Whether you intend to holiday abroad this year, holiday closer to home or enjoy the sun in your own back garden, here’s a pair of useful first aid supplements that may help you enjoy the sun without risk of discomfort.

The best advice for sunbathing is of course to be careful. The harmful damage caused to our skin by direct exposure to sun light is well documented.

We all know the rules: stay out of the midday sun, and apply high sun protection when sunbathing.

However, we still can get caught out, especially on good days at home when it’s often difficult to judge the amount of sunshine we are actually being exposed to.

Beta carotene is a useful supplement which will further protect your skin when exposed to the sun. Beta carotene (a precursor to Vitamin A) is an antioxidant which strives to mop up the the harmful free radicals created by UV rays on the skin’s surface.

It works to protect the skin from the sun and to reduce the risk of sun burn.

Beta carotene also encourages the formation of melanin at the skin’s surface. Melanin is the natural skin pigment which produces tanning and the more of it we produce, the better we tan.

Beta carotene therefore has a dual beneficial effect – it helps reduce the risk of burning while increasing the level of tanning.

It is also effective in helping prevent prickly heat, which is a scourge for its many sufferers when trying to enjoy the sun.

Prickly heat, or heat rash, appears as small, fluid-filled blisters on the skin surface, and may occur anywhere on the skin surface.

The skin becomes red and hot and is itchy and prickly. Prickly heat is caused by excessive sweating of the skin due to its exposure to intense heat.

The sweat glands in the skin become blocked and the trapped sweat causes the skin to itch within a few days.

The rash is harmless, and usually settles after a few days out of the sun, but people who know they suffer from it, often prefer just to avoid the sun altogether.

Beta carotene increases the skin's ability to cope with intense heat, and so reduces the amount we sweat in the sun. Many people who suffer from prickly heat find supplementing with Beta carotene transforms their ability to enjoy the sun.

If holidaying abroad, it is best to take Beta carotene daily for at least a week before travelling, continue while you are away and then for a few weeks after you return home, to help prolong the duration of your tan.

If holidaying at home, take Beta carotene daily throughout the summer months so that whenever the sun does appear, you are ready for safe bathing.

Many insects bite, including ants, ticks, midges and mosquitos. Most bites are relatively harmless, but can be a real nuisance, causing intense itching and redness.

In Fermanagh, we are very familiar with midge bites. Some people suffer more than others, and midges can be enough of a nuisance to cause some people not to venture out in the evening sun.

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) may help to prevent bites. Thiamine releases a sulphur-type smell through the skin which causes insects to recognise us as 'vegetable' rather than 'human'.

You and those around you don’t pick up on the smell – which is just as well, as sulphur can be offensive. The intensity of the smell is discreet, so humans can’t smell it, but insects, with their more heightened sense of smell, can, and stay away.

Thiamin can be very particularly effective against midges at home and and mosquitos abroad.

If you are travelling abroad, supplement with thiamine daily for a week before travelling, and while you are away.

If you are prone to insect bites at home, supplement with thiamine daily throughout the summer months.