Back around four and half millenniums ago or millennia if you prefer, the supreme deity of the Egyptian pantheon ruled the sky. His name was Ra, which in ancient Egyptian simply meant “sun.” A great god, riding in his barge across the heavens by day, and descending into the underworld at night. Ra was creator; primal life energy, the Giver of Life.
As a modern day sun worshipper I appreciate the significance of the mythology. And a number of recent studies are proving what the ancient Egyptians understood thousands of years ago. The sun is indeed the Giver of Life. Mounting evidence is showing that insufficient sun exposure is a significant public health problem.
Studies in the past decade indicate that inadequate exposure to the sun may be responsible for nearly a million deaths in the United States and Europe every year. It has also increased the incidence of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, asthma, type 1 diabetes and myopia.
The Not So Great Indoors
The industrial revolution brought people indoors to work, as they moved into crowded cities from rural farming communities. People began for the first time in human history to get less sun exposure than is required for good health. The move indoors continued throughout the 20th century and not just for work; the attractions of air conditioning, television, video games and the internet had folks spending most of their leisure time indoors as well.
This all happened rather quickly and evolution hasn’t kept up. Our natural environment is outdoors, in the sun. Solar terrestrial ultraviolet radiation is vital to our health and wellbeing. By the beginning of the 21st century, Americans on average, were spending more than 93% of their time indoors. And that’s a problem because we evolved outside, under the sun and the human body needs sun exposure to function properly.
Solar radiation has numerous positive effects on health, but early research focused almost entirely on adverse effects, like sunburn and skin cancer. The first disease to appear that was caused by insufficient sun exposure was rickets. About a century ago it was determined that rickets was caused by a vitamin D deficiency and until recently vitamin D was thought to be the only health benefit of solar exposure.
Health Crisis
The movement indoors has been exacerbated by public health authorities advising the public to minimize sun exposure because of an exaggerated fear of skin cancer. The CDC has promoted reducing time outdoors and minimizing sun exposure in it’s campaign for a quarter century. Sadly, even after numerous studies have documented how important getting some sun is, media outlets continue to rail against it. Here’s a recent article from the New York Times. “How To Get Absolutely No Sun This Summer.”
I’m not disputing that ultraviolet radiation may be one of the leading causes of skin cancer. But evidence is stacking up that reduced sun exposure is not only causing widespread vitamin D deficiency, it’s becoming a serious health crisis. It’s definitely time to reconsider the present public health advice and get the word out that sunlight is vital to our health and wellbeing. At higher latitudes where ambient levels of ultraviolet radiation are relatively low most of the year, being in the sun for a few hours a day provides powerful benefits with little danger.
Some caution needs to be exercised at higher altitude and lower latitudes. To minimize the harmful effects, care should be taken to avoid sunburn. Get the bulk of your sun when the angle is low in the morning and the evening. Increasing sun exposure incrementally allows melanin in the skin to ramp up the protection against UVR damage. There’s a reason that evolutionary skin pigmentation varies drastically from translucent white at high latitudes to coal black near the equator.
Daily Dose
There are a number of factors that determine the optimum ultraviolet radiation dose for each of us and one of the best tools is the ultraviolet index (UVI), which is an indicator of erythemal intensity under any given circumstance. There are a half dozen app options for whatever flavor of phone or watch you use. Find one you like and set it up with your specific variables to monitor your solar exposure. I use one called “UV Index” and it works well for my needs, but I almost always get my dose early in the morning, when Ra is just getting his groove on for the day.
Getting out in the sunshine usually comes with plenty of other opportunities to improve your health and well being too. No one goes outside to binge watch Yellowstone, gorge on Pringles or scroll through their Facebook Feed. Folks go outside to play tennis, go surfing or swimming, maybe take a walk, perhaps go fishing or do a bit of gardening. There are thousands of possibilities out there, under a big sky. Get out there and get a dose of primal life energy.
A couple research papers on the topic, if you want to dive a little deeper.