Sunlight: Revisited

Last December, I wrote a blog about how much I didn't like Summer sunlight. In that article, I also pondered any possible significance of my really light skin and northern european ancestry in relation to sunlight. Only a few days after I wrote that blog, I realized I was probably wrong, and began a new theory, a theory which, I realized, I should get around to telling you.

In researching some hormone imbalances I naturally have, I learned that deficiency in Vitamin D and D3, which are hormones created through exposure to sunlight, can actually create hormone imbalances. Now, you might think this would mean my hormones are only off balance in the winter, and for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder, this is true. However, for me, it's been different. I was raised in the beautiful, but very hot, deserts of NW Tucson, Arizona. One time, when I was a teenager, I flew to Utah to visit a friend. It was some summer month, such as August, and when I arrived to Utah, there were people outside, everywhere! They were playing sports in the middle of the afternoon, they were walking around, they were okay being outside. I'd never seen this in my life during the afternoon in a summer month (of which Tucson has about 7). In Tucson, we only went outside in the afternoon from about October (or September when it is raining) to April. From about May to September, it's too hot to be outside any more than necessary. I wondered if this lack of outdoor exercise was affecting this Tucsonan's health and hormone balances. I did go hiking whenever the temperature allowed, when it was below 95, which excludes about 4 or 5 months of the year. Anyway, there was another consequence of the desert heat and sun that I didn't realize until now. Us Tucsonans, me, my sisters, my parents, my husband, his sister, and all of our friends, all learned that outside and sunlight is bad. Light meant heat, and vice versa. The heat was too much, and the sun can just give you cancer, and it can do that more quickly than anywhere else in the world besides Australia. We learned these things were bad.

Now I've been in Texas for coming up on 8 years. And I'm finally starting to realize that the sun isn't bad. And that being outside in the summer is sometimes possible. It's winter now, so we don't get a lot of sun, so I've been testing this theory. I've been outside for at least 30 minutes on each day when there is sunlight. And sure enough, the sun makes me feel happier, more balanced, and more full of energy.

At first glance, I'm realizing that it's also possible that my initial aversion to sunlight is just like anyone's initial love of candy and/or chocolate. Your senses tell you it's wonderful, but it's not actually good for your body and you have to pace yourself. Maybe it's the opposite with sunlight, that at first it's uncomfortable, but in reality, that's because it's so good for you.

I've also been wondering the significance of my really light skin. I thought it meant I could gather Vitamin D more quickly because where my ancestors come from there isn't much sunlight. And while that is true, there are other people, such as Eskimos and Siberians, who lived at the same northern latitudes as my ancestors who don't look like me. So, I'm postulating, what if I have light skin because I NEED more Vitamin D than others? Not only that I can get it more easily than Sub-Saharans, who are exposed to more, and maybe that's true, but what if, in addition to that, I need more than they do? Or, that I need to be extra sure that I get enough Vitamin D, in order to balance my hormones! Because maybe my body is more sensitive to hormone mishaps when the sunlight stops coming. It's an exciting theory that happily gets me outdoors a lot more lately.

My hormone doctor thinks I might be low on Vitamin D3 anyway, and since it's hard to supplement it just right, I'm trying to get more sunlight to see if it helps. I didn't used to feel any compulsion to get any sunlight, ever, so this is an exciting change for me. I'm finally starting to see why people like to just lay around at the beach and soak up the sun. I'm just glad it's winter now, though, so I can take baby steps.

The other advantage to it being winter right now, with fewer hours of sunlight and more indirect rays of light, is that I can't get sunburned like I could after 20 minutes of sun exposure in the summer, even in Texas. I'm going to try to prove a theory.....

Please excuse me if I make a geology analogy. Lakes shouldn't exist in normal geology. The existence of a lake is an anomaly. This is because water naturally falls from a cloud, to the ground, then flows down to the ocean. A lake means it was stopped in this process. And eventually, when enough geologic time passes, the lake will turn into a stream to get that water back to the ocean in a more efficient manner. Same with waterfalls, they are the earth's temporary way of creating a river. With Niagara Falls, for example, the falls are a result of the river adjusting to the massive heigh differences between Lakes Ontario and Erie. Erie is much higher than Ontario, which it flows to, so the water falls to get to it, and then on to the ocean. But, the falls are moving backward, upward towards Lake Erie. Eventually, when the falls back up to their mother lake, a beautiful, and probably devastating deluge will come as Lake Erie spills into the lower river that the falls have created. After the deluge, the waterfall will be gone, and the Great Lakes will be much more efficient at draining to the ocean. Eventually, they will finish their job, and no longer be lakes. Because lakes shouldn't exist in normal geology.

My point is that God, and thereby Nature, finds a way for everything to work. I'm wondering lately if a sunburn shouldn't exist in normal human behavior. What if you are outside every day for several hours every day from the beginning of spring on to summer? Is it possible that you will acclimate to the sun, that you will tan, and be properly protected from the sunlight when the peak of summer hits? I'm not saying I'm going to outdoors all day each summer day to prove this, I do still know that sunburns and skin cancer can happen, but I'm going to try to be outdoors a lot more than I used to throughout this coming spring. I will not stay out any longer if my skin starts getting pink. I'm just talking about being in the sun during that time prior to the skin turning pink. Please don't take this and overdo it and get burned or worse.

I always like to figure out how people were intended to live. And one thing's for sure, until recently, they definitely didn't spend 90% of their time indoors.

In this modern life I lead, it's quite possible that other than walking to and from the car, if I don't go on walks outside, if I don't work in my garden, and if I don't take my kids to the park, all of which are tempting, I'd never be outside! It must be even harder for people who work indoors every day to see the sun. I'm not saying it's wrong, it's what I've done my whole life. But maybe, my body is trying to tell me that I need more sunlight than I've been getting.

It can't be such a bad thing anyway, I'll get more exercise, my yard will look great, I'll feel better, my skin (hopefully) will be darker and my hair will be lighter. So, I'll look good. I'm all in favor of that!