Here comes the sun...do, do, do, do

I am soooooooooooooo sick of reading all these articles about how we should slather ourselves in sunscreen if we are going to step outside just to get our mail. I understand the risk of skin cancer, and the link between it and sunburns...but come on. Do you really think that we cannot allow our skin to ever see the sunlight again? I have always felt that the warnings about the sun were over-exaggerated...party because I love to sit in the sun (it is on my list of top 5 favorite things in the world) and partly because we have been in the sun as a species for thousands of years (our bodies have to use it for something). As a matter of fact, it is unhealthy when we don't allow the sun to shine on your body. Did you know sunlight actually decreases the risk of certain cancers including: pancreatic, lung, breast, prostate, and ovarian? The Moores Cancer Center at the Univeristy of California, San Diego (UCSD) states that nearly 150,000 cases of cancer could be prevented in the US alone just by allowing more sun to kiss our skin. Not only that by sunlight helps us sleep better, provides mood-elevating effects, suppresses overactive immune system, and lessens Alzheimer's symptoms (Kotz, 2008). The FDA released their report on the skin cancer, skin aging, and sunscreen last and said, "FDA has tentatively concluded that the available evidence fails to show that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer o premature skin aging. Thus, the anti-aging, skin cancer, and sun damage claims proposed by the comments would be false or misleading due to lack of sufficient data in support of these claims." (FDA, 2007) Just search for yourself to see all the research that proves how beneficial the the sun is. While the Vitamin D (the beneficial vitamin we produce when being in the sun) can be taken in supplement form, it is possible to overdoes when taking it that way (weird), but certain food also have Vitamin D to help us during the less sunny winter months.

Another thing that really pisses me off is the sunscreen industry...yes, I wear sunscreen when I know that I am going to be at the river all day because I don't want to burn up, but I feel really guilty when I get in the water and I see the toxic puddle of sunscreen that has come off of my body and is now in the water. Poor aquatic life...always having to deal with my choices of what I am putting in the water. And have you ever read the labels on a sunscreen bottle? I don't I even want to get started on that today...I am going to lay in the sun!