With the heat that has moved into the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area, there’s one outdoor activity that can help people stay cool.

Swimming can be a lot of fun, but if you’re in the summer sun, there’s something that the water can do that will put you at risk. Guthrie County Health Services Director Jotham Arber says that if people are wearing sunscreen like they need to, the water from swimming can wash it off faster than if they were doing things out of the water. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio how to combat this.

“Making sure that we’re reapplying very regularly. If your kids are swimming at a community pool, they’ll have times where they have to get out of the pool during the day. They’ll blow their whistle and everyone gets out and they take a break. That’s the perfect opportunity if you’re out there to take a look and make sure that that sunscreen is being applied, and it’s being applied everywhere.”

Arber explains that reapplying sunscreen every two to three hours is what is recommended, but that there are also manufacturer recommendations that can be found on the bottle of sunscreen. He adds that there are also some sunscreens that are water resistant or waterproof, and that they will last longer while swimming than regular sunscreen will.