Sunny ShoresCan sunlight Enable you to Prevent MS?
For the last few decades we have talked about very little else aside from why you have to stay away from sunlight. We’ve recognized precisely how real a risk skin cancer can be and are doing everything we can think of to prevent it from happening. We buy the highest SPF sunscreens we could find and then slather on layers and layers of it. We wear giant hats. Even throughout the hottest months of the year we make ourselves don long sleeves and pants. We try and stick to the low light areas-some individuals have even taken to carrying parasols around with them to keep the sun from ever making contact with their skin. Now we are starting to appreciate that sunlight can in fact help us. Can you truly be helped by the sun’s rays?
A new study has been completed and it demonstrates that people who allow some time in direct natural light aren’t as likely to get MS as the people who do everything they can to keep out of the sun. At the beginning, the study was more about Vitamin D and it’s influences on Multiple Sclerosis. It quickly became apparent, though, that the Vitamin D generated in our bodies as a reaction to sunshine is what is really at the root of things.
We’ve known for a very long time that sunshine and Vitamin D can hinder the way the immune system contributes to MS. This study, however, focuses on the affects of sunlight on individuals who are experiencing the very earliest symptoms of the disease. This study is trying to figure out the effects of Vitamin D along with the sun’s rays on the precursory signs or symptoms of the disease.
Unfortunately there are not a lot of methods to really quantify the hypothesis of the study. This study is trying to demonstrate whether or not sunlight can truly help a person prevent Multiple Sclerosis. Sadly, the only real way to quantify whether or not this is accurate is to monitor a person over his or her entire life. This is only way that it is possible to measure and fully grasp the levels of Vitamin D that can be found in a person’s blood before the precursors of the disease show up. The way it appears these days, and has stood (widely recognized) for decades is that people who live in warm and sunny climates and who get more exposure to direct sunshine are less likely to develop MS than those who live in dark or cold climates and get very little exposure to the sun.
The fact that the risk of developing skin cancer rises proportionally to the amount of time you spend in direct sunlight (without protection) is also a problem. So, if you try and prevent one disease, you could be helping to induce the other one. Of course, should you get skin cancer early enough you are a lot more likely to cure it. MS continue to has no cure.
So should you get more sunlight to prevent MS from setting in? Your doctor will help uou figure out whether or not this is a plan for you. Your physician can examine your current health status, your medical history and even your genetics to determine if you are even at risk for the disease in the first place. This helps a family doctor figure out what the best thing for you to do is.