THE Good News About TANNING
by Bylle Dopps and Scott Hoover

THANKS TO THE SUN'S BRIGHT LIGHT, YOUR BRAIN PUMPS MORE SEROTONIN--THE BODY'S NATURAL PROZAC--SO YOU FEEL HAPPY, HEALTHY AND FULL OF ENERGY.

It's been quite a few years since many of us have cracked open a textbook, but as soon as the days start to get longer we still feel that same exhilaration we felt as children when school doors closed for summer, setting us free to enjoy the outdoors.

Roughly one third of the U.S. population experiences a significant mood boost throughout the summer months. Although many in the medical community, as well as image and beauty sources, tell you to seek shelter from the harmful rays of the sun, there is some GOOD NEWS about ultraviolet light exposure--all backed by research and studies that explain why you look and feel good after ultraviolet light exposure.

The New View

As many of you are aware, there is a growing awareness by the American public about wellness. Simply defined, wellness consists of eating healthier, exercising more, releasing undue stress and enjoying the environment around us. As part of this wellness campaign, there has been a definite shift over the past few years concerning the sun and ultraviolet light.

In the past, there has been an attempt to make the sun the villain. Yet, what so often is forgotten are the positive effects that sunlight plays in everyday life. On a very basic level, life as we know it would not exist without the sun. Beyond that, there are many other reasons to make sure your body receives a responsible amount of sunlight--the most obvious being that it makes you feel good about yourself.

People love the sun. We love the way it makes us feel and we love the way it makes us look. Even with all the negative energy surrounding UV exposure, indoor tanning is still a more than $4 billion per year business and the hottest vacation spots still include sunny destinations such as Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego and Hawaii.

According to Tom Wehr, M.D., a research psychiatrist who studies mood disorders at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., seasonal mood elevation can be attributed to dramatic increases in sunlight people receive when they are exposed to sunlight.

"Researchers have found the exposure to natural light increases the production of serotonin, a chemical that stimulates the brain's 'pleasure center,' thereby perking up your mood while warding off anxiety and depression," he says. "Thus, as the days become longer in the summer months, the body is exposed to more sunlight and the serotonin in your brain seems to become more active."

The feel-good buzz we get from more serotonin can motivate us to take on challenges as our bodies feel rejuvenated, renewed and energized. Additionally, when our bodies receive more sunlight, our appetites in general take a nosedive, so we tend to make smart, healthy food choices.

On the other hand, our energy level goes up as our bodies are exposed to more sunlight. Many of our attitudes about exercise also tend to change.

"For example, in the summer we simply have more energy and require less sleep," says Dr. Wehr. This explains why we get up earlier without feeling exhausted and still feel energized well into the evening. The extra daylight hours provides us the chance to do the things we normally don't do--like relax, play and just have fun.

One needs to look no further than to our cold-weather friends in the Northeast and Northwest when testing these facts. It is here that millions of people each fall and winter suffer from various forms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, better known as SAD. Although researchers are not entirely sure what causes SAD, they believe one culprit is the reduction in daylight hours during the fall and winter, which can disrupt the balance of the body's internal clock.

SAD has been linked to an imbalance of the chemicals melatonin and serotonin, which can lead to feelings of depression. Melatonin is a light-sensitive hormone released from the pineal gland in the brain, which is stimulated by decreases in light. The hormone has been associated with regulating the body's internal clock, decreasing body temperature and causing drowsiness. As stated before, serotonin is a neurotransmitter thought to play a role in regulating mood and improving memory, attention and focus.

The symptoms of SAD can include feelings of depression, sadness and irritability, excessive eating or sleeping, lethargy, cravings for sweet or starchy foods, weight gain, impaired concentration and loss of interest in normal or pleasurable things. Symptoms typically arrive in fall or winter and then enter a full remission during spring and summer--after which the cycle repeats.

The idea that sunlight provides us with more energy was taken a step further in a recent study conducted Dr. Dietmar Alf and Dr. J. Broja of the Sports Medicine Department of the German National Olympic Team Training Center. They examined whether routine ultraviolet exposure affected the performance capabilities, occurrence of injuries and infections in athletes training for the Olympics.

The results were quite amazing. The study showed that continuous and repetitive exposure of the body to ultraviolet light optimizes the performance capabilities of top-level competitive athletes, as well as alleviating the occurrence of and recovery time from minor injuries and infections.

