on the sunscreen before your next run. On July 10, the Washington Post reported one very startling statistic: A study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology reports that since 1980 there has been a 50 percent increase in new melanoma cases in young women ages 15 to 39. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute worry that these numbers could lead to even more cases in older women. The analysis further revealed that cases of melanoma in young women have gone from 5.5 cases per 100,000 per year in 1973 to 9.4 in 1980, and they continued to rise to 13.9 in 2004.

Interestingly, the rate has leveled off in young men during that same time period. Although no cause for the difference was identified, researchers speculate that in recent years women have increased tanning exposure (especially through indoor tanning beds) or that perhaps young women's propensity to use sunscreen more often than men may lead to more overall sun exposure.
      
Whatever the cause may be, one thing is certain: Melanoma is to be taken seriously. The American Cancer Society reports that in 2008 there will be 62,480 new cases of melanoma in this country. And about 8,420 people will die of this disease this year.
      
To learn more about how to protect your skin by choosing the right sunscreen, read Marisa Walker's article, "Sun Smarts," in the July/August issue of Her Sports + Fitness.--Jeana Durst

Protect your skin: get a free skin cancer screening

As athletes, many of us spend hours training in the sun, and don't always slather on sunscreen before every workout. But it's particularly important now, as we enter the sunny, UV-filled months of spring and summer. Sunburn- and cancer-causing UVB rays are strongest April through October in the U.S.

Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is also one of the easiest to prevent and treat if caught early. Those at higher risk to develop the disease include fair-skinned, light hair- and eye-color people like me; those with family members who have had skin cancer; people who've used tanning beds; and those with more than 100 moles or with moles that match one of the descriptions here.

So start your summer season off right: Get a free skin cancer screening courtesy of the American Academy of Dermatologists. Click here for a list of doctors offering free screenings this spring, timed to coincide with Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention month every May.

—Kristin Harrison

It's Never Too Late

Gina Kolata's "Staying a Step Ahead of Aging" in the New York Times reported a new study's conclusion that even its authors found surprising: you can start exercising late in life and see significant health benefits and improvements in your fitness level, defying the convention that you'll only lose athletic ability as you age. The trick may be knowing how to train. It seems that quality, in fitness terms meaning workouts of hard intensity, can be worth more to your body than quantity. Following specific training programs, a few runners in the study even managed to post faster race times in their 60s than in their 50s. That worn out excuse, "I'm too old to ... run a marathon, train for a triathlon, learn to kayak" (take your pick), just lost its last shred of believability.

—Kristin Harrison