This story is taken from an article published in the Take a Break Magazine, entitled..
GET SOME REAL SUNNY D
It’s a glorious morning. Do you put on shorts and a T-shirt and go out and enjoy the sun? Or do you slap on the factor 30, trousers, a long sleeved shirt and a hat?
Five years ago the advice was clear cut. The sun was nearly as bad for your health as cigarettes and, if you couldn’t avoid it, it was essential to cover up. But new studies are suggesting the benefits of basking in the sun outweigh the risks.
Skin specialists advise us to shun the sun in order to avoid a rare but fatal cancer, malignant melanoma. Harmful ultraviolet rays in sunlight can cause other skin cancers too, although these don’t usually kill.
And there’s no doubt that too much sun also dries out the skin causing many of the wrinkles we blame on old age. However until now the other side of the story has received much less publicity.
Recent research has shown that sunlight protects us against other killer diseases that are much more common than melanoma such as Sclerosis Diabetes Cancers of the Colon, Breast and Prostrate.
The protection is bestowed by Vitamin D which our bodies make when exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D also Strengthens Bones and elderly people who seldom go out into the sun are far more at risk of serious falls and injuries as a result of this vitamin deficiency.
There is also strong evidence to suggest that Vitamin D lowers Blood Pressure and protects against heart Disease.
Fact: More heart attacks occur in the UK during the winter Months.
Residents of Mediterranean countries suffer far less from heart disease than we do and for years it was assumed it was because of their diets, rich in olive oil and fish that protected them. Now research indicates that it is also the sun that plays a very important role.
then there is the Feelgood factor. Thousands of people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D) or Winter Depression that is caused by the lack of sunlight. Depression aside everyone feels better when the sun is shining.
Even the skin cancer story is not straight forward, people working outside are less likely to get skin cancer. The most at risk are People who allow their skin to burn when sunbathing outdoors.
Even today there is still no proven evidence anywhere in the world, that using Sunbeds has ever caused a single case of skin cancer!
Article written by Ann Kent.
The Healing Sun. by Richard Hobday. Findham Press
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