The Effects Of Sunshine On Health

Are you afraid of the sun? Sunbathing used to be very fashionable years ago. Everyone wanted to have a nice dark tan. Teens used to spend hours on the beach or in the pool, building that perfect tan. In those days sunscreen was not known as a necessity. In fact, sun worshipers even used oil or whatever else they could find, that would promote the maximum UVB ray exposure to their skin.

Then things changed. Doctors suddenly were warning of the dangers of Melanoma, (skin cancer) for unprotected skin. Wrinkles and age spots were linked to sun exposure. Mothers began rubbing sunscreen on their children before they went outside to play.
Today the fear of the sun has almost become a phobia. But today there is evidence that moderate exposure is actually healthful to the human body.
The body makes vitamin D, when the skin is exposed to sunlight. This is why vitamin D is called the ‘sunshine vitamin’. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and is considered important for bone health. Deficiencies of vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis and rickets in children.
People who have deficiencies of vitamin D are likely to die sooner, said Austrian researcher, Harold Dobnig, an internist at the University of Graz in Austria.
Other studies have indicated, vitamin D may protect against cancer, peripheral artery disease and tuberculosis. U.S. researchers have said vitamin D may also extend the lives of patients with colon or rectal cancer.

Dr. Michael F Holick, a professor of medicine, dermatology and biophysics at the Boston University School of Medicine, has found evidence that vitamin D can ward off a host of debilitating diseases. Dr. Holick, who discovered the active form of vitamin D, says it helps hyperextension, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and depression.

For vitamin D to perform its biochemical role in body cells, it must first be converted into an activated form: vitamin D hormone. According to Dr. Holick, immune cells in the skin, called dendrite cells, convert vitamin D3 (produced in exposed skin in response to sunlight) into its active form. This “active” vitamin D3 then causes T cells to make surface changes that allow them to migrate to the uppermost layer of the skin.
These new studies indicate that some sun exposure helps fight off skin cancers. A blast of sunshine could fight skin diseases and cancer by attracting immune cells to the surface of the skin. Even the skin disorder psoriasis, is sometimes treated with vitamin D3 creams.

During the long winter months of the North, the seasonal affective disorder can affects one’s memory and cognitive behavior. This disorder is commonly known as SAD. Sunshine is a great mood buster because it increases the brains serotonin levels. Sunshine is also all you need to avoid the loss of cartilage of the knees, making joints healthy as well.

Many doctors agree, that people with low levels of vitamin D cannot make up for it safely, by sitting in the sun, but should take supplements. Researchers have found that people living just below the equator in Australia produce 3.4 times more vitamin D than people in Britain and 4.8 times more than Scandinavians
The proximity to the equator, affect the long Ultraviolet wavelengths as well as the short Ultraviolet wavelengths. The darker a person’s skin, the longer he or she has to be in the sun to form a significant amount of vitamin D. Sunscreen should be worn to block the long Ultraviolet wavelengths that trigger the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

Conclusion:
Don’t be a ‘sunphobe’ or a ‘sun worshiper’ instead, try for relatively brief but unfettered exposures to sunshine several times a week. Don’t fear the sun or worship it, just respect it.


By  Renee Rotto