I go for sun exposure on my back, chest, and belly every day, without sunscreen, and it hasn’t caused me to develop skin cancer, nor will it.
I live part-time in Bali, Indonesia, where it’s always sunny. I’m out walking three times a day, early morning, noon, and evening, usually topless, especially at noon, because I want my sun exposure!
I’ve been practicing this for 4 years now. You might be thinking, why are you doing that to yourself, that’s stupid and irresponsible! The truth is, The Sun is Our Friend and Not Our Enemy. You may disagree, but it’s true, and I’ll explain why.
I know this is a touchy subject, and opinions differ. You may have had a bad experience due to sun exposure. Maybe you think sunning yourself is harmful in several ways, causing melanoma, old, spotty, and or leathery and wrinkly skin.
That’s not so, as long as, of course, you don’t do stupid things. I’ll get into what I mean by that in a minute.
The questions remain:
Why has it been drilled into us over the last 30 years or so that the sun is our enemy?
Why are we told the sun’s rays are harmful, and if we don’t protect ourselves with tons of sunscreen, we are at a high risk of developing skin cancer?
Let’s take simple logic:
I don’t think the earth would function very well without the sun. Without the sun, I believe planet Earth would look much like the Moon. I’m not a scientist, but I think that’s a pretty good guess.
Without sun exposure, how would plants, trees, forests, flowers, and vegetables grow? I haven’t heard of any of the above species getting cancer from the sun.
What about all the animals that spend all day in the baking sun, in Africa, Asia, or Australia? Is their fur protecting them? How about reptiles, elephants, and hippos? Those animals have thick skin protecting them from the sun’s rays, some say.
How about fish, dolphins, and sharks? These animals and mammals don’t have thick skin, and UV rays still penetrate the water to around 30 feet. Do they get the equivalent of skin cancer from sun exposure?
Again, I’m not a scientist, but it all sounds fishy to me, so I researched.
Vitamin D a Vital Hormone.
Our bodies most efficiently produce vitamin D by being exposed to the sun. Food intake doesn’t provide us with the required amount of vitamin D.
Thanks to the indoor and sedentary confinement lifestyle, which has become the norm over the last few decades, millions of people have lived with little to no direct sunlight exposure.
There is no scientific evidence linking regular moderate sun exposure to any form of skin cancer. Excessive skin exposure can present a risk of skin cancer, even then mostly for carcinoma, an easily treatable condition, but not for melanoma.
The misguided and false scaremongering connecting sun exposure to melanoma has caused vitamin D deficiency in more than 75% of Americans. Consequently, over the last century, there’s been a massive increase in health issues related to vitamin D deficiency.
Please read scientific evidence here.
“These many factors explain why vitamin D deficiencies are shockingly common in the United States.” Harvard.health.eu
The lack of vitamin D can lead to several serious health problems, such as:
- Osteoporosis (loss of bone density)
- Related to the development of Diabetes
- Increased risk of Dementia
- Increased risk of Cancer
- Linked to Erectile Disfunction or ED
- Increased risk of Heart Disease
For every skin cancer diagnosis attributed to excessive sun exposure, there are 55 other cancer diagnoses, according to the University of California.Adequate intake of vitamin D could prevent more than 600.000 yearly cases of colon and breast cancer worldwide.
Science clearly states that Vitamin D boosts the immune function and can destroy invading organisms, such as cancer.
Let’s look at the list of Vitamin D benefits:
- Boosts Immune System
- Provides Auto-Immune Proction
- Cancer Protection
- Strengthens Bones and Muscles
- Supports Heart Health
- Supports Skin Health
- Helps Regulate Blood Sugar Levels
Sunscreen, UV Rays and Chemcials.
Unfortunately, the big brand sunscreen industry isn’t honest about their products either. Research showsand the industry doesn’t tell us that:
- Sunscreen isn’t effective against the harmful UV rays.
- Sunscreen contains toxic chemicals that are absorbed by our skin and can cause cancer.
Logically, the more you lather up with sunscreen, the more chemicals find their way into your bloodstream.
“Sunscreen is a product that you put on your skin to protect it from the sun’s UV rays. But it’s important to know that sunscreen is just a filter — it does not block all UV rays.” Cancer.org
In addition, Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of 8 compromises vitamin D by 90 percent, while SPF 30 blocks 97 percent of vitamin D. Not exactly a great statistic for us to produce enough of the vital vitamin D hormone if we are covered in sunscreen.
Hawaiiis the first state in the USA to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxateon its beaches, which contribute to coral reefs “bleaching.” Bleaching means the corals are dead. If the chemicals in sunscreen can kill corals, I think it’s fair to say these chemicals can’t be good for humans either.
How to practice Safe Sun Exposure and get your Vitamin D.
I’m a firm believer that the sun is our friend and not our enemy. The sun gives life and doesn’t take it unless we do stupid things, as I mentioned above.
Baking in the sun all day on the beach, with or without sunscreen, clearly is a stupid thing to do. Placing yourself in a sunbed every day for any length of time to get a tan is also not a wise idea.
Safe Sunning:
- Expose only your large body parts to the sun for 15 to 20 minutes daily. Focus on chest, abdomen, back, arms, and legs.
- Protect smaller, frequently exposed body parts such as hands and face with an opaque-zinc based chemical-free sunscreen.
- Cover up large body parts with light clothing if you are outside frequently.
- Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate — way more than the recommended daily amount, double that!
Finally, Happiness! Vitamin D is also known as the happy hormone. Do you ever notice that you are happier in the sunlight than when it’s dreary outside? That’s the endorphins kicking in when we the sun shines on our skin. I, for one, love being happy, and that’s why I Love the Sun!
Thanks for reading and please sign up to my blog if you enjoyed this article.
Rob Hourmont
Former Olympic Athlete & Certified Health Coach.
“It is my mission to educate people on how to lose weight, how to build a healthy, strong heart, body, and mind, supporting a longer life.”
rob@robshealthcrunch.com
IG: robhourmontcrunch
IG: robshealthcrunch
