Sunshine  

I think the sun has a bad rap. Over the course of this summer, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time outside camping and visiting Hawaii.

I enjoy the sun personally but also feel that it is good for health.

In our country, the public health system takes the approach of frightening people into doing things it believes to be important for health. In fact our entire society is based on the concept that inducing fear is the way to get people to be responsible.

The campaign against sunshine is fraught with fear-inducing tactics as well. One would almost think that we were intended to live in caves under the ground and only come out at night. I have clients who have come to believe that any amount of sunshine is bad for them. One young man asked me if he was guaranteed to get skin cancer since he works outside every day.

If the sun were so bad for people, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – a form of depression caused by lack of sun in winter – would not be such a big issue. The cure for this condition is using sun lamps that emit rays directly toward the face and eyes. It is obvious that sunshine is important for people and other living things or it wouldn’t be such a big force on this planet.

According to Chinese medical philosophy everything is OK in moderation. The same is true of sunshine. Moderate exposure to sunshine helps our mood, our skin, our bones and our immune systems. In fact, children cannot have normal bone development without the vitamin D from sunshine helping to transform calcium into the bones.

People who live in very sunny climates have darker skin because the melanocytes – cells that give the skin color – protect the body from the sun naturally. This is why the skin tans, to increase its ability to tolerate greater amounts of sun.

The negative effects of the sun occur when people are overexposed to it. People who allow their skin to burn repeatedly are more susceptible to cancer, cataracts can occur if the eyes are not protected from too much sun, and we have all seen the women who worshiped the sun to the point of turning their skin into a wrinkly leather texture.

The highest incidence of malignant melanoma is among fair-skinned upper middle class people. It is believed that they are more likely to vacation in hot sunny places and burn themselves sporadically rather than having a slow steady exposure to the sun regularly.

Depending on the time of day and amount of sunscreen used, the length of safe exposure to the sun can vary. The sun is most likely to be intense from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m. daily. Before or after that time the rays are less likely to burn.

If you wear sunscreen, you can lengthen the amount of time in the sun prior to burning. The higher the SPF factor the longer you can be out before burning. It is recommended that people apply sunscreen a half-hour before going out and then reapply frequently if they are going to remain out in strong sun for a long time. No matter how high the SPF there is no sunscreen that is protective for more than about two to four hours.

I am not saying that people should become sun worshippers and forget all caution when it comes out, I am suggesting that as with everything, some sun is good for a person.

Rather than avoid the sun like a cave dweller we should spend a little time out in it every day to acclimatize the body and use it for healing.