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Sun Tanning (Let’s get real about it!)
As you may know, I am a firm believer in things that are natural. It is always a good place to begin in any discussion concerning health. It is also a good place to start in looking for balance in health issues and nutrients. So, naturally, looking for what is natural is where I start when considering the “dangers” of sun tanning.
Unfortunately, it is often a discouraging discussion. Most people are filled with so much wrong information being pushed on them. It makes it difficult for them to hear a balance view. It’s no wonder there is so much wrong information. There is a vast amount of money made selling products to help you be either in the sun, or to protect you from the sun. Even worse, the information in the medical community is also heavily tainted with wrong information. There is a huge amount of money involved in both medical treatments and in the politics of ‘protecting” you from the “evil” sun. This promotes a lot of misguided information. This is especially true concerning wrong interpretations of the sun’s actual involvement concerning skin cancer.
Let’s start over!
First: The sun is natural!
Humanity has grown up being in the sun. Other than protection from cold and heat, the sun has always been rightfully considered a source of life. Exposure to the sun was never a problem or consideration unless overdone.
Second: Vitamin D.
We are now finding the tremendous value of the vitamin D that is produced in our skin from the sun. A great many people are now becoming deficient in vitamin D. This is a result of overly screening themselves from the sun. As a result, they are experiencing many sicknesses that they shouldn’t have to be experiencing.
Third: Fear!
There are many people now walking in fear that they, or their children, will actually have a sun ray hit their skin. “White” skin, though unnatural, is now considered to be healthy. See anything wrong with this picture?
The Root of Confusion: Over-exposure.
I have spent many years trying to come to a balance in sun exposure. How could something so natural and healthy be so evil? I have since come to a conclusion that makes all the sense in the world to me. It is simple. It is natural.
Over-exposure is at the root of all the confusion! As in almost anything, overdoing it causes problems. It is the same concerning sun exposure. In theory, a single free radical can harm us. In reality, our skin has adapted to the sun and protects us while actually using the sun to produce healthy nutrients for our body. Some sun is very healthy. There is even such a thing as a “healthy” suntan. There are also right and wrong ways to get that suntan!
It is the over exposure of the skin to sun
at one setting that causes the problems.
Normal brief exposure to the sun is healthy. That exposure can lengthen with darker skin. It is when the sun is allowed to hit the skin long enough to cause mild to severe sunburns that the damage happens. The natural defenses of the skin are overwhelmed and skin cells and DNA can be harmed.
It is obvious to most people that sunburns, especially severe ones, are unhealthy. However, rushing into a tan can be just as unhealthy. Overdoing initial exposure to the point of redness causes harm to the skin. To brush it off as, “It will turn into a tan” may be true but it is the wrong way to get a tan. Repeated burns early in the year, especially repeated each spring, are extremely harmful and should be avoided. Patience is required to make a tan healthy.
Hang Me or Thank Me
I know it goes against most of the anti-sun crowd. However, a person can gradually build up a tan, outdoors or (slowly) in a tanning booth. If the tanning is gradual and maintained, the benefits of some sun on the skin outweigh the negatives. This is especially true if the person is diligent to take nutrients that fight free radicals.
Included in this “Sun Tanning” section are several articles that will be added to from time to time. They will attempt to keep you updated with medical information from doctors and clinical studies. They will also try to help you keep up to date with common sense products and prevention of over-exposure. Somewhere in there, we trust you will come to a balance you will be comfortable with.
Updated at 2/14/2010 5:04:48 PM