Sunshine: Enemy or Friend?

Its March, and what follows? Spring showers, May flowers, and the sunshine which has been hiding most of the winter. As the temperature outside warms, people head outdoors, and unfortunately, take in too much sunshine all at once.

In today’s society, we hear a great deal of sunlight causing skin cancer, from the long, unprotected exposures. Yes, sunlight or more correctly, the ultraviolet radiation (UVA) from the sunlight seems to cause roughly 93% of the skin cancers. However did you know that sunlight also has cancer protection benefits as well!! The UVB rays of the sun, have shown to have protection benefits from 15 types of cancer: bladder, breast, cervical, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal, and vulvar cancers as well as Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Why? It's the vitamin D effect.

50% of Americans who live in the northern portions of American have insufficient levels of vitamin D. Sunlight exposure generates vitamin D in the body.  With moderate exposure to the sun, the UVB rays hit the layer of cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the cells the energy to produce vitamin D. The body is very efficient at absorbing and storing the vitamin D in the liver. Eventually, the vitamin D, changes so it can be taken into the kidneys, where it is changed again into a form of calcitriol. Even if you have a fair complexion skin type, being in the sun for as little as 10-15 minutes per day can aid in vitamins D production. However this is not true for dark complexion skin types, in order to produce vitamin D, a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes per day in the sunlight is necessary. And to be clear, this is outdoors, unfiltered rays (without sunscreens), and not indoors, behind a window. Even exposing just your face and hands during the winter, but for longer amounts of time, increase vitamin D production.

Vitamin D, does the body good… the calcitriol form of Vitamin D enhances the efficiency of the natural killer cells in the body. These cells protect the body from forming or the spreading of certain cancer cells, as well as improves your thyroid hormone, balances the immune system by increasing germ killing compounds in the white blood cells, improves blood circulation thus lowering blood pressure, respiration and the resting heart rate, and increases endorphins in the brain which improves your mood (this is why beach vacations are so relaxing).

So enjoy the sun but play it safe by protecting your skin from unhealthy amounts of sunlight. Remember the strongest rays are in the afternoon hours, anywhere from 11a until 5p depending on where you live.