Sun Cancer
Can avoiding the Sun put your health at risk?
That's a surprising question considering all the hoopla on preventing Sun Cancer! But the truth is that avoiding the sun can be one of the most damaging things you ever do for your health. But you would never know that as you're bombarded with studies, daytime talk shows, magazine articles, and supposed scientific facts that all warn you of the harmful effects of the Sun. The information makes sun-worshipers look suicidal and the new picture of health a pasty white body. You and the Sun - is one of the most MIS-REPRESENTED Topics out there today! Beings asked to make intelligent decisions for yourself when you only have 'bits & pieces' of the truth always adds up to faulty conclusions. Chances are, like millions of others, you don't fully understand the crucial role SUNLIGHT plays in your life. And you aren't aware that hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even you, are suffering the consequences of Vitamin D deficiencies due to a lack of sunlight. Without sufficient exposure to the UVB rays of the sun, your body can't produce the Vitamin D it NEEDS.
So is it "All" or "Nothing"? Should you immediately head outside and lay in the sun like a slab of bacon and fry? No - Of course not.
That isn't the answer either. Skin damage from the sun is a very real thing. What you need is the WHOLE Sunlight Story. Sunlight is as crucial to your body as food and water and once you know ALL the facts you'll see that, and be able to weigh things out for yourself. Approach the Topic of sun exposure as a necessity of life! It's not a question of IF you NEED Sunlight, YOU DO, it's essential to your health.
The question is:
1) How much?
2) How little?, and
3) How to protect your
skin from over-exposure?
Right? Right.
How Much? - The Intimate Relationship between Your body and Sunlight The "Sunshine" Vitamin Vitamin D was nicknamed The "Sunshine" Vitamin" because the skin produces it from ultraviolet rays. The natural process of the Suns UVB rays against your skin produces up to 80% of your body's vitamin D. In fact, your body can't 'make' Vitamin D without exposure to UVB energy, your body has a 'dependence' on the sun for optimal "D" health. Natural Food sources for Vitamin D are scarce and health officials recognized the problem years ago and ordered the fortification of our food supply. MILK became the vehicle of choice to deliver it in. But the largest source of Vitamin D is 'Your Own Skin!'
You Need
About "One Hour"
Of Unfiltered
Sunshine
Each Day For Optimal Health.
Here's the Key to Sun Exposure- don't BURN. You don't walk out into the sun and simply because the sun touches your skin become a candidate for skin cancer! Like everything else in life, when you apply some common sense and the facts to something, there's a reasonable approach to just about everything. For instance - if you expose your skin to intense sunlight for extended periods of time, could you get sunburned?? hummmm,...Yes,...you probably would! And THAT is what you want to AVOID. It's sunburned skin that is more susceptible to the kind of cellular damage that can create skin cancer issue and also, ages more quickly. That is why when the warm weather sets in, no matter how tempted you are to just go bathe yourself for hours in the sun, you want to initially only go out for short periods of time, especially during the peak 'hot hours' between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.. 'Work your way up' to more sun time as your skin adjusts for it. How does it do that? What happens that tells you that your skin in adapting? It TANS. Tanning is the body's answer to Sun exposure Tanning is a natural physiological response, when the body is exposed to the Ultraviolet rays of the sun it immediately goes to work producing "melanin", a pigment released into your skin cells for the purpose of darkening your skin. That is the body's way of protecting you from absorbing excessive solar radiation while still allowing you to take advantage of all the benefits the SUN has to offer you.You don't want to avoid the SUN,..you want to avoid BURNS. The dangers of Sun exposure have been greatly exaggerated, and the benefits highly underestimated. Without enough Vitamin D your intestines cannot efficiently absorb calcium and your body will NOT allow your blood calcium level to fall- so it has a back-up plan to compensate for deficiencies. It leaches calcium from your bones so your blood calcium levels stay normal and your heart and nerves keep working. Your bones make the sacrifice...they become weaker and more fracture-prone. The Health Benefits of SUNSHINE Just keep pouring in! Stronger healthier bones are only ONE health benefit of sufficient Vitamin D. Scientific Studies are popping up everywhere presenting indisputable evidence that Sunlight plays a large part in the prevention of Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Colon Cancer, and Prostrate Cancer,...vitamin D has also been associated with improvements in:
* Diabetes
* Heart Disease
* Arthritis
* Infertility and PMS
* Fatigue, Depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder
* Autoimmune Disorders
* Obesity
* Syndrome X
In a recently published exploratory study, mortality from multiple sclerosis (MS) was found to be reduced by exposure to sunlight.Depending on the degree of sunlight exposure, the risk of death from MS was reduced by up to 76%.~ Occup Environ Med 2000;57:418-421 How Little? - Avoid "Sunlight Starvation" - Your Largest Source Of Vitamin D Is Your Own Skin! Truth be told - It's tough for anyone to consistently get enough Sunlight and avoid Vitamin D deficiencies.
