The Healing Heliotherapy dates back to the ancient Greeks, has numerous benefits. Reinforcing the immune system is one way to prevent contracting the Coronavirus (COVID-19), in addition to maintaining a healthy diet and life, basking in the sun can maintain body immunity.
Sunlight therapy also known as Heliotherapy dates back to the ancient Greeks. Sunlight is the best’s source of vitamin D. Some dermatologists have brainwashed our mind with the concepts that the ultra violet rays of the sun is harmful and we should stay away from sun. This has made people sun-phobic. Exposure to the sun does not mean burning the skin or getting tanned. The key lies in safe, limited, healthy and strategic exposure to sun.
Depriving people from healthy exposure, they miss out on optimizing on the numerous benefits of vitamin D required to build bones, reduce inflammation, and build strong immune system. Sun rays improve the vitality, and alleviates from nervous disability. Empowers the digestion, stimulates the digestive fire and increases the force of excretion. Gives mobility to the blood, cures all the skin diseases and strengthens the bones. Increases the proportion of calcium, phosphorus, and iron in the blood.
Reinforcing the immune system is one way to prevent contracting the Coronavirus (COVID-19), in addition to maintaining a healthy diet and life, basking in the sun can maintain body immunity. “Vitamin D also has immunomodulatory effects that can improve the body’s immune system,” This immune system is the body’s defence against viruses and bacteria that cause disease. Meanwhile, if the body lacks vitamin D, it can inhibit growth and be susceptible to viruses or bacteria.
Sunlight directly activates key immune cells
We all know sunlight provides vitamin D, which is suggested to have an impact on immunity, among other things. But what we found is a completely separate role of sunlight on immunity. Some of the roles attributed to vitamin D on immunity may be due to this new mechanism. “They specifically found that low levels of blue light, found in sun rays, makes disease fighting T cells in the skin move faster- marking the first reported human cell responding to sunlight by speeding its pace. Sunlight directly activates key immune cells by increasing their movement.”
Sunlight boosts your immune system
It is already proven that sunlight helps the body to produce vitamin D which is very important for good health, and now recent studies have revealed another powerful benefit of getting enough sun. Sunlight energizes the T-cells that play a central role in human immunity.”T-cells need to move to do their work, which is to get to the site of an infection and orchestrate a response,This study shows that sunlight directly activates key immune cells by increasing their movement.” T-cell activation is completely safe with no side effects, so it makes sense to offer it to patients to boost their immunity.
Sunbathing tips and precautions
- Wear SPF 30 or more and apply it 15 minutes before going outside. Make sure you cover your body in at least a full ounce of sunscreen. That’s about as much as the size of a golf ball or a full shot glass.
- Don’t forget to use SPF on the top of your head if it’s not protected by hair, as well as your hands, feet, and lips.
- Avoid tanning beds. Aside from being dangerous, most tanning beds barely contain UVB light to stimulate vitamin D production.
- Take breaks in the shade when you get hot.
- Drink water if you’re spending prolonged periods of time in the sun.
- Eat tomatoes, which contain large amount of lycopene, which research has found helps prevent skin redness from UV rays.
- Then, when is the right time to sunbathe to get enough sun exposure? The adequate sunbathing time is when the body’s shadow is shorter than height, while the recommended sunbathing time is about 10 to 15 minutes.
Besides, in the morning, the air atmosphere is not right, especially in big cities with high pollution levels. Many pollutants such as heavy metals still concentrated close to the surface, which pollutes the air in the morning. When sunbathing, direct skin exposed to sunlight. The use of hats, sunscreen, and clothing are blocking sun exposure to the surface.
At least the hands and feet exposed to sunlight. The veiled face is also exposed enough to be exposed to sunlight, so that sunbathing is not dull. Sunbathing is not a single activity, we can get sunlight with other activities such as gardening, lifting clothesline, and others in direct contact with sunlight. Several studies have mentioned that sufficient sun exposure causes the virus more difficult to survive in hot weather and effective at boosting body immunity.
Sunbathing benefits
Sun exposure helps the body make vitamin D naturally. This vitamin is essential but many people don’t get enough of it. Vitamin D deficiency is common and some estimates say that 1 billion people worldwide are deficient. Vitamin D can be difficult to get from food alone. It exists in certain fish and egg yolks, but most of it is consumed through fortified products like milk. Supplements are also available.
