Vital Vitamin D: Sensible Sunlight Simple Solution to Better Health

Vitamin D, despite its name is not a vitamin like other vitamins. It is really a steroid hormone with the ability to produce a wide range of health benefits by connecting and regulating genetic expression that influence the immune system.

The sun is vital to our earth and to every living thing. Enjoying the sun in a sensible, natural way is good for us for example:

• Light from the sun enhances the immune system, increasing the white blood cell count in the body. The more white blood cells we have the more our body is able to destroy germs.

• The sun's light also produces more red blood cells, increasing the oxygen in out blood and how well our body can circulate it efficiently.

• Sunlight also has the ability to clear up some types of skin disease such as acne, athletes foot, eczema and psoriasis.

• The suns' ultra violet rays destroy bacteria, viruses, including colds and flu while working as a natural anti-sceptic to destroy mites that live on the skin.

• Sunlight tends to balance hormones relieving some of the symptoms of PMS.

• Sunlight is a potent immune adulator to prevent autoimmune diseases such as MS and inflammatory bowel disease.

• Sunlight boosts our body physically and makes us happier by increasing the amount of endorphins and serotonin in the body.

• Sunlight protects against influenza and fights all kinds of infections.

• Sunlight produces Vitamin D that our skin and body needs.

Installing an arbor, pergola, pavilion or gazebo is an excellent way to invite yourself to spend more time in the outdoors for more sunlight and better health.make the outdoors more inviting and accessible to enjoy more sunshine. It extends the living area of a home while transforming a yard into a beautiful makeover in just a few short hours for years of more readily enjoying the outdoors. Installing a new pergola, arbor, pavilion or gazebo has never been easier or faster than with a Western Timber Frame kit.

It is true that too much sun can be dangerous for our body but sunlight in moderation is full of health benefits for our mind and physical well being. Sometimes if you are feeling tired and achy you may simply be lacking in getting enough Vitamin D. It has become a norm in our society to spend long hours in front of a screen and inside of buildings. According to research children who spend more time outdoors are healthier and happier.

Some of the benefits of Vitamin D from Sunshine:

The ultraviolet rays of sunshine create an essential natural soluble fat vitamin that the body has to have to keep healthy. This vitamin helps to regulate calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood promoting the absorption of calcium in the small intestines. In turn calcium makes stronger, denser bones, helping to prevent tooth decay. It also lowers the possibility of osteoporosis, osteomalacia and rickets. Vitamin D from Sunlight reduces hypertension, heart attack, stroke and atherosclerotic heart disease.

Dr. Michael Holick MD and PhD, author of The Vitamin D Solution has been doing research on the effects of Vitamin D for over 40 years and says that Vitamin D3 improves the immune system preventing many types of chronic diseases and believes it has the potential of cutting cancer cases in half.

It has been popular advice to avoid the sun during the very warm summer days from late morning to mid-afternoon that these are the hours best spent in the shade, you will still have plenty of sunlight as you walk between areas that are shaded to keep a healthy body. According to Dr. Holick, your body need sunlight during these hours and says there is more Vitamin D around 10:00 am to 3:00 pm when there is more sunlight. Trying to get your sunlight through a glass window does not work as well. Glass will filter out most the UVB needed to stimulate the production of Vitamin D leaving mostly UVA rays which cause wrinkles and risks of skin damage.

Healthy living tissue is destroyed when the skin is burned and burning repeatedly can cause damage that is irreversible, increasing the dangers of cancer. Constant suntanning without protection will cause the skin to age, loose its elasticity and wrinkle making a person look older than they are.

Vitamin D from Sunlight improves DNA repair and metabolic processes and effects autoxidation which is the oxidation that takes place when oxygen is present and/or UV radiation which effects things such as aging and cancer. So while too much sun can age a person, there are implications that sensible doses sunlight can also keep us younger.

How much sunlight is healthy?

This partly depends upon skin type. Darker skin needs more sunlight to stimulate the Vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Fairer skin requires less sunlight to keep up the Vitamin D levels. Grass Roots Health offers a helpful chart to better gauge how much sun is needed to maintain good health.

The old advice of protecting yourself from harmful over-exposure to the sun's UV rays before spending hours in the direct sun is still good advice. There is however a healthy balance to maintain. It is worthwhile to note that Doctors are seeing that the most deadly non-melanoma skin cancers that happen on the face, top of the hands and exposed areas of the body occur in places where people are least exposed to sunlight. This is a disease that has Doctor's in the past have surmised as having had too much exposure in the sun. The majority of melanoma cases occur on the body in places that have little sun exposure such as the gluteal area and the soles of the feet.