Monday, October 13, 2008

Our Body's Need for Sunshine


Sunshine is usually talked about from the viewpoint of how to protect ourselves from it.

People seem to forget that our bodies actually require a certain amount of sunshine, daily.

How much? Maybe 15 minutes to start, until you get used to it. Then you can work up to half an hour or more, once you get used to it.

And never in the hottest part of the day!

Worried about skin cancer? Recent research from Baylor College of Medicine has shown that a diet high in cooked fats (free radicals) and chemicals, and low in leafy greens greatly increases the risk of skin cancer.

This is because free radicals and toxins in the unprotected skin are baked and mutated by the sun's rays.

But, a living foods diet can protect us from skin cancer.

So why exactly do we need the sunlight's exposure on our skin?

Sunshine:
  • Balances our hormone production (including metabolization of Vitamin D)
  • Reduces our resting heart rate
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Destroys fungus and candida
  • Triggers an increase in the chemical serotonin. (Serotonin is the feel-good chemical that controls sleep patterns, body temperature and your sex drive, and also lifts your mood and alleviates depression and fatigue.)
  • Helps to offset weakening of melatonin production.
Depression is a serious problem in areas where they see little sunlight - during the long winter nights of Alaska, for example. Washington state used to have the highest suicide rate in the country, quite possibly due to the amount of rain there and lack of sunshine.

Some people recommend special lamps in the wintertime to help alleviate this very real problem. It would be much better if we could make a trip to a warm climate for at least a week or two during the winter, but of course that is not possible for everyone.

Skiing and snow shoeing are good for getting sunlight, as well as fresh air and exercise.

But for now, in mid-October with the beautiful fall colors in the leaves all around us here in upstate New York, enjoy every bit of the warm sunshine that we get from now on!

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