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Sun Therapy
I have written a book on sun therapy. Look there for expanded information about this. Another name for this is heliotherapy or phototherapy. This involves spending time in pure unfiltered sunlight, no sunscreen.
There has been a modern propaganda campaign to raise fear about sunlight. Anything can be abused. But getting some full spectrum sunlight is good for you. For example, the sunlight turns on our body to make vitamin D. And a wonderful thing about self generated vitamin D is that is is customized D for you and your needs. In our ancient history we were people under the sun. It is good therapy.
When writing the book one of the interesting things I found was that there has been research by a subdivision of the CDC. The researchers at their library in Bethesda, Maryland
were asked about sunlight and juvenile jaundice. In some newborns the liver is not fully developed. As a result, the body can not process and remove the natural breakdown of red blood cells. This causes the skin to turn yellow.
Doctors have found that using ultraviolet light they can stimulate the body to better process this waste and eliminate it until the liver fully develops.
A question arose among some doctors, “Since the sun has ultraviolet light in it, could they use direct sunlight as a therapy?” [They were not talking about taking a baby and baking it in the sun, but rather giving it some sun as therapy.]
After the researchers did their research, they came to what I thought was a laughable conclusion. Upon investigation it was found that direct sun light therapy was 6.5 times more effective. So, of course as scientists they made the logical conclusion that sunlight is an effect therapy … if you do not have access to artificial ultraviolet light, which is less effective.
There is such an inordinate fear of the sun. But judiciously used it is good therapy.
The trick is judicious to use it, that is not to sun so much that you start turning red.
Most have heard about seasonal mood disorder. With shorter days a people especial in far north and south areas go into depression when the days grow shorter. The answer is to put them under full spectrum like that imitates sunlight.
When the longer days of sun return the artificial light is not needed as therapy. The natural sun does the therapy.
I had a friend whose older mother was not feeling good. It was not that she was sick; she had been. But there was this lingering not feeling good. I told her to get out and get some sun.
She looked at me strangely and said that is what her mother would have said. She started sitting in the sun a little
and she quickly started feeling better. Taking a little sun is good for you and healthful.
I mentioned that sunlight causes your body to produce vitamin d. Without vitamin d the body cannot properly deal with calcium and the lack of vitamin d is associated with onset of osteoporosis. A little sun therapy can reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Evidence is growing that low levels of the vitamin D increases the risk of type 1 diabetes, and muscle and bone pain. If that is not bad enough there is a link believed be with low D for cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovaries, esophagus, and lymphatic system. A little sun therapy raises your natural vitamin D level.
If you have high blood pressure, vitamin D may be just for you. If you are looking to lower your risk of diabetes, or your risk of heart attacks, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis, vitamin D is a well known option suggested by many healthcare professional. But why supplement with the unnatural when you can have the natural D from a little walk in the sun.
Killing two birds with one stone, walking and sun therapy. Why on a treadmill indoors when the sun is waiting to give you its benefits? Double your pleasure; double your fun.
More research is always coming out on vitamin D. Sun activated vitamin D is one of the most potent inhibitors of cancer cell growth. Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, who heads the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine has been quoted as saying, “It also stimulates your pancreas to make insulin. It regulates your immune system.”
One theory has been postulated as to how vitamin D reduces blood pressure. It is known to decrease the production of a hormone renin, which is believed to play a part in hypertension.
The Journal of the American Medical Association in December 2003 links vitamin D to a reduction in their risk of developing precancerous colon polyps. Go get a little sun.
In a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in February 2004, researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland showed that elderly women who increase their vitamin D while taking calcium for three months reduced their risk of falling by 49% against the option of consuming calcium alone. Those women who had a past history of falling appeared to gain the most benefit from vitamin D. Add a little sun therapy.
A study in the Jan. 13, 2004 issue of Neurology indicates that vitamin D reduced by 40% of the development of multiple sclerosis.
Before the advent of modern drugs sun therapy was a common treatment for tuberculosis.
These are just a few of the benefits that may come with a little sun therapy. It is too simple to be true, but it is.
