What Actually Happens When You Get a Sunburn?

When you get a sunburn, your skin gets hot and sore because it’s being hurt by something invisible called sunlight.

Imagine your skin is like a soft blanket made of tiny little cells, and sunlight is like a very strong, invisible ball that hits the blanket. When the ball hits the blanket too much or too fast, the cells get angry and start to swell up, just like when you bump your knee and it turns red and sore.

Sunlight has parts in it called UV rays, which are really good at making your skin tan, but if there’s too much of them, they can also make your skin burn. It's like eating a lot of candy all at once, it might be fun at first, but then your tummy gets upset.

Your body tries to protect you by sending help in the form of pain and heat, so you know something is wrong. That’s why your skin feels hot and hurts when you get a sunburn. Sometimes, it even peels, like when you peel an orange after it’s been sitting out too long!

After a while, your body heals itself, and the soreness goes away, just like how a scrape on your knee gets better after a few days.