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Enjoy the Health Benefits of Sunshine
Being outside in the sun makes you feel good - and is really good for your health! Let’s face it – we all love it when the winter is over and the warm sunshine comes around again and turning your face to the sun makes you feel a whole lot better. This is because sunlight triggers an increase in the feel-good brain chemical serotonin. Serotonin controls sleep patterns, body temperature and your sex drive, and also lifts your mood and wards off depression. Some people are extra sensitive to the lack of sunshine in the winter – so much so that they can suffer real depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Prescription drugs like Prozac stimulate the brain to produce more serotonin but many SAD sufferers usually resort to an artificial light box instead as Prozac can have unpleasant side effects.
Personally, as I live in UK, I usually try to get away to a warmer climate for some time during the winter and I always feel a lot better on getting back. Its great being away in a sunny climate to escape the cold grey miserable days of winter for a while – and it really does your health good in more ways than one. How safe is spending time in the sun? Well, it is perfectly safe to stay in the sunshine until your skin has a healthy glow. Obviously it does no good to stay in the sun unprotected and for too long, but the anti-sun lobby has gone a bit too far the other way – and some people have even been showing signs of vitamin D deficiency as they spend all their time avoiding the sun. The key word here is MODERATE. Sun therapy works on health when you go about it in a safe and controlled way. This means building up exposure slowly and gradually. It does not mean throwing caution to the wind and allowing your poor body to sizzle! The Sunshine Vitamin that is really a hormone
The feel-good effects of sunlight starts in the brain. When light enters your eyes, it not only goes to our visual centre enabling us to see; it also goes to the brain's hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger and thirst, water balance and blood pressure. It links the nervous system to the endocrine system.
Additionally, it controls the body's master gland, the pituitary, which secretes many essential hormones. The hypothalamus initiates the body's stress response, affects our emotions and controls immune functions. Significantly, our "body clock" is also located in tiny centers in the hypothalamus. Our body clock-controlled circadian rhythms are the 24 hour cycles of light and darkness. These light-sensitive rhythms are biological, imposed upon us by Mother Nature.
So, anything that disrupts these rhythms (like inadequate sunlight) has a far-reaching impact on our body's ability to function properly. This explains why, since sunlight has been shown to be the most effective regulator of the body clock, it is also the quickest method of recovering from jet lag.
Sunlight also triggers the body to make its own vitamin D, which is crucial to health. Vitamin D not only makes strong bones and healthy teeth, but it keeps the immune system working. Studies have shown that exposing the body to sunlight or even artificial ultra-violet light- increases the number of white cells in the blood. White cells are the body’s health defence against infections and are important to your immune system’s response to the organisms that cause illness. Vitamin D also increases the amount of oxygen that your blood transports around your body- and this will increase your energy, sharpen you up mentally and give you a real feel good factor. No wonder you feel better in the sun! Your body also needs ultra violet light to break down cholesterol, which at high levels, can damage the lining of arteries and cause serious heart disease. You will only get a quarter of the vitamin D you need from diet alone – the rest must come from exposure to the sun. You do not have to burn or tan to get the vitamin D you need – just 20 minutes of safe sun exposure a day will do it. To gain scientific evidence of the effect of vitamin D, a study was conducted by researchers from London's King's College. The study aimed to measure the presence of telomeres which are measurements for age located within the DNA. The older people get, the shorter their telomeres and also the extent of being prone to disease. The study involved 2,160 women from the age of 18 to 79.
The results showed that the higher levels of vitamin D present, so the longer the telomeres, indicating that vitamin D is slowing down the ageing of DNA. Although a small amount of vitamin D is obtained through a diet of cereals, fish and eggs, 90% of the body's requirement is produced simply by the effect of sunlight on the skin.
In some climates, there are times when this isn’t possible. In the UK for example, you cannot make vitamin D from sunlight between the months of October to March because radiation of the right wavelength is needed to get the vitamin into your body and that is only present at ground level from April to September. You will have to depend on the vitamin D store that your body makes during the summer to carry you through the winter months, unless you opt for a winter break in a warmer climate further south to give yourself a boost. Without Vitamin D we cannot absorb calcium or use it in building bones. Also as we get older, your body finds it harder to absorb the vitamins you do get in your diet. You can take calcium supplements to keep bones strong but only if you also take a vitamin D supplement to make sure your body can absorb it. The richest sources of vitamin D in food come from Herrings, mackerel, salmon, oysters, cottage cheese, and eggs. 
What about over exposure or overdosing?The risk of skin cancer with over exposure of the sun must be taken seriously. If you feel yourself burning, sit immediately in the shade. There are two types of burning rays – UVA and UVB. Both cause burning and tanning, but UVB was always thought to be more damaging of the two, since it causes more rapid burning of the skin.In fact, until recently when it was discovered that UVA penetrates the skin much deeper, many health experts thought it was harmless. What is known now is that UVA wavelengths penetrate the skin far more deeply, damaging the collagen that gives skin its elasticity, and is also more associated with malignant melanoma and premature aging. The simplest way is to protect yourself from the damaging rays and to use sunlight to boost your health and not damage it. Learn how to sunbathe safely, build up your exposure slowly and stay in the shade when the sun is at its most intense and likely to burn you. Too many vitamin D supplements can be toxic in high doses – but these are 2,400 iu per day – nobody needs or should be taking more than 1000iu a day.
Stay in good health by drinking more water Travel tips to stay well when going on holiday or a longer trip Jet-lag, Insect bites, Stomach upsets and travel sickness covered here.
Natural, Organic Sun Protection - Three layers of protection! These formulations from Green People combine natural, broad-spectrum UVA & UVB protection (Earth minerals, Cinnamon and Edelweiss) with antioxidants and skin vitamins A, C & E (Green tea, Olive, Avocado and Rosemary extract) to help support the skin's immune system and protect against cell damage. Echinacea, Myrrh and Aloe Vera are added for their soothing, healing and moisture binding properties.
Skin Cancer Advice. Melanoma can be beaten, 7 survivors tell how
The Health benefits of water
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