Healing Power of Sunlight

Jacobs Liberman, O.D., Ph.D., challenges the modem myth that the sun is dangerous to our well-being. The sun was once used as a general tonic to heal almost everything and man has run naked on this planet under the sun for centuries. The sun provides the basis for all life on earth. The sun is the source of energy for all plants, and indirectly, for all animals. If the sun causes cancer, man wouldn't be here today. Contrary to popular belief, sunbathing actually helps heal cancer of the skin while sunblock increases cancer risk.

Dr. Mercola - "In recent years we've all been trained to fear the sun, due to the threat of skin cancer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now there is a growing belief that exposure to the sun may not actually cause skin cancer. As this study published in the prestigious Cancer journal indicates, exposure to sun actually decreases cancer rates"
The light and heat from the sun are indispensable to all nature. Humanity is also part of nature and needs sunlight for health and well being, for vitality and happiness. In his book, The Healing Sun: Sunlight and Health in the 21st Century, Richard Hobday, MSc, PhD, explains how and why we should welcome sunlight back into our lives - safely! It shows how sunlight was used to prevent and cure diseases in the past, and how it can heal us and help us in the future.

Jacob Liberman, who has doctorates in both optometry and vision science, says that the people who live on Earth evolved to thrive under the light put forth by our sun. He says, therefore, that we potentially harm ourselves when we hide from sunlight. In Light: Medicine Of The Future: How We Can Use It To Heal Ourselves Now, he explains how to utilize the therapeutic benefits of light. Dr. Liberman says that "light is the basic component from which all life originates, develops, heals, and evolves." Everything that humans do is affected in some way by light. Light has been used for healing since the time of ancient Egypt. Modern scientists began recognizing the benefits of light therapy in the late 1700's. Although many people believe the ultraviolet (UV) light is harmful, Dr. Liberman maintains our bodies need at least a small amount of UV light in order to function properly. He cites studies which indicate that, due to all the ways in which we block sunlight from our lives, including wearing sunglasses designed to block out UV rays, "it is possible that we are unknowingly contributing to the increased incidence of blindness and eye disease in this country." Dr. Liberman does warn against looking at the sun directly, or exposing ourselves to it between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., but emphasizes that light is a nutrient for the body. He says people need to be outside in natural light, without sunglasses or sun block, for a minimum of one hour a day. He warns that warm-white and cool-white fluorescents "should absolutely be avoided." People who cannot get outside regularly need to equip their work areas with full-spectrum light fixtures. Syntonics is the name given to light therapy, which involves utilizing specific colors for healing specific ailments. Dr. Liberman discusses its benefits in treating vision problems, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), cancer, and learning disabilities. He says that "as we continue to discover and understand the role that light plays in our lives, its use as both a therapeutic and preventive tool will become more evident."

Sunlight helps the body heal wounds and injuries and overcome virtually any illness. Dr. Carl Hoffminster wrote that soldiers in World War II healed and survived much better when their open wounds and broken bones were exposed to sunlight.

It's the great cancer cover-up. Panicked into avoiding sunlight by health experts, we are now dying in our thousands from diseases linked to deficiencies of vitamin D. But still the exaggerated warnings come. - Oliver Gillie

According to the National Cancer Institute, lifetime exposure to sunlight may reduce your risk of some of the most common types of cancer. In an analysis of death certificates from 24 states over an 11-year period, the NCI researchers found that people who lived in the sunniest parts of the country, and those exposed to the most sunlight through their jobs, had significantly lower rates of breast and colon cancer than matched controls.
The scientists identified cases through a database maintained by the NCI, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Center for Health Statistics. The data was collected from 24 states from 1984 through 1995, and includes information on occupation, state of residence at birth and at death, and cause of death. The researchers took significant measures to ensure the accuracy of their data. They only included people who were born and died in states in the same solar radiation range. And they classified farmers in their own occupational category, separate from other outdoor jobs, as they have been shown to have higher overall rates of certain types of cancer. They also narrowed down the cases substantially with a long list of exclusions.

Even after all those adjustments, the results were compelling. Overall, people who lived in the highest solar radiation range (in states like Arizona, Hawaii, Florida, and Texas) had less risk of dying of breast, ovarian, prostate, or colon cancer than those who lived in the lowest range (states like Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Washington). The occupational difference was most significant in relation to cases breast and colon cancer; across all levels of solar radiation, people who worked outside had 20 to 25 percent less risk of these two types of cancer. And the benefits of outside work weren't attributable to the amount of hard labor. Even after the researchers adjusted for level of physical activity, the reduction in risk remained. In their discussion, the NCI researchers theorize that sunlight offers cancer protection through its contribution of vitamin D. Recent laboratory tests have shown that vitamin D can slow or halt the proliferation of breast and colon cancer cells. And in other research, breast cancer patients showed lower serum concentrations of a form of vitamin D when compared with healthy controls

Why one should not be dissuaded from enjoying the Sun for optimal health
It has been frequently reported that those who are regularly exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) due to their occupation have a reduced risk of developing melanoma [Garland et al., 1990; Kennedy et al., 2004]. The reasons appear to be twofold: 1 - they develop a tan that blocks the penetration of UVR so it can't produce the free radicals that can lead to melanoma; and 2 - they produce lots of vitamin D. Both links have just been demonstrated in an excellent study by investigators studying 497 people with melanoma in and around Philadelphia and San Francisco [Millen et al., 2004].

