While Summer Beach Days May Be Gone, Should You Assure You Get ENOUGH Sun during the gloomy days?

Were the Doctors Wrong?
For years one of medicine’s most fundamental beliefs was to avoid sun exposure to protect against skin cancer. In recent years the rhetoric has changed. Now many are saying people need a minimum of 15 minutes of sun at least 3 times per week on 40% or more of your skin surface (the walk from your car to work isn’t enough).

Just How Wrong Were They?
Sun exposure is still believed to be the major cause of the more common and benign forms of skin cancer. However, studies have shown the risk of Melanoma, the rare malignant form of skin cancer, actually decreases with greater sun exposure and can be increased by sunscreens! In addition, multiple independent studies have found that sun exposure helps protect against and treat many other forms of cancer including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate, breast, colon, and lung cancers. How does this work? Well it’s all related to the body’s ability to create Vitamin D as a result of exposure to the sun!

How Does Vitamin D Prevent Cancer?
There have been an increasing number of independent studies suggesting that sun exposure, which is necessary for the natural production of vitamin D, has anticancer effects. Research has shown that Vitamin D in the body regulates cell growth, cell differentiation and cell death. Vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth and helps cells die when they’re damaged or deteriorating (including cancerous cells). It also limits the formation of blood vessels that feed tumors. Some studies suggests that vitamin D may prevent as many as 30 deaths for every one caused by skin cancer.

The Positive Side of Sun Exposure
The cancer-fighting capabilities of Vitamin D are not the only reason to assure a reasonable amount of sun exposure. Other positive effects of proper sun are psychological and immunological. Furthermore, the synthesis of vitamin D is essential for bone strength.

Sources of Vitamin D!
In addition to the body’s ability to create Vitamin D as a result of sun exposure, Vitamin D is also found in many foods and liquids, such as salmon, tuna and other oily fish, cod liver oil and milk, and in certain dietary supplements. However, some research suggests that the benefits of Vitamin D from food and supplements sources do not have the same level of positive effect as that of the Vitamin D naturally produced by the body as a result of sun exposure.

So, What Should We Do?
Unfortunately, some dermatologists are still hesitant to share this information with clients as some remain unconvinced while others are concerned that clients will take the recommendation for reasonable sun exposure too far. According to Dr. Allan Halpern, dermatology chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, yet another dilemma lies in the lack of consensus as to how much vitamin D is needed or the best way to get it.
If sunshine were to be recommended, the amount needed would fluctuate based on the season, time of day, where a person lives, skin color and other factors.

Listen to Your Body!
Our bodies are brilliantly designed machines! If we listen, our body is constantly speaking to us to let us know what it needs to improve our health! For example, when you have blood poisoning your body displays a red line that starts at the point of infection and extends towards your heart telling you two things. One, the location of the infection. Two, how long you have to deal with that issue. It’s literally displaying a timeline of how long you’ll live if you don’t properly address the issue. I can list many examples of how our bodies speak to us and I’m sure there are many more of which I’m unaware. However, regarding sun exposure our bodies certainly speak to us. When you first lay in the sun it feels like a spa treatment as your body literally soaks in the sun rays. However, it only takes 15 to 20 minutes before it begins to simply feel hot and much less like a wonderful and relaxing spa treatment! If you continue to stay in the sun for too long your skin turns a different color – pink! If you continue to ignore your bodies signals your skin will turn red and hurt making it very uncomfortable to remain in the sun.
As Dr. Michael Holick, the chief of endocrinology, nutrition and diabetes and professor of dermatology at Boston University said “I am advocating common sense,” not prolonged sunbathing or tanning salons. Dr. James Leyden, professor emeritus of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, puts it another way, “The skin can handle it, just like the liver can handle alcohol. I like to have wine with dinner, but I don’t think I should drink four bottles a day.”
By Melanie Snyder
Sources for more information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7875140/print/1/displaymode/1098
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722192326.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080107181411.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080922090759.htm
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00482.htm