In addition, the study also pointed out that in today's high-performance sports world, success is possible only through the employment of science and training techniques to extreme limits--thus causing extra stress. If exposure to ultraviolet light conveys a substantial edge for athletes in training for the Olympics, doesn't it make logical sense the same edge would be important for individuals under the everyday stress of daily life? This is just another reason that ultraviolet exposure should be a part of any wellness program that already includes a healthy diet, vitamins and exercise.

If the American public did nothing but listen to the medical community, it would believe that the sun is our implacable enemy. Fortunately, common sense is a major attribute of our society and collectively we realize that life would cease on earth without sunlight.

Are there risks involved in exposure to ultraviolet light? For exposure to ultraviolet light that will not cause sunburn, there is no evidence that simple exposure is damaging. Overexposure, which is defined as any dose of ultraviolet light that does cause a sunburn, is known to be harmful. However, the indisputable benefits of exposure to ultraviolet light far outweigh the minimal and manageable risks involved. The key is in understanding the meaning of the words sensible, moderate and responsible exposure to ultraviolet light.

What does all this mean to you? The truth is that sunlight makes people happy. When people are happy they tend to be more active which allows us to better handle stress and uncontrollable life events. In general, life is better when the sun shines. Healthy eating habits and good nutrition combined with an active lifestyle and moderate exposure to ultraviolet light will mean a happier, healthier you.

Physical Benefits of Sunlight

In addition to numerous behavioral benefits that sunlight provide us with, there also are a number of physical benefits, and researchers are discovering more and more every day.

One of the most recent and interesting studies was conducted by Barbara A. Gilchrest and Mark S. Eller of the Department of Dermatology at the Boston School of Medicine. The reason it is so intriguing is that it is one of the first "sun friendly" articles ever published by the dermatology community.

The article, which was printed in the September 1999 Journal of Investigative Dermatology, states that: "Both our natural skin color and an acquired tan provide protection against UV-induced damage to the skin. In addition, tanned skin becomes three to five times more resistant to subsequent sunburn as well as being presumed important in protecting the skin both from sunburn and the development of skin cancer."

In other words, keeping a base tan can act as a defense against damaging ultraviolet rays because the skin has produced a thicker protective layer. Gilchrest and Eller also refer to the theory of evolution which would support the idea that life on earth evolved in the presence of ultraviolet radiation from sunlight and essentially all organisms developed photoprotective mechanisms to limit the resulting damage. In the case of the human skin, it responds to UV irradiation by increased production of the pigment melanin (in melanoycytes), with distribution to surrounding keratinocytes in a manner shown to be photoprotective. Further studies also have shown that mammalian cells, much like bacterial cells, have a UV-inducible DNA repair capacity that further protects the tissue from subsequent UV exposure.

The bottom line is that it does not matter whether an individual is born with darker natural skin or acquires and maintains a tan at an indoor tanning salon, the protective benefits are same.

Although one of the most interesting articles, it is by no means the only positive scientific information available on the importance of sun.

Moderate and responsible exposure to ultraviolet light received another plug in the recent Interim Report and Recommendations of the World Health Organization Task-Force for Osteoporosis published in the Nov. 4, 1999, issue of Osteoporosis International. The goal of the WHO Task Force was to develop a master document on osteoporosis management and prevention. The disease, which afflicted an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide in 1990, is estimated to exceed 6 million by 2050.

In the United States alone in 1990 there were 250,000 hip fractures with approximately 50,000 deaths from complications occurring within the first six months. By 2010, there are projected to be more than 1 million hip fractures in the United States as the baby boomers reach retirement age and the estimated cost to the U.S. health care system will jump from $10 billion per year to more than $40 billion per year.

Due to the fact that osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by low bone density and deterioration of bone tissue caused by lowcalcium intake and/or insufficiency of vitamin D due to inadequate sunlight, the WHO Task Force now calls for adequate exposure to sunlight in order to curb this disease and the tremendous strain it has had on the U.S. health care system and the American population.

Psoriasis also is another disease that researchers say can be helped by moderate exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Psoriasis is an incurable skin disorder in which angry red lesions appear, multiply and sometimes scale over with silvery patches. Recently classified as an autoimmune disorder, this disease occurs in 2 percent of the population.

Psoriasis often is consuming, causing intense itching and arthritis. The only real recommended treatment for this disease is sunlight. Since conventional treatments are toxic and usually not satisfactory, Dr. Andrew Weil, a leader in holistic healing, refers his patients to a desert climate and a lot of time in the sun.

Sunlight also has been shown in studies to provide photoprotection against skin cancer, reduce the relative risk of getting breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. The next issue of SunWellness will examine these issues.

So with all the physical evidence mounting about the good news about exposure, don't be left out of the sun.