Sunshine's vital health benefits:
The Sunlight Solution says more sun exposure and vitamin D are essential

Most of us -- especially those in the bone-chilling Northeast -- have anxiously awaited the arrival of summer for many months. But with skin-cancer-threatening UV rays overhead, should we try to stay inside?

No, according to The Sunlight Solution: Why More Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Are Essential to Your Health, by historian Laurie Winn Carlson.

Sunlight is actually a vital component of good health. Like plants that thrive in the sun, humans also depend on sunlight, in our case for the production of vitamin D. Over the past few decades, however, cultural trends have steered us away from sun exposure. From fear of the potential dangers of UV radiation and the heavy promotion of sunscreen products, to artificial work and recreational environments centered on virtual reality, we are all spending much more time indoors and away from the sun.

In The Sunlight Solution, Carlson examines the historical and cultural factors that have created our indoor lifestyles and the medical evidence that suggests we need to get out in the sun. She begins by tracing the behavior patterns that have caused a shift indoors, noting that it was common decades ago for children to spend hours playing outside. Now, the lure of video games and heavy sunscreen use has changed all that. Adults, also, live and work in the perpetual twilight of electric lighting. Though we feel comfortable, there is evidence that our bodies have not really adjusted to a lifestyle that is less than a century old.

Photo at left: Laurie Winn Carlson is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Western Oregon University and the author of twenty books

"The Sunlight Solution is a wealth of knowledge about the history of vitamin D," said Bruce W. Hollis, Ph.D. professor of pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology, and director of pediatric nutritional sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. "Even I, who have studied this topic my whole career, learned a significant amount about the history. Also, the practical knowledge in this text will aid in maintaining the health of the general public."

Carlson explains the growing body of research that challenges government and health industry warnings against the dangers of sunlight. For example, the production of Vitamin D from sun exposure is crucial to maintaining the body's calcium levels, an important factor for healthy bones, especially as we age. There is also evidence of the sun's beneficial effects on psychological disorders such as seasonal depression or difficulty sleeping.

She concludes by arguing for a balanced approach to sun exposure. Although the risk of skin cancers should not be ignored, total avoidance of the sun can be just as risky to our health.

Laurie Winn Carlson (Dallas, OR) is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Western Oregon University and the author of twenty books including William J. Spillman and the Birth of Agricultural Economics and A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials.