SUNSHINE, NATURE'S HEALER
Sunlight is one of nature's healing agents. It takes 8 minutes for the sun's rays to reach the earth. Fifty-four percent of the light reaching the earth is invisible. Forty-nine percent is infrared light and 4.6 percent ultraviolet. The visible light reaching the earth accounts for 46 percent.
Throughout most of recorded history man has lived and worked out of doors with full exposure to sunlight. In our modern society today, mil ions live in the cities, working indoors in factories and offices. We live in a glass environment, where the larger portion of the day is spent behind window glass, which keeps out the ultraviolet light that is so healing to the body. Fluorescent and incandescent light is used in our offices, schools, and factories. This light source is entirely different from the kind that comes from natural sunlight.
Full , direct natural sunlight ranges as high as 10,000 foot candles while the maximum intensity from a fluorescent fixture containing ten 8 foot tubes is only approximately 1,000 foot candles at a distance of 10-12 inches.
SUNLIGHT'S ABILITY TQ STRENGTHEN THE BODY’S IMMUNE SYSTEM
It is now believed that disease can only occur when one fails to maintain the delicate balance of power between one's body and the organisms that produce disease. This is so, for we find people who are carrying within themselves the germs capable of causing an infection and yet they are apparently free of disease. Their body's immune System is strong enough to keep these organisms from growing and developing.
Because the lymphocytes increase in number after a sunlight treatment, antibodies, their products of defense, also increase in the blood (1) Ultraviolet light also has an effect on the deep internal organs. The pancreas, stomach, liver, kidneys, and adrenal glands are apparently benefited by sun light treatments seemingly due to the Stimulation of the sympathetic nervous System.
SUNSHINE FIGHTS CANCER
Sunlight increases the use of oxygen in the tissues. This can be very important in stimulating the immune System especially in the production of antibodies. Many types of cancer cells do not like oxygen, and when exposed to high concentrations they will begin to slow their growth and division, finally stopping completely (4) In this indirect way, sunlight can fight against cancer, stimulating the immune System and increasing the oxygen in the tissues.
In humans, the evidence that light is involved with cancer is coming into focus. When the pineal gland in humans becomes calcified, it cuts down its production of melatonin. This, in turn, stimulates the production of estrogen, which causes an increased amount of breast cancer. Over 60% of Americans have calcified pineal glands when they are over 50 years of age, while in Japan only 9.9% and in Nigeria 5% of the persons beyond the age of 40 have calcified glands. Since the incidence of breast cancer is low in Japan and South Africa and high in North America, it would appear, according to Dr. Kirne, M. D. that calcified pineals are associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer. The reasons why the pineal gland becomes calcified remain obscure. The low-light intensity that the human eye receives while indoors combined with the lack of Stimulation of the pineal gland, may be factors contributing to calcification of the pineal gland.(5)
CAN SUNLIGHT CAUSE CANCER?
Some humans are very sensitive to sunlight and will burn easily. Blond and red haired persons seem to be most troubled with chronic burning. Skin cancer patients appear to be very sensitive to sunlight. They sunburn more easily and the burned area takes longer to heal. They also have a harder time tanning. The current medical concept pictures a destructive sun, one responsible for aging of the skin and capable of causing skin cancer. Research stemming from this concept provides Information on the sun and its relation to human health. Undeniably, the sun plays a role in skin cancer and aging, but is it the primary contributor?
Dr. Zane Kirne, M. D., author of Sunlight Could Save Your Life, became increasingly convinced as he studied the available research data, that the highly refined western diet, particularly that of refined oils, plays the leading role in the development of skin cancer, and that sunlight seems only to accelerate the problem. The intake of salad and cooking oils has increased dramatically since 1909 when oils were consumed at the rate of 1.5 pounds per person per year. By 1972, this figure had risen to 18 lbs. Now today, it is over 58 lbs. per person. There is little doubt, in the research literature, as to whether or not a high fat diet promotes a higher and earlier incidence of skin cancer due to ultraviolet light. Not only skin cancer, but breast and colon cancer as well , seem to be increased by a high fat diet (6) Not only does saturated fat stimulate cancer formation, but unsaturated or polyunsaturated fat will do the same in many cases. In scientific literature, the polyunsaturated fats are shown to apparently stimulate cancer formation more quickly than do the saturated fats.(7)
Nutrition and sunlight are intimately related. Sunshine on the skin produces certain hormones and nutrients like Vitamin D. Unless one has a proper diet, sunlight has an il effect on the skin. This must be emphasized: sun bathing is dangerous for those who are on the Standard high-fat American diet (which is 45% fat) or who do not get an abundance of vegetables, whole grains, and fresh fruits. It is not only the dietary fat that promotes skin cancer formation, but also fat of oil applied directly to the skin. This is why sun bathing lotions, creams, or oils cannot be recommended, for they may stimulate cancer formation. Polyunsaturated fat, itself has been shown to inhibit the immune System. In fact, it does this so well that researchers are now using polyunsaturated fat in the diets of kidney transplant patients and those with skin grafts taken from other people, so the patientś bodies will not reject the foreign tissue.