Here are just a few reasons why -
1) Aging - There is actually two ways aging comes into play. First - Studies have shown that our skins amazing ability to produce Vitamin D slows down with age. The skin becomes less productive. Second - it seems to be a pattern, that older people spend less time outdoors. 2) Working indoors all day - Your life just isn't geared for that one hour of 'sun time', every moment of daylight is spoken for from the time you get up to the time you go to bed on the week days. And the week ends are 'iffy'. 3) Sun Sensitivities - Maybe you are one of the thousands who are very sensitive to the UVB rays of the sun, and even a little takes you out of your game. 4) The Time of year makes it impractical to be outside - Oh the weather outside is frightful,..but my....opps, got carried away. Yes, some of us don't live 365 days on a Caribbean Island and are subjected to the colder climates and end up not going out except for necessity. Nutrition Experts have begun recommending "Supplementing" your Vitamin D intake to maintain optimum D healthThere are Natural food sources like fatty fish, salmon and mackerel. And there are fortified foods like milk and a few others, but really, all in all, they only supply a modest amount of Vitamin D. That is why Nutrition experts have begun recommending that adults take 800 to 1,000 IU of Vitamin D a day. The standard Multi-vitamin has about 400 IU and you can get the rest from a Vitamin D Supplement.(A lot of Calcium pills have Calcium in them, so don't forget to add that into your total consumption!) We discovered another resource for supplementing "Sunlight" in your life! We will discuss it at the bottom of the page. How To Protect Yourself - from Over-Exposure To The Sun
We can't emphasize enough, it's not "The Sun" that you need to protect yourself from, it's 'burning' yourself in the Sun.
It's important that you make that distinction so sunlight doesn't end up as one big "Warning" sign in your mind. Your body NEEDS Sunlight to function at optimum health.
To protect yourself, now that you know the facts, all you do is apply common sense and knowledge together -
* Try for an hour of "unfiltered" sunlight a day - because your skin is your biggest resource for Vitamin D and coming by it the most 'natural' way possible is best. Use this time in the sun for soaking up the solar nourishment it has to offer your body. Unwind, process life, we all need down time. No sunscreens to block the UVB rays this is "unfiltered" time, allowing the sun full access to your skin. That means an appropriate time of day needs to be chosen. And don't forget, that you still receive the benefits of UVB rays even in the shade. So erase the image from your mind that "unfiltered Sunlight" means "baking" in the sun.* As the warm weather hits remember to 'work up' to more time in the sun in order to avoid "burning" It is the skin that is burnt in the sun that is most susceptible to the kind of damage that can later cause you problems, including the appearance of Aging faster! * Tanning is your friend and the body's natural physiological response to the sun to protect you from excessive radiation exposure! Tanning is not a necessity in life, you can do it or not do it. But you don't need to avoid it because of "Fear". Tanning is healthy, burning is bad. *Sunscreens/Sunblocks are not all created equal!- Sunlight contains two forms of Ultraviolet Rays UVB and UVA.
UVB - are the rays that your skin needs to produce Vitamin D.
UVA - contributes to skin damage and aging your skin.
Not ALL sunscreens protect you from BOTH. When you see "SPF" (Sun Protection Factor) it can be misleading! SPF only applies to the protection from UVB rays, not UBA. And you might want to note, that UVB rays cannot pass through glass, but UBA rays can. Don't buy a Sunscreen/Sunblock based on what the LABELING says, most are deceptive. Go straight to the back and read the Ingredients! You're looking for Sunscreens that contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.
One of the most effective sunscreens we've found is:
* Neutrogena Sunblock Lotion Sensitive Skin SPF 30 - Titanium dioxide, 9/1% There is also:
* Banana Boat Baby Magic Sunblock - Titanium dioxide, 5.9%
* Blue Lizard Australian Sunscream Lotions - Zinc oxide, 5.7%
* California Baby Water Resistant Hypo-Allergenic Sunscreen SPF 30+ - Micronized titanium dioxide
Wear Protective Summer ClothingDuring the summer we usually wear light-weight clothing and our skin is still exposed underneath. That is where your sunscreen comes in. When out gallivanting around in the sun, you might consider a tightly-woven wide brim hat, long pants and a dark colored long sleeve shirt. But if covering up doesn't suit you, then lather on the sunscreen to protect your skin from over-exposure. There You Have It! Of course there is more information and pages to come, this is all the beginning. There are the topics of Tanning beds, and self-tanners....still to tackle. Why not share your opinions, comments and Questions with us! Create the content focus,..that is the whole idea, your participation makes this site more valuable to everyone! Fill out the form below - and "Thank you" in advance!
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