
I love swimming. It’s an amazing form of exercise for people who have bad legs and knees. The water makes you feel weightless and kicking and the swimming motions of the arms work the entire body. Back pre-baby when I was doing well with losing weight, I lived at an apartment complex that I had access to the pool at late nights. I would go around 10-11pm at night every night and swim laps for a half hour or so for exercise. I was too self conscious to do much during the daytime.
Now, the swimsuit that I got at the end of last season is a little baggy. I still wore it today to the pool, during the daytime (while other people were there! -gasp-) and took the kiddo … we swam laps and played around for a few hours. I applied water resistant sunscreen but it wasn’t very resistant at all. Kiddo’s face is red and my face and shoulders/back are bright lobster red.
So here’s the thing that I just discovered: sunburns can effect blood sugar! The stress to the skin and inflammation can cause increased insulin resistance and increased gluconeogenesis, which means the liver produces more glucose and it increases the blood sugar. Increased cortisol levels can also stimulate the release of glucose from the liver. Sunburns can lead to dehydration, which also will concentrate blood sugar levels. Cue “the more you know” jingle.

So moral of the story: I wanted a tan, and I should achieve that after the redness and peeling is over, but I need to find more water resistant sunscreen for the future because it’s not worth the blood sugar level increase to look darker. I’ll bust out the Jergens healthy glow tanning lotion. For everyday wear I use the CeraVe moisturizing suncreen for my face, but it isn’t waterproof so it’d be useless then.
Either way, I had so much fun at the pool and hope to go many more times this year. Swimming is my favorite form of exercise and I will suffer the burns – for now.