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Yvana van den Hork  •  11-08-2024

Sunlight therapy: why it is not a crazy idea to avoid wearing sunscreen or sunglasses

Sunlight therapy: why it is not a crazy idea to avoid wearing sunscreen or sunglasses

Sunlight therapy: why it is not a crazy idea to avoid wearing sunscreen or sunglasses

 
In the Netherlands, we are currently finally enjoying some truly sunny days, after having had an unusual rainy summer for most of June and part of July. Many who had already decided on taking time off in summer, fled abroad to Southern Europe to enjoy a warmer and sunnier climate.
 
As soon as the sun came out, we were bombarded with warnings to put sunscreen on our skin so as to prevent skin cancer. On the other side of the spectrum, I know about people who deliberately refuse to put on sunglasses.
 
Must say, that while I'm not big on using sunscreen, I've always been very protective about my eyes and either wore sun glasses or a cycling helmet with a vizor.
 
As for sunscreen, I'm spending way too little time outside already so whenever I *do*, I try to soak up the UV-rays in order to produce more vitamin D and always feel happier when I manage to sneak in about 15 minutes of sun exposure in the morning. 
It's a routine I'd almost forgotten about until seeing an episode of MedCram, a medical lecture channel I had started watching during the COVID pandemic. In this longer video dr Seheult praises the virtues of exposure to sunlight. 
 
Sunlight: Optimize Health and Immunity (Light Therapy and Melatonin) . It's a long episode of almost two hours, but highly recommended:

More recently he talked about the treatment of hospitalized COVID-patients with sunlight (heliotherapy), which used to be common practice in the early 1900s but was forgotten about later on. 
 
 
Then suddenly a few days ago I was reminded of this longer lecture, when dr. Mercola sent me a new article on the benefits of sun exposure, with an embedded video on how the most dangerous types of skin cancer (melanomas) are not directly related to sunlight exposure while those that are, are easily treated and almost never dangerous. 
 
Which resulted in a renewed desire to find out why you would want to limit the use of sun glasses or sunscreen. 
 

Author

Yvana van den Hork
Rank: Senior Editor
Position: Director
She holds an MSc in Toxicology and Biology of the Wageningen University
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