The benefits of sunlight and vitamin D include:
1. It elevates mood: The sun works through a number of receptors in the brain to affect our mental status and alertness. Moderate sunlight exposure helps improve your mood and focus by boosting the serotonin levels in your body. Also known as the ‘happiness hormone’, it makes you calm and alert. Also, “sunlight decreases the risk of depression in those at risk of seasonal affective disorder (SAD),”
2. It improves sleep: The brighter your daylight exposure, the more melatonin you produce at night,” Melatonin is a type of hormone that’s “produced by the pineal gland in the brain during darkness at night”, Also known as the sleep hormone, melatonin has “a range of effects on the brain, from improving sleep to synchronizing your biological clocks, and lowering stress reactivity,” Additionally, the amount of daylight exposure you get is crucial in maintaining a normal circadian rhythm. “Distorted circadian rhythms can induce symptoms of both depression and bipolar disorder, depending on the pattern of disruption.
3.It promotes bone growth: Vitamin D is “a hormone that promotes calcium absorption and is essential for bone growth and formation .Since sunlight is a primary source of Vitamin D, the hormone is also dubbed as ‘the sunshine vitamin.” The Vitamin D found in our body needs activation. The sun helps to convert inactive Vitamin D levels to active,”, getting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of sunlight on your arms, hands, and face twice or thrice a week is enough to reap the vitamin D-boosting benefits of the sun.
4. It helps strengthen the immune system: Strong association studies have found that Vitamin D is also very important in signalling the immune system. It appears to be necessary in adequate amounts to turn on your ability to survey the rest of your cells. Since regular sun exposure is one of the most robust ways to up active Vitamin-D levels in your body, it can help beef up your immune system as well. “Inadequate levels of this vitamin have been associated with an increased rate of infection, cancer, and mortality rate after surgery.
5. It lowers blood pressure: According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Edinburgh University, moderate exposure to the sun’s UV rays can cause a significant drop in blood pressure levels. Lower blood pressure levels help cut down the risk of stroke and heart disease.
6. It may reduce the risk of melanoma: The skin’s exposure to ultraviolet radiation of short wavelength (UVB) has been associated with a decreased risk of melanoma. The research found that outdoor workers who were exposed to regular sunlight had a lower risk of developing skin cancer compared to their indoor counterparts. Other than that, an adequate amount of sunlight has also been linked to a reduced risk of certain cancers (including colon, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancer), suggests a study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.
Some of the essential benefits of sun rays are:
- Sun rays has unique healing power, it disinfects and heal wounds and also kills the bad bacteria and cures fungal infection of the skin.
- Protects against dementia and brain aging
- Good for loosing excess fat
- Essential for decreasing symptoms of asthma
- Sunlight has a beneficial effect on skin disorders, such as psoriasis, acne and eczema. Sunlight penetrates deep into the skin to cleanse the blood and the blood vessels.
- The sunlight’s lowers high cholesterol by converting high cholesterol in the blood into steroid hormones.
- The sunlight activates the cells and tissues by increasing the flow of oxygen in the blood. The sunlight has a great impact on building the stamina and fitness of the individuals.
- Sunlight exposure is also known to positively increase the growth and height of children, especially babies. The amount of sun exposure in new born babies till 4-5 months has an great impact on the growth of the child.
- The mantra is right, moderate and slow exposure to the sun. Do not be vitamin D deficient by depriving your body of natural vitamin D direct from the sun.
Alternatives to sunbathing
Sunbathing is one way for your body to reap the benefits of the sun, but it’s not the only way. If you don’t want to lie in the sun but still want the benefits, you can:
- Exercise outside
- Go for a 30-minute walk
- Open the windows while you drive
- Park farther from your work and walk
- Eat a meal outdoors
- Take a vitamin D supplement
- Invest in a UV lamp
- Eat foods rich in vitamin D
Dr.Nandhini V. Mohan & Dr Venkataramana Hegde
Veda wellness center
Nisarga Mane Sirsi
Uttarakannada District
Ph: 9597019032/ 9448729434
Email : nisargamane6@gmail.com