Sunlight Actually Prevents Cancer Dr. Mercola
In recent years we've all been trained to fear the sun, due to the threat of skin cancer. Now there is a growing belief that exposure to the sun may not actually cause skin cancer. Either way, the fear of skin cancer shouldn't keep you huddled indoors in the dark. According to Dr. William C. Douglass, you can reap the sun's healthy benefits with as little as 20 minutes of exposure a day.

However, skin cancers are more likely related to the large distortion most people have in their omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratio. The high excess of omega-6 fats in most people's diet puts them at a much higher risk of developing skin cancer when exposed to excess sun.

So the solution is not to slather sun block on. Sun block can be quite toxic and should be avoided by most people. The sensible approach would be to limit sun exposure so you never get sun burned. It is sunburn in conjunction with excess omega-6 fats that increases your risk of skin cancer.

Sunlight Exposure Beneficial In Multiple Sclerosis
In a recently published exploratory study, mortality from multiple sclerosis (MS) was found to be reduced by exposure to sunlight. Depending on the degree of sunlight exposure, the risk of death from MS was reduced by up to 76%. No theory on the precise mechanism of action in this reduction was proposed by the authors. Occup Environ Med 2000;57:418-421

Learn Why the Myth of the Sun Causing Skin Cancer Can Hurt Your Health A recent study in the prominent US dermatology journal tell us that only a small fraction of US schools have implemented policies that protect students from over-exposure to the sun, and few provide shade, sunscreen, or other ways to avoid ultraviolet rays. Since severe sunburns occur during childhood, which may promote melanoma later, these experts recommend that policy makers and school administrators encourage and implement sun protection policies at schools nationwide. The authors of this study recommend that schools without a sun protection policy adopt one, and at least implement minor changes that could help shield students from the sun, such as allowing staff to put sunscreen on students, and permitting hats and sunglasses when outdoors. Archives of Dermatology June 2002;138:771-774

Reduce Your Risk of Cancer With Sunlight Exposure
By William B. Grant, Ph.D.

Sun Exposure (UVB) Protects Against 16 Types of Cancer - The new study links UVB as protective to a total of 16 types of cancer, primarily epithelial (pertaining to the surface) cancers of the digestive and reproductive systems [Grant, submitted]. Six types of cancer (breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) were inversely correlated to solar UVB radiation and rural residence in combination. This result strongly suggests that living in an urban environment is associated with reduced UVB exposure compared to living in a rural environment.

Another 10 types of cancer including bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal and renal were inversely correlated with UVB but not urban residence. Ten types of cancer were significantly correlated with smoking, six types with alcohol, and seven types with Hispanic heritage. Poverty status was inversely correlated with seven types of cancer. Since the results for alcohol, Hispanic heritage, and smoking for white Americans agree well with the literature [Trapido et al., 1995; Thun et al., 2002], they provide a high level of confidence in the approach and its results for UVB radiation

In a televised interview, Dr. Lorraine Day, MD, reported that rats fed a healthy diet developed no cases of skin cancer when exposed to the sun, while 25% of those fed the standard american did develop cancerous lesions. The difference between the two diets is likely to be the quality of the fats, as will be come more apparent shortly.

You Can Naturally Relieve Pain With Simple SunlightPsychosomatic Medicine January/February 2006;67(1):156-163
Exposure to sunlight may be the newest method of easing pain. According to a report, boosting the amount of sunlight in a patient's hospital room decreases their perception of pain and their need for painkiller medication. Researchers enrolled nearly 90 patients who had undergone spinal surgery and placed them in randomly assigned hospital rooms--the rooms were either sunny or dim upon their return from surgery. With the aid of light meter measurements, researchers found:

Patients assigned to bright rooms received an average of 46 percent more natural sunlight a day, compared to patients in the dim room, which translated to an average 21 percent reduction in the cost of painkiller medication for patients in bright rooms
Bright-room patients had considerably lower stress scores and slightly lower pain scores when they left the hospital, compared to patients in dimmer rooms.
These results may motivate hospital administrators to relocate patients with high painkiller requirements to rooms with higher intensity sunlight.

Lack of Sunlight Since a lack of sunlight prevents the formation of Vitamin D, it may be that high cholesterol levels result from a simple lack of sunlight. People who stay indoors all the time and only go outside using industrial-strength sun block (as opposed to increasing sun exposure gradually and letting it fall on bare skin) would be subject to increased cholesterol levels for that reason. (Bad Cholesterol: A Myth and a Fraud? The Dangers of Low Blood Cholesterol)

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