SUNSHINE LOWERS CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol is a substance that can only be found in meat, poultry, fish, and animal products such as eggs, milk, and cheese. Cholesterol is not found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, etc. Our bodies manufacture cholesterol from fats, oils, sugars, and proteins. Cholesterol is a member of the steroid family. This family is a group of substances that are similar in their molecular structure, but very different in their effects on the body. It is important to understand that vitamin D and cholesterol are in the steroid family. It was in 1904 that one research scientist discovered that sunlight was able to transform cholesterol to Vitamin D. Human skin has a very rich supply of cholesterol, and this cholesterol keeps moving back and forth between the skin and the blood stream. If it is removed from the skin, then the cholesterol from the blood stream moves into the skin to replace the cholesterol that was lost.
It has been found that not only does sunlight cause a prompt and significant reduction in the amount of cholesterol in the skin, but that it also affects the overall cholesterol metabolism of the whole body. When the skin is exposed to sunlight, cholesterol is destroyed so rapidly and to such a great extent that the total body cholesterol is decreased. A study was done using 30 patients who had hardening of the arteries. Each of these patient's blood cholesterol level was lower after a single sunlight treatment. Other studies with larger numbers of patients show similar results.
SUNLIGHT LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE
A study done at Tulane University on the effect of ultraviolet light on blood pressure showed that after a single exposure of the sun to a group of men with high blood pressure, there was a marked lowering of the blood pressure lasting 5-6 days. In another study done on average subjects, blood pressure dropped an average of 6 mmHg systolic and 8 mmHg diastolic after a single sunlight treatment. In individuals with high blood pressure the effect is more striking. Some patients had the systolic pressure drop as much as 40 mmHg and diastolic by 20 mmHg.(8)
Contrary to most learned opinions, diastolic blood pressure is apparently not more important than systolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is believed to rise with age. But the famous Framingham study showed that elderly individuals with high systolic pressures had significantly higher mortality rates than their contemporaries with lower systolic pressures.(9)
SUNSHINE LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR
Exposure to sunlight appears to have an insulin-like effect in that it causes a lowering of the blood sugar. This is minimal in normal individuals, but dramatic in diabetics. Sunlight facilitates the absorption of glucose into the cells of the body and stimulates the body to convert its blood sugar (glucose) into stored sugar (glycogen), which is stored in the liver and muscles. This is the body's energy reserve that can be instantly changed again into glucose to meet demands under normal or emergency conditions.
Sunlight removes the sugar in the blood by increasing glycogen levels. Because of this dramatic effect, a diabetic may need to adjust his insulin dose when he is following a sunbathing program because sunlight combined with insulin can have a very powerful hypoglycemic effect. A, diabetic must sunbathe with caution. By gradually decreasing the dose of insulin, one may avoid a hypoglycemic reaction (10)
SUNLIGHT IMPROVES ARTHRITIS
We find that the use of sunlight for helping arthritis dates back many centuries. The warm rays of the sun loosen stiff, sore joints and can have a general relaxing effect. Sunlight also builds up the body's immune System. In Russia, sunlight treatments are given routinely to miners because of their beneficial effects. In one study there was a definite reduction of arthritis in those miners who received sunlight treatments.(11) Cortisone was given to one group of children with severe arthritis, while a similar group was given sunlight treatments. The arthritic Symptoms of those taking cortisone decreased more rapidly, but the people in that group were also more susceptible to infections and suffered some side effects from the cortisone. Although the arthritic Symptoms of the group getting the sunlight treatments decreased more slowly, relief did come. Resistance to infection increased, and of course, no one suffered from any of the side effects that accompany cortisone treatment. (12)
SUNSHINE AND VITAMIN D
Recent discoveries reveal that Vitamin D is not so much a vitamin as it is a hormone. As we become aware of Vitamin D's intricate functions as a hormone, we need to seriously review the practice of widespread Vitamin D supplementation to our foods, such as milk, baby foods, beverages, prepared breakfast cereals, flour, margarine, etc. With all this supplementation, the average per capita intake is 2,435 I.U. per day or six times the recommended 400 I.U. per day. (13)
Dietary intake of Vitamin D by pregnant women has been implicated in kidney calcification and severe mental retardation in their offspring.(13) Children with mothers taking extra Vitamin D in their diet may be born with a certain type of congenital heart disease. (14)
Many authorities have recommended that Vitamin D be removed from our food. Dr. Kinden, who gave a report from the University of Tromso, makes this Statement: "Attempts should be made to restrict the intake of Vitamin D. from all sources." Also recommending that Vitamin D should not be supplementally added to food is the British Medical Association (1950), the Canadian Bulletin on Nutrition (1953), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (1963, 1965).
