Q: You mention sunlight as beneficial to your health. How?
For example, it can cure depression, improve immunity, stimulateour metabolism while decreasing food craving, and increase ourintelligence.
Although exposure to sun does contribute to aging of the skin,people who spend years working outdoors have a reduced incidence ofcancer of internal organs. For many years, it has been known thatthe death rate increases during the winter months and alsoincreases at night (winter or summer). Most deaths occur justbefore dawn when the body is in its least efficient state. It isjust in the last few decades that we have been learning the reasonsfor this beneficial effect of light. It turns out that daylightstimulates our ability to use oxygen for energy production, andprotects our tissues from some of the free-radical toxins that areproduced by normal metabolism, by stress, or by radiation.
While ultraviolet light, and even blue light, tend to suppress ourcells’ ability to produce energy, those types of light penetrateonly a short distance into living tissue, and so it is mainly theskin which is damaged by too much sunlight. Since blood doescirculate in the layers of skin which receive ultraviolet rays,prolonged sun exposure can damage the immune system by injuringwhite blood cells, but usually the stimulating effect of the othertypes of light that penetrate more deeply offset this effect on theimmune system.
Many health food stores are now selling melatonin, to reduce sleepand ” prevent cancer. ” They have taken some information out ofcontext, and don’t realize how dangerous melatonin is. It makesthe brain sluggish, causes the sex organs to shrink, and damagesimmunity by shrinking the thymus gland. It is the hormone ofdarkness and winter, and is produced in the pineal gland by anystress which increases adrenalin. Adequate sun light suppressesthe formation of melatonin.
This means that the immune system is most responsive in the summer,when days are long. Daylight stops the stress reaction, andprotects our immune system.
Q: Doesn’t exposure to the sun age you?
This effect is variable, and depends on our hormones and diet.
The unsaturated oils have been identified as a major factor in skinaging. For example, two groups of rabbits were fed dietscontaining either corn oil or coconut oil, and their backs wereshaved, so sunlight could fall directly onto their skin. Theanimals that ate corn oil developed prematurely wrinkled skin,while the animals that ate coconut oil didn’t show any harm fromthe sun exposure. In a study at the University of California,photographs of two groups of people were selected, pairing peopleof the same age, one who had eaten an unsaturated fat rich diet,the other who had eaten a diet low in unsaturated fats. A panel ofjudges was asked to sort them by their apparent ages, and thesubjects who consumed larger amounts of the unsaturated oils wereconsistently judged to be older than those who ate less, showingthe same age-accelerating effects of the unsaturated oils that weredemonstrated by the rabbit experiments.
While it is important to avoid overexposure to ultraviolet light,the skin damage that we identify with aging is largely a product ofour diet.
Q: Don’t you have to avoid sunlight because of skin cancer?
The type of skin cancer which is clearly caused by sunlight is arelatively harmless type of cancer, which appears only insun-damaged skin. Melanoma, which is often called a skin cancer,because it sometimes begins in moles, does not have such a simplerelationship to sunlight, and its incidence is significantlyincreased by the use of estrogen.
It is often said that the great increase in deaths from melanomaduring the last 60 years has been caused by an increased popularityof sunbathing, but during the same time there has been a greatincrease in the incidence of cancer of the prostate, which is in alocation that gets very little exposure to light. What these twocancers have in common is a sensitivity to estrogen, and it isduring this same period of time that we have been exposed toincreased amounts of estrogen-like chemicals in the environment asa result of industrial pollution: Dioxins, phenols, chlorinatedhydrocarbons, DDT, smoke, etc. It is likely that these cancers(and others) are caused by the estrogenic pollutants.
The incidence of melanoma is consistently lower at greaterelevations, where ultraviolet light is more intense, than at lowerelevations. It is common for melanoma to develop on relativelyshaded areas, including the middle of the back and the inside ofthe thigh, unlike the ordinary less malignant skin cancers, whichdevelop most often on the forehead, nose, ear, cheek, and lip,where sun exposure is greatest. People who work outside have a lowincidence of melanoma according to some studies, and this issometimes said to be because they don’t get sunburned, as palepeople do when they spend time in the sun after being indoors forlong periods. Sunburn does cause freckling, which is a clumping ofpigment cells, but recent studies show that children who getsunburned are not at increased risk for melanoma. Sunburn causescomplex changes in the tissue, including weakened immunity.
