Sunburn and Exercise

Sarahbear83

This may seem like a silly question, but today was my son's field day and I was out in the mid-morning sun for about 3-4 hours. I forgot to put on sunblock and got a pretty bad sunburn. It's painful already, though I've taken a bath in vinegar water, taken ibuprofen and applied aloe gel several times.

My question is, should I skip exercise today and possibly tomorrow? I googled it and I can't find anything about exercising with a sunburn being okay or bad. I'm worried that the sweat will sting, more than it already does. By exercise, I mean Turbo Fire. I'm sure it would be okay to substitute in a brisk walk. Does anyone have any advice?

eellis2000

I'm not an expert but it seems to me with a sunburn your body is already working overtime to cool itself down which i think is why so many of us get tired when sunburned. i'd say take at least 1-2 days of walking or 1 day off

HelenTheKitchen

I'd at least take it very easy and not do something too intense. Sunburns can raise your body temperature and dehydrate you. Make sure you drink lots of fluids and if you start to feel dizzy or sick stop immediately. Take care of that burn hun, no fun, no fun at all.

cckeimig

Sweat will likely sting, I totally agree. My gut feeling is to replace the heavier workout with a brisk walk so you don't skip your workout altogether, but you don't hurt yourself either.

Drink extra liquids and listen to your body. Don't push things today or tomorrow.

menchi

I think the sweating will be fine as long as you clean off immediately after. Unless it's burning so bad the skin is peeling/cracking... I would avoid doing any exercise that puts the burn part of the skin in contact with something abrasive (e.g. if it's your shoulders, then doing crunches on the ground will irritate it). I'm guessing you won't know until you try and then you play it by ear. Do report back if you do try it, I want to know!

Sarahbear83

I decided to skip exercise yesterday, just because it was pretty painful. Thanks to lots of aloe gel and water, it had eased off a bit today. I wound up doing a HIIT 20 workout and Sculpt (with resistance bands) on Turbo Fire today. Skipping the workout affected my mood a lot, so I'm glad I decided to do one today. I did get a bit nauseous towards the end (last 10 minutes of a 50 minute workout). I think it was mostly due to the type of exercise I was doing and that I had already gotten so hot.

I was on my knees with the resistance band around my shoes, leaning backwards and pulling on the bands and then pulling myself back up. Some of my burn is on my shins, knees and lower thighs, so the bands and the mat were rubbing against it. The discomfort made me pretty sick to my stomach. I was able to continue after letting it ease off and finish off the workout with some push-ups. It felt great!

I'd say my recommendation for next time is to wear sunblock to prevent the burn. If I forget, just take the day off and drink plenty of water. Thanks for the advice everyone.

jessemayes13

fyi, dunno how old this is but stumbled across it, but put a hood on next time and run in the sun, no its not fun or comfortable but you will heal alot faster and burn less after a good long sweat and short hot shower... your pulling sweat through your pores, alowwing heat to escape and water to get through the layers of your skin

TinaTeeney

I was looking at all these as well, I sat in the sun all day on Saturday doing a yard sale and got REALLY burnt, lol ~ anyhow, tried to workout today, did my 35 min on treadmill (301 cal) and about an hour on the weight machines, was on leg press and felt like I was going to puke and pass out, so I stopped, was thinking I might go back to it if I felt better tonight but my belly still feels like I'm gonna puke :-(

KANGOOJUMPS

I would go and kick some butt, but that is me,,,