Natural sunlight's potential to harm you has really been blown out of proportion. This is thanks to many doctors, health officials, advertisements, beauty experts, corporations, and well-meaning friends. They basically tell you that you need to stay out of the sun because the sun will kill you. This simply isn't true.
For starters, there is little scientific evidence to justify the many health campaigns that urge you to completely avoid the sun. Avoiding the sun just doesn't make sense. And it certainly doesn't make any sense when study after study shows that ...
The Sun is Not Deadly In fact, the sun is healthy for you. Think about it. How could it be any other way?
After all, your ancestors survived outdoors, working outside under the sun's rays far more often than they were indoors and out of the sun.
This brings up an obvious question.
How on earth would it be possible for your body to end up being configured in such a way that the sun is now a deadly threat to you, me, and the entire human race?
Like I said, it simply isn't true.
That's not to say sunlight can't be harmful. Of course, it can be...
For instance, long-term, excessive exposure to sunlight can increase the risk of certain types of skin cancer. Yet moderate sun exposure is less dangerous than sporadic sun exposure.
Plus, there's a good deal of evidence that sun exposure without sunburn significantly decreases the risk of melanoma (a more deadly form of skin cancer.) So safe sun exposure is key.
What You Should Know About UVA and UVB Rays
Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.
Consider UVB the 'good guy' -- though of course you can't de-select UVA if you're going to be in the sun. UVB helps your skin produce vitamin D.
UVA is considered the 'bad guy' because it penetrates your skin more deeply and causes more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during all the hours of daylight throughout the entire year.
By comparison, UVB waves are low in morning and evening and high at midday.
So, if you're out early in the morning or late in the day, you get lots of UVA (bad guy) and not much UVB (good guy). Not a good way to produce vitamin D. Plus you increase your risk of cancer if that's your only sun intake, and you fail to protect your skin.
What's more, have you ever gotten a scorching sunburn on a cloudy day? You think you don't need to protect yourself and you wind up being really sorry you didn't. That's the UVA rays at work. They can break through cloud cover and pollution and do some real damage your skin.
Kind of a Catch 22.
As you may know, wearing a sunscreen on your uncovered skin blocks your body's production of vitamin D. In fact, sunscreens reduce vitamin D production by as much as 97.5 to 99.9%. And interfering with your body's production of vitamin D by 97.5 to 99.9% may have dire health consequences.
After all, vitamin D plays a crucial role in your overall health and well-being. For example, this superb vitamin is known to:
Support your cardiovascular health
Promote optimal cholesterol levels
Enhance your muscle strength
Help produce optimal blood pressure levels
Help maintain a healthy immune system
Support healthy kidney function
Promote healthy teeth
Help keep your bones strong and healthy
Please understand -- this list of important benefits represents a tiny fraction of the ways vitamin D keeps you healthy and fit. And, although you can get vitamin D from natural food sources, experts agree on one thing.
Natural Sunlight is Far and Away the Best Way to Get Your Vitamin D!Sun: Good for you, so long as you don't burn. Protect your skin from overexposure with Natural Sunscreen today.
And it is the ultimate way. Why? Because as soon as the sun's ultraviolet rays strike your skin, your body is programmed to do something remarkable. It starts producing its own natural vitamin D.
Better yet, your body produces the most active form of vitamin D in existence -- calciferol. Also known as vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is actually the precise form your body needs for the proper functioning of your organs and cells.
And luckily for all of us, our bodies automatically generate enough of it with virtually no risk of overdose. They just know when to stop producing natural vitamin D before it can reach toxic levels.
However, elevated vitamin D levels obtained strictly from oral supplements can take six months or longer to normalize. That's why I don't recommend supplementing your vitamin D with pills. If you do take vitamin D supplements, you need to get your blood levels tested regularly to avoid toxicity.
With natural sunlight, you may be wondering what precautions you need to take...
Should You Use a Sunscreen to Guard Against SUNBURN?
Absolutely! But not any kind of commercial sunscreen. More on that in a moment -- but first, let me just say...
