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Health Line: Sunshine — health benefits
We generally know that sunshine is somehow good for our health. In fact, there are specific scientific reasons to prove this. Do you know what happens to our body when it is exposed to the sun’s-rays?
Sunlight actually destroys certain particular fungi and bacteria that may have settled on our skin. In this regard it has a strong medicinal value. Another way in which sunshine acts as a protective agent is by further activating the white blood cells. We know that these cells attack disease-causing germs in our body and help us keep healthy. Thus, sunlight helps us to develop a greater resistance to fight diseases.
When sunlight falls on the skin, it causes certain substances to move into the blood and give the muscles a new tone. The muscles become more tense and thus can work better. In fact, our nervous system gets a kind of ‘charge’ from sunlight and thus we feel stimulated and want to move about.
There is a substance in the skin called ergosterol, which is transformed into Vitamin D by the sun’s ultraviolet rays. This vitamin is very useful for our bones.
These are some of the reasons why exposing ourselves to the sun-rays is useful. In fact, it is just like swallowing a teaspoonful of medicine every five minutes. But it is important to be just as careful about sunbathing as we would have to be about taking medicine.
Sunbathing raises the blood pressure, so people who have heart trouble or certain lung diseases run the risk of physical harm by excessive exposure to the sun. Then, over-exposure to the sun may cause skin problems including skin cancer.
In fact, people should expose themselves to sunlight only in phases. For instance, while taking sunbathes the best thing is to begin by exposing one-fifth of the body for about five minutes. The next day, expose another one-fifth of the body for an extra five minutes, and so on. In this way one can get all the benefits of sunlight without running into unnecessary risk.
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