To sun or not to sun, that is the question. You hear people talking about skin cancer and the incredibly harmful rays that it extends to the earth. These rays encourage growth in trees, plants, animals, and humans. How do you know what is truth? Are the suns rays good for your skin or are they bad for it? Actually, these rays are both.



The rays which are emitted from the sun are called the broad spectrum of Ultraviolet (UV) rays. Many of them are very intense and can be harmful to your skin through over exposure. This harm to you skin can result in a number of things: slower healing, accelerated aging, hyper pigmentation, and skin cancer, to name a few. To protect your skin from the full spectrum of UV rays, you need to use a good sunscreen. This does not have to be expensive; the protective factor listed on the packaging determines how well you will be protected. I recommend that you purchase an organic sunscreen because you will not be adding even further toxins to your skin.

Now that we have discussed the bad part of sun exposure, let us talk about the good, because there is a lot of good that comes from sunshine. Of course, this is not a constant sun exposure, nor is it sun exposure between 11:00am and 3:00pm. These times of the day are when the suns rays are the strongest, which means that you are more apt to suffer the damaging effects of the UV rays on your skin. What we are talking about is a moderate amount of sun exposure on a daily basis.

Sunlight helps remove toxins from your body. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of good effects of the sun is my son. When he was born, he was bruised all over, I jokingly say that he looked like a prize fighter that did not do so well in his last fight. The truth is that he had jaundice which is a condition where your liver is not properly removing toxins from your body. The doctors sent us home on a Friday with instructions to keep him in sunlight with a lot of skin exposed as much as I could. It rained all weekend, which made it impossible to keep him in sunlight and he got worse instead of better. By Monday his skin was yellow in color, we returned to the doctor and he was immediately sent to the hospital and admitted. To cure his jaundice, he was given lots of water and kept under a UV light with only a diaper on. By helping the liver to work better, toxins are more easily removed from your entire body, including your skin. With the removal of toxins, your skin can perform much better and will look younger.

Studies have shown that sunlight has a tremendous impact on many patients depression. This is very easily seen by looking into seasonal suicide rates. I have seen it in myself, friends, and family. When winter hits and the sunlight fades with it, spirits fall. As spring comes and summer steps into the picture, moods lighten and everyone has more fun with each other. Emotional strain affects your skin in a number of ways, from triggering psoriasis to triggering skin breakouts.

The third major way that sun can help your skin is by giving your body much needed vitamin D. Among other things, vitamin D gives a serious boost to you immune system, encouraging the production of cells that fight toxins and disease in your body. When your skin has less toxins, it not only looks more youthful, but performs better. The other thing that vitamin D will do that affects how your skin looks is help keep your muscles from breaking down. By keeping your muscles from wasting, your skin has a better foundation and does not sag as easily.

While you hear all kinds of things about sun damage and the horrors of what the sun can cause, but there are not enough people who are telling us the advantages. These advantages can be gained with moderate sun exposure, not over exposure because too much sun does create the bad effects on the skin that you have heard so much about. Keep a bit of sunshine in your life (with sunscreen) and you will reap tremendous benefits.