Natural Cancer Treatment: Sunlight For Melatonin

Day and night are a natural rhythm of life

Day and night are a natural rhythm of life. For millenia before the electric light was developed people had to live largely by the natural cycles of light and dark. It is to be expected therefore that the human body has used these cycles in ways that encourage health and that varying from them too far might have negative consequences. It seems that this is the case. Sleep disorders, depression and even ageing and cancer are some of the conditions that are affected by poor "light hygiene".

Each person has a master biological clock which regulates the production and release of melatonin from the pineal gland. Melatonin helps us sleep and more is produced at night than during the day time. It also has two other very important roles. Melatonin is part of the serotonin pathway - this is one of the "feel-good" hormones and a lack of it is known to contribute to depression and seasonal affective disorder. Melatonin also contributes to a well-functioning immune system and it has a recognized role in controlling at least some cancers and reducing the impact of ageing.

Melatonin is a particularly strong antioxidant, it reduces cancer's ability to grow and it stimulates the immune system to increase its ability to deal with cancers and infections. It has been subject to a huge range of animal and human studies with the knowledge of its usefulness in inhibiting cancer going back more than 30 years.

So you can see it is a very desirable hormone. Unfortunately modern society does not have good "light hygiene" which encourages substantial melatonin production - in fact, just the opposite.

Culturally in the western world it is considered more socially desirable to be a person who likes to party well into the night, than to be a person who enjoys getting up at dawn. Nowadays it is much more common for city people to spend most of their work day indoors regardless of the time of the year. Heating in winter and air conditioning in the summer also contribute to our indoor lifestyles.

We also have a medically induced fear of being out in the sun because of the risk of skin cancer. We have been strongly encouraged to stay out of the sun. [However do note that far more people die from low vitamin D caused cancers and heart disease than ever die from skin cancer. We get most of our vitamin D from the sun.]

In addition to the social desirability of staying indoors a many people routinely wear dark glasses when they venture outside in the sun which prevents the eyes from getting the strong dose of light we need to maximize the production of melatonin at night.

Perhaps it is time to rethink our lives. Here we have a natural treatment for cancer, depression and ageing - one that the body produces on its own as long as we give it the raw ingredients - and most of us do not even know about it.

Our body needs regular bright light. Even the winter light of those places closer to the poles often have greater light than we have inside. Our body also needs regular darkness, deep darkness of the kind that occurs when there is no moon.

Our bodies do learn to adapt to the environment we live in. However it appears that adaptation is only possible up to a point.

It might be useful to go out in the middle of the day regularly to get some bright sunlight, both to increase melatonin and vitamin D levels (vitamin D is another natural anticancer agent). Think also of going to sleep earlier in the evening and waking up at dawn - nature and natural cycles can have great health benefits.

by: Harriet Denz Penhey

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