Sun Exposure and its Many Benefits

\We all know the soothing feeling of the sun hitting our skin. It feels so good!

 

Growing up in Sweden it was very clear how the sun changed people’s moods. Most of the winter months the Swedes would walk around glum and slightly depressed (due to the lack of light and sunshine).

Beginning of May the smiles on people’s faces could be seen again, together with the longer days and more Sun. We would always talk about the southern Europeans being happier and that this was due to more sunlight.

I think we can all agree on the effects of the sun on ones mood. But the benefits are many many more…

When ultraviolet B (UVB) rays hit your skin, it converts a form of cholesterol in your skin into the magic Vitamin D. The amount of Vitamin D your body produces varies depending on your skin colour, age, geographical location, time of day and sunscreen use. To reach optimum levels, consider supplementation as well (preferably Liposomal form like Scandilabs offer).

When you expose yourself to the sun (for at least one hour a day and preferably naked) you reap so many amazing health benefits;

-Improves your sleep. Your body creates the hormone Melatonin that is critical for a good nights sleep

-Strengthens the immune system ( having sufficient levels of vitamin D in your blood, between 60-80 ng/ml, has been proven to drastically reduce your risk of cancer by as much as 60%) and the severity of getting severely sick of Covid is reduced by at least 80%!!!!

-Maintains strong bones because it helps the absorption of calcium.

-Healthy muscle and heart function

-Fights off depression. Sunlight prompts the brain to make serotonin-the feel good hormone. Healthy seratonin levels make you feel happy, calm and focused!

-Reduces stress

A growing body of evidence shows that vitamin D plays a crucial role in disease prevention and maintaing optimal health. There are about 30000 genes in your body and vitamin D affects nearly 3000 of them!!! Vitamin D helps lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, chronic inflammation, and Alzheimer’s.

Moving from Scandinavia to Florida obviously makes it a lot easier getting the sun exposure every day, but too much and using the wrong sunscreen has its own host of problems. Typical chemical sunscreens can actually increase the risk of developing skin cancer and also have many other deleterious effects.

AVOID at all costs the following chemicals that have been found to easily penetrate your blood stream

-2-hydroxy-4 methoxybenzophene

-2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate

-2-ethylexylssalicylate (octylsalicylate)

-salicylic acid 3,3,5-trimethcyclohexyl ester

When choosing a sunscreen make sure it’s screening for UVA and doesn’t have these toxic chemicals, because otherwise you are defeating the purpose and actually making the situation worse.

Happy sunning!

 

Love and in Health Alexandra and The Scandilabs Team