As much as I prefer you steer clear of sunscreens because they interfere with natural vitamin D production, there is one critical exception.
The exception is when it is impossible to limit full body exposure to sunlight! So if you can't limit your exposure for whatever reason, do use a safe sunscreen to protect your skin from sunburn. It is for YOUR own good.
Your risk of getting melanoma may increase in relationship to sunburn frequency and severity. Limiting sun exposure, wearing protective clothing, and using a 100% all-natural, non chemical sunscreen can reduce the risks of skin cancer and other harmful effects of the sun.
Studies revealed that people who spend more time outdoors without getting sunburn, actually decrease their risk of developing melanoma.
Now get this:
Safe sunlight exposure has also been shown to protect against as many as sixteen different types of cancer, including breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, and renal cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So, yes, your body needs a bit of unprotected sun exposure. For all the benefits I've mentioned earlier. But if you can't avoid the following three scenarios:
You're forced to be in the direct rays of the sun for a longer time than is safe...
You must go into intense sunlight without having the opportunity to gradually build up to it...
You're in a situation where blocking the sun with strategic clothing or sunshades is impractical...
...use a sunscreen to help guard against sunburn. But, don't just slap on any of the standard commercial brands you find on store shelves. With that in mind...
It's Time to Expose the Sunscreen Smokescreen!
In my opinion, corporate greed has created products that are harmful.
I'm talking hundreds of sunscreens that I believe are toxic because they contain man-made chemicals ... chemicals I believe can cause serious health problems and increase your risk of disease. Here's why.
The main chemical used in sunscreens to filter out ultraviolet B light is octyl methoxycinnamate. OMC for short. OMC was found to kill mouse cells even at low doses. Plus, it was also shown to be particularly toxic when exposed to sunshine. And guess what?
OMC is present in 90 percent of sunscreen brands!
But that's not the half of it. A common ultraviolet A filter, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, has also demonstrated toxic properties.
Furthermore, several studies show that the chemicals commonly used in sunscreens are absorbed through the skin and end up circulating in your blood stream. Not good. So...
If Your Sunscreen Contains Any of These Chemicals That I Consider Dangerous and Potentially Life Threatening, Do Yourself a BIG Favor...
Dump it in the trash now .
Yes, that's right. Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these questionable chemicals:
Toss your sunscreen in the trash if it contains any of these chemicals I consider to be potentially harmful.
Para amino benzoic acid...
Octyl salicyclate...
Avobenzone...
Oxybenzone...
Cinoxate...
Padimate O...
Dioxybenzone...
Phenylbenzimidazole...
Homosalate...
Sulisobenzone...
Menthyl anthranilate...
Trolamine salicyclate...
Octocrylene...
And, oh yes, let me not forget...
Potentially harmful chemicals such as dioxybenzone and oxybenzone (two chemicals I just mentioned) are some of the most powerful free radical generators known to man!
So if your sunscreen contains dioxybenzone, oxybenzone, or any of the other chemicals I just revealed, I highly recommend you switch to a formula that is safe and healthy for your skin.
And a note to moms ... You are undoubtedly very conscientious about caring for your children. But when you lather up your son or daughter with sunscreen thinking you're doing the right thing, you could in fact be doing more harm than good.
So check the labels on your sunscreen, and throw them out if they contain any of the potentially dangerous chemicals named above. After all, your skin is your largest organ, as your child's skin is theirs.
And it may surprise you to find out that zinc oxide has been used all over the world for over 75 years as a safe sunscreen to help you prevent excessive sun exposure.
Unlike chemical sunscreens that absorb ultraviolet light, nature provides us with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide ... two remarkable ingredients that remain on your skin to reflect and scatter away both UVA and UVB rays from your body. How do they do this?
Quite simply, they do it by forming a physical barrier, without irritating or clogging your pores.
~Dr. Mercola
So...what kind of sunscreen do I use on my family? Simple: A & D Zinc Oxide Cream
But don't look for it in the sunscreen isle; you'll find it in the diaper area....and it's a lot cheaper than your commercial brand suncreens.
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