Summer is upon us!

With the long hot days of summer comes some really great opportunities to promote your health. Opportunities that you might miss if you don’t understand how your body works and what it needs.

One of the things I love about the summer is that many of you will take time to rest, slow down, and rejuvenate. Your adrenals will thank you!

I also watch so many of you run from the sun. Or lather up with sunscreen.

Just like we have been scared into believing that eating fat is a horrible for our health, over the past few decades we’ve been taught that the sun is our enemy. That it can harm our health.

Well today I want to show you some research that is proving that NOT going into the sun is as dangerous to your cardiovascular system as smoking cigarettes.

It turns out that exposure to sun prompts our bodies to produce a chemical called nitric oxide. This chemical that helps protect our cardiovascular system.

A study has been conducted in Sweden of nearly 30,000 women whose sunbathing habits have been followed for 20 years.

Dr Pelle Lindqvist, the epidemiologist who led the study, says the research found that:

“Non-smokers who avoided the sun had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoiding the sun is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude to smoking.”

In fact, many cardiovascular specialists are now stating that heart disease is caused by sedentary living, smoking, being overweight, AND lack of sun.

Other studies are proving that daily sun exposure:

  • lowers blood pressure
  • prevents strokes
  • improves sex drive
  • powers up your immune system
  • helps insulin resistance
  • causes your body to release serotonin and dopamine
  • may be the answer to killing drug resistant bacteria

Now lathering yourself up with sunscreen and getting out into the sun, doesn’t allow for the above benefits. You need receptors in your skin to have direct exposure.

Here are several tips to getting safe sun exposure:

Get out into the sun gradually. Start with 15 minutes a day 2-4 times a week.
Start in early spring and build up through the fall.
The most beneficial hours are between 10am-3pm.
Boost your internal sunscreens by eating a diet high in antioxidants & healthy fats.
Don’t stay out in the sun long enough to burn.

Today on your lunch break, step outside. Go for a 15 minute walk. Get some sun and movement and your body will thank you!

Hope that helps!

Have an awesome day!!

Dr. Mindy