To avoid the aging and immuno- suppressive side effects ofsunlight, it seems best for sunlight to come through a window glasswhich removes most of the ultraviolet light, and some of the bluelight. Plastic film is available which contains copper that removesthis harmful part of sunlight, and can be applied to ordinarywindow glass. Sitting in sunlight coming through a window of thissort, for short times during the day, is very protective. Besidesprotecting against cancer, it helps to keep the mood and energylevel high, by keeping melatonin low and stimulating metabolism.
Recently, the polyunsaturated oils have been identified as the mainthing in cells that radiation interacts with, to cause cellulardamage. Vitamin E, taken internally or even applied to the skin,has been found to reduce the damage produced by exposure toultraviolet radiation, which is logical, since it interrupts thechain reactions of toxic free-radicals produced when unsaturatedoils are oxidized by radiation or other injury. Aspirin has beenfound to have a similar effect in reducing the harmful effectswhich develop in the skin after sunlight overexposure. Coconut oilhas been used for generations in ” suntan lotions, ” and whether itis absorbed through the skin or eaten as a food, it clearly has aprotective antioxidant function. Carotene seems to work withvitamin E in the skin to reduce injury by ultraviolet radiation.Caffeine also has shown a protective action against radiation, butits mechanism of action isn’t clearly understood.
Q: Why not use sun-blockers, so you can get light without gettingburned?
If a sunscreen lotion is based on the use of an opaque reflectivematerial, such as zinc oxide or titanium oxide, that substanceremains mostly on the surface of the skin. This should make itfairly harmless, though it is possible that traces of titaniumcould be absorbed with oils into the skin, where it could be madetoxic by interaction with ultraviolet rays.
However, other chemicals used in the sun screen lotions, such asPABA derivatives, also react dangerously with light, and are easilyabsorbed in significant quantities into the deeper layers of theskin, where they can cause mutations.
For example, several recent studies have found that thesun-blockers, which decrease the ordinary skin damage caused byultraviolet rays, actually increase the risk of developingmelanoma, by causing mutations when the cells’ chromosomes interactwith the sunscreen and the light. (Something similar happens in thedisease, porphyria. A pigment that accumulates causes the skin tobecome very sensitive to the sun. Estrogen is known to intensifythe disease.)
Even natural colored compounds, which have sometimes been used insuntan lotions, should be avoided, since they might be able totransmit the energy of light to the chromosomes, causing mutations.
Radiation from the sun reacts with the unsaturated fats you haveeaten to cause oxidative damage to skin cells. Vitamin E, vitaminA and carotene are antioxidants that prevent skin cell damage, whenthey are taken internally or applied to the surface of the skin.None of these causes any harmful effects in the sun.
Aspirin reduces the iron content of the blood serum, and alsoinhibits the formation of the sometimes-toxic prostaglandins fromfatty acids. Coconut oil is very resistant to radiation damageand, like vitamin E, tends to stop the chain reactions that occurin unsaturated fats. The old formula for suntan oil, coconut oilwith iodine, might turn out to be a safe sunscreen, since the browniodine absorbs light, as other ” U.V. blockers ” do, but iodine isalso an effective chain breaker that inactivates free radicals, andit can’t be absorbed into cells in its brown form. It doesn’t havethe potential for causing cancer that the popular sunscreens do.
Q: Is sunlight still beneficial if you use a safe sun blocker?
The popular chemical sun blockers are meant to stop the ultravioletrays. If they can do that, without increasing the risk ofmelanoma, then they are very beneficial, because this will allowyou to get a long exposure to direct sunlight, which penetratesdeeply and has an anti-stress effect. But so far, there is noresearch that shows any of the chemical ultraviolet blockers issafe.
Q: Why do people seem to get sicker in the wintertime, often rightafter Christmas?
