Suntanning

[JC]

I'm interested in suntanning as a type of homesis.  We seem to live in a society that is afraid of the sun.  Everyone is fearful of getting skin cancer, so they lather up with SPF-30, don their sun hats and sunglasses, and stay out of the midday sun.  But did we really evolve to hide from the sun?  I like to bake for hours in the sun and get a deep rich tan.  I think if you are in the sun a lot, you build up a resistance to UV radiation as your melanin builds up. I think the people who get skin cancer might be the ones who are rarely in the sun and then try to get a quick tan and get a burn.  But if you spend a lot of time outdoors and not just on summer vacation or spring break, you build up a resistance.  Of course, there are probably folks with sensitive skin, like redheads, who have to be careful.  But I think as long as you build up gradually you might be OK.  I'd be interested to see if there are any studies on this.  I don't trust all this phobia about skin cancer, it seems to have come up in just the last 20 or 30 years, like all the other health fears that seem to get promoted.

[MallyHen]

JC, I'm with you on this.  Dr. Mercola has written alot on the importance of optimal exposure to sunlght in preventing cancer, not just melanoma but other cancers, by producing Vitamin D in the skin.  There are a lot of interesting facts about this on his website, including some research by a Dr. John Cannell, showing that low Vitamin D may explain about 30% of all cancers annually.  He is not advocating excessive sun exposure, but brief and frequent sun exposure, since you make all the Vitamin D you need very quickly, like in an hour a day:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/01/22/facts-you-need-to-know-about-sunlight-and-skin-cancer.aspx

[Jbird]

I thought I was the only sunscreen rebel! I don't lay out in the sun, but I'm active and outdoors as much as possible, and I don't like to feel like I have to put up all kinds of barriers between myself and my natural surroundings.

[SUGARDUDE]

I'm a fair skinned white boy with blond hair so I'm going to skip this one.