From the University of Tromso in Norway comes a report that a long term intake of Vitamin D, only slightly above the 400 I.U. recommended may stimulate a heart attack. Not only heart attacks, but also degenerative joint diseases and arthritis are mentioned in the report, as diseases that are apparently promoted by an increased Vitamin D intake.(15) In a study done in England, Vitamin D obtained from the skin's exposure to sunlight was far superior to that obtained from oral ingestion. (16) One can easily see that the best source of Vitamin D is the natural one, SUNSHINE. No report in scientific literature has ever shown that a toxic dose of Vitamin D has been obtained from sunlight.
SUNLIGHT AND PINEAL GLAND
Research conducted at the National Institute of Health has now revealed that a small gland near the center of the brain actually responds to light entering the eye. This response is independent of, and apart from, the normal visual process. Under Stimulation of light entering the eye, this gland - called the pineal gland -controls the synthesis and release of chemical substances (hormones, enzymes) into the bloodstream to be carried to any one of several target sites in the neuro-endocrine System including the brain, the pituitary, and the gonads.(17)
SUNLIGHT DESTROYS BACTERIA
Skin blemishes can be improved with sunshine. When sweat glands become plugged and infected, sunlight can help to sterilize the area. Dead cells in the outer layer of skin tend to plug up the sweat glands, and sunlight causes a faster removal of the outer layer of skin, allowing the sweat glands to drain, and thus decreasing the congestion. Wounds receiving sunlight treatments seem to heal faster, and have a much greater blood supply.(18)
Exposure to sunlight aids in the skin's resistance to disease by killing those germs that are on the surface of the skin. Ultraviolet wave lengths that reach the earth vary in length. The shorter wave lengths of ultraviolet light are the ones that are more bactericidal, penetrating the superficial layers of the skin and killing bacteria in those layers. Not only does the sun have a direct bactericidal effect on the skin, but it also changes the oils in the skin into bactericidal agents themselves. Even the vapor rising from natural skin oils (after exposure to sunlight) are capable of killing bacteria.
Recent studies examining the value of ultraviolet light in the disinfection of water showed that if the irradiation was sufficiently strong and the flow of water slow enough, water could be purified satisfactorily. Scientists reporting the results of one study concluded that the sun's ultraviolet rays are an important factor in the natural purification of water because of their effectiveness in killing E. Coli. By testing water samples from a marine sewage disposal, it was demonstrated that sunlight could kill the microorganism E. Coli to depths of 12 feet in sea water. (19) In another study, done approximately 10 years after the study just mentioned, waste stabilization ponds were exposed to sunlight, and the researchers concluded that solar ultraviolet light is indeed an important, though seldom appreciated factor, in the natural purification of water.(20)
SUNLIGHT AND SEX HORMONES
Our twenty-four hour days are divided into periods of light and darkness. This division appears to play an important role in our hormone production. If this division of light and dark is changed, it will affect the hormone balance. Humans when kept in darkness, such as children who are blind, will become sexually mature sooner than children who are not blind.(21)
Americans over the past few decades have been moving from country living and outdoor life into the cities and indoor factory or office life. Lighting indoors provides only one-tenth as much light as out-of-doors in the shade. During this same period of time when Americans have been moving indoors, the age when children become sexually mature has been decreasing.
Sunlight affects the hormonal balance of the body in two ways: by stimulating glandular production when light passes through the eye into the brain, and by producing hormones directly in the skin. When light enters the eye, it stimulates nerves in the back of the eye to send Impulses to the spinal cord. From there the impulse is sent back into the brain to a tiny organ called the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces a hormone called melatonin. This hormone affects the brain and other glands such as the pituitary, adrenals, ovaries, and testes. It also seems to have control of various glandular functions: for example, it can stop the ovaries from ovulation and can delay sexual maturity. When sunlight strikes the skin, it produces sex hormones in the skin itself Research reports show that sunlight produces an estrogen-like substance in the skin which moves into the blood. It elevates female hormones, but the male hormones are elevated to an even greater degree. When the chest or back is exposed to sunlight, the male hormones may increase by 120%.(22)
PLENTY OF SUNLIGHT GIVES US A SUNNY SPIRIT
Sun baths improve our general health, stimulate the appetite, give a feeling of well -being, and enable us to sleep at night. Next time you're under stress, go out for a walk in the sunshine and watch what it will do for you. Those who take advantage of the weather by sunbathing find that the sun definitely has a tranquilizing effect, more than the effect one obtains from just lying down and relaxing or resting. In a study done at the University of Illinois the effects of sunlight treatments on Student behavior were observed.
When the sun is permitted to shine on the skin it quickly Stores up a tremendous amount of energy in the body. Mil ions of nerve endings absorb the radiant energy of the sun and transmit this energy to the entire nervous System of the body. That is why one feels so full of energy and life after a sun bath. Generous amounts of sunshine do give one a cheerful sunny disposition. Clients that I work with often comment on how great they feel after a series of sunbaths.