Nights are much longer in the winter, and even in the summer, deathrates are higher during the night than in daytime. December 21 isthe day with the fewest hours of sunlight, but the cumulativedamage of prolonged darkness reaches its peak about a month later.Cold temperatures do have some harmful effects, but by keepingpeople indoors, or bundled up in thick clothing, cold weather alsocauses us to get very little exposure to sunlight. Winter sicknessis mainly the result of a ” light deficiency. ”
When young sailors spent 6 months in the continuous polar night ofAntarctica, they developed the same signs of nocturnal stress thatare common in old people during the night. Many old peoplehabitually get up before dawn, because they find it impossible tostay asleep. Even healthy young people (and animals) experiencesome degree of nocturnal stress as soon as the light is turned offat night, and their body responds with an increased production ofadrenalin and cortisol.
The energy-producing part of cells, the mitochondrion, shows signsof being increasingly damaged as the night progresses, but they aregradually restored to their normal condition during the daytimelight hours. This means that our greatest ability to resist stressis in the late afternoon, and we are most susceptible to injury atdawn. In the winter, nights are long and days are short, so weexperience a cumulative increase in our susceptibility tostress-injury during the winter months.
The light which penetrates deeply into our tissues (mainly orangeand red light) is able to improve the efficiency of energyproduction’ and to suppress the toxic free-radicals that are alwaysbeing formed in cells.
Q: Can you get enough sunlight during the summer to hold youthrough the winter?
No, many of the beneficial effects of bright light disappear duringjust a few hours of darkness, though the restoration of our tissuesthat happens during the summer puts us into a better state forsurviving the winter, for example by allowing massive regenerationof the thymus to occur. (This occurs in adults, not just inchildren. The idea that the thymus disappears after puberty isbased on autopsies. If a person lives for even 3 hours after anaccident or the onset of sickness, the thymus has had time toshrink.)
Frequent short exposures to bright light is almost as valuable ascontinuous sunlight, and it is less likely to cause skin aging.
Q: How much sunlight do we need a day for general health?
If artificial light is bright enough, it is as effective assunlight at stopping the stress reaction, but people seldom uselights that are bright enough. Generally, people and animals arehealthier when days are longer than 12 hours, that is, after March21 and before September 20. When days are shorter than 12 hours,artificial lights should be used from sunset until bedtime, but thegreatest brightness probably doesn’t have to be continuous.Studies on isolated organs and tissues suggest that a few secondsof penetrating bright light are enough to break the free radicalchain reactions, slowing the production of toxic substances, whichtend to increase in concentration during nocturnal stress. A fewseconds’ exposure to the direct light of ten 150 Watt incandescentbulbs, for just a few minutes every two or three hours, mightprovide more effective protection than continuous exposure to asingle 100 Watt light.
Mutations are changes in DNA molecules which can kill cells, oraccelerate their aging, or contribute to the development of cancer.
Cellular respiration: the ability of cells to consume oxygen andproduce useful biological energy.
Free radicals are parts of molecules that can be produced byradiation (including sunlight), which contribute to cells’ aging,cancer, and mutations.
The thymus gland is an essential part of our immune system, and itshrinks when we don’t get enough light.
Melatonin, or pineal hormone: the pineal gland in the brainresponds to an absence of light (or to any stress which increasesthe adrenalin systems) by secreting a hormone called melatonin,which lightens the skin, makes the brain sluggish, turns offthyroid and progesterone production, and suppresses immunity andfertility.
Immunosuppression refers to any process that lowers the efficiencyof our immune system, such as stress, radiation, or poisoning.
1) In fall and winter, use very bright incandescent lights dailyfrom sunset until bedtime.
2) Expose as much skin as possible to the bright light; even aminute is better than nothing. Thin, light-colored clothingtransmits a considerable amount of light.
3) Infrared bulbs, with clear glass, are especially beneficial.Special low temperature red lights are available.
4) It is better to get your sunlight through windows, because ithas less ultraviolet light than direct sunlight.
5) Don’t use sun-blocking lotions, other than the simplyreflective type (zinc oxide or titanium oxide).
6) Decrease the use of unsaturated oils in the diet, and usecoconut oil as food and also on the skin during exposure to directsunlight.
7) Vitamin E and aspirin reduce the harmful effects of sunburn,even when used after exposure to the sun, they can be appliedtopically to the burned skin. Vitamin E often contains some soyoil, so I recommend small doses of about 100 ma. per day.
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