Last Tuesday I picked up my five year old granddaughter Nicole from school so I could give her a swimming lesson. Whilst I was waiting for her I couldn’t help but reflect on the stupidity of some of the rules which the ‘authorities’ sometimes make based on hysteria rather than scientific fact. What prompted this reflection was watching the children coming out of their class rooms with big brimmed hats on. The school has a rule which requires all children to wear these hats when they are outside.
I asked Nicole what would happen if she left her hat at home? She told me that she had done this once and as a result she was made to eat her lunch indoors and could not go outside at play time. As you may no doubt have guessed this rule is as a result of hysteria about melanoma or skin Cancer which is on the increase. Here in New Zealand the UV rays are particularly strong at certain times of the year thanks to the increasing size of the ozone hole which affects much of the southern ocean including New Zealand.
The official line…
Get out of the sun! But, is the sunshine really the culprit? Or, is it just simply uninformed hysteria whipped up by the ‘industry’ and the media who have convinced ‘officialdom’ that exposure to sun is bad for you?
Is there an industry which profits from this hysteria about skin Cancer? You bet there is! The sunscreen manufacturers have been having a field day about the need for ‘protection’ and so have cosmetic manufacturers. Oh… I forgot about the makers of the hats!
Think about this for a minute. How come you are more likely to get melanoma even when you spend less time in the sun than a lifeguard? I remember reading a study about how lifeguards in Australia never get melanoma. Also, why is it that melanoma is more of a problem in the northern areas of the United States than in Florida even though there is more sun in Florida? Why is skin Cancer more prevalent in the USA than NZ even though there is not an ozone hole over the US? Why is it that most melanomas appear on parts of the body that are not generally exposed to the sun? How come that skin Cancer was rare before the 1950’s? (the early days of TV) Why is it increasing every year at an alarming rate?
Is our good ole sun getting a bad rap?
I think it is. There are increasing schools of thought which think that skin cancers may be due to inadequate exposure to sunlight combined with a deficiency and imbalance of essential nutrients. This makes sense when you consider that people, and in particular children over the last couple of decades spend less and less time outside playing and more and more time inside watching TV or with their ‘Play Station’.
I visit Florida regularly where a friend has a teenage son. In spite of the fact that they live close to a magnificent beach all the teenagers would rather hang around at the mall and eat McDonalds than go swimming or spend time in the sun. They are all setting themselves up for potential health problems due to the double ‘whammy’ of little sun exposure and poor nutrition. In fact some of these young folk who are now in their early 20’s are beginning to develop health problems already.
What about the sun aging your skin?
Is this another myth? Yes and no! If you have a lot of exposure to sun and you allow yourself to get burnt and you don’t look after your skin then it will certainly get damaged and prematurely age. So, be sensible and if you have a fair skin use a sun block at least until you get a reasonable tan. Do the same for your children and don’t cover them up to the extent that they hardly see the sun. When they are small let them run around outside naked. It will do great things for their Immune System.
Irrespective of what your skin type is or whether you are a man or woman use a quality natural Moisturizer.
Premature wrinkles are primarily a result of poor Skin Care, too many layers of cosmetics, poor nutrition, bad lifestyle choices such as smoking and alcohol and environmental factors. The sun has little to do with wrinkles (unless you allow yourself to get burnt) and in fact the sun used sensibly can bestow many health benefits on you. I can attest to that. I’m 55 and have always spent all the time I can in the sun and yet I have no wrinkles… but then I know that I don’t have any nutrient deficiencies either. (Learn more about Total Balance)
There are also other reasons why you should expose yourself to the sun.
Perhaps the most obvious one is that sunlight is necessary for your body to produce Vitamin D. This in turn helps prevent calcium loss from your bones which can cause osteoporosis. Oh, I know that you can go and buy Vitamin D in a bottle…but, beware most vitamin D’s, especially the supermarket type are synthetic and their efficacy is not much more than ZERO! and in any case they must be combined with other nutrients to be effective. Some quality Supplements do contain the natural versions. Nonetheless there can be no substitute to that of producing your own Vitamin D from sunlight.
Some of the other benefits cannot be explained so easily although there are ‘mountains’ of anecdotal evidence throughout the ages supporting the therapeutic benefits of natural sunlight. There is no doubt that exposure to sunlight particularly when it is all over your body sets up a lot of unexplained beneficial ‘reactions’ which although they cannot really be quantified you can still instinctively feel the benefits. It certainly helps in strengthening immune systems.
In fact, I wouldn’t mind betting that if it was possible to carry out a study on breast Cancer in Southern France where topless sunbathing is the norm that it would be found that those women who sunbath topless have a lower incidence of breast Cancer. Maybe one day such a study will be done and I will find out if my instinct is correct. So, ladies…and guys, a little bit of sun in places where the sun doesn’t normally shine can only do you good. But, be discreet…I don’t want any of our readers in jail!
Did Nicole enjoy her swimming lesson?
She certainly did, I enjoyed being with her but I didn’t enjoy being there! I love the water when it is part of the ocean but this day we went to a new public indoor pool where I had not been before and will not go again. Why? Because there was so much chlorine in the air! Chlorine is one of the worst carcinogens around.
The irony of this situation when relating back to my opening statement is that the schools won’t allow their pupils the health giving benefits of the sun but they take them to the pool a couple of times a week and fill their little bodies full of poisonous fumes! Crazy, stupid and irresponsible…but, that is the power of the media and advertising combined with uninformed or self serving lawmakers.
Until next time… enjoy your sunshine!
by Warren Matthews of Xtend-Life
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