subject: Can People Avoid Multiple Sclerosis with Sunlight [print this page] Can People Avoid Multiple Sclerosis with Sunlight
We've invested the past few decades preaching about how important it is to stay out of the sun. We thoroughly understand the hazards associated with it and do everything we can think of to keep it away from us. We don countless layers of the highest SPF sunscreens that we can buy. We use giant hats. We wear long sleeves in addition to pant legs even in the warmest of heat. We usually stick to the shade--some individuals may also carry parasols and umbrellas just to make sure they have exactly no contact with the sun. Now we are beginning to realize that sunlight can in fact help us. Can sunshine actually help you?
There is a fresh study that demonstrates people who let themselves get some exposure to direct sunshine aren't as likely to come down with MS as folks that take steps to minimize sunlight contact on skin. At the starting point, the study was much more about Vitamin D and it's effects on Multiple Sclerosis. It rapidly became apparent, though, that the Vitamin D produced in our bodies as a reaction to the sun's rays is what is really at the root of things.
We've known for a very long time that sunlight and Vitamin D can hinder the way the immune system contributes to MS. This study, on the other hand, focuses on the affects of the sun's rays on people who are experiencing the very earliest symptoms of the disease. This study is trying to figure out the effects of Vitamin D along with sunlight on the precursory symptoms of the disease.
Sadly, at this time there aren't really very many ways that really prove whether or not the hypothesis of this study are true. The objective of the study is to figure out if sunlight can actually prevent the disease. Unfortunately, the researchers discovered, the only way to that is to monitor people over the course of their lives. This is the only way to effectively evaluate the previously existent levels of Vitamin D in a person's blood before the symptoms of MS start to show themselves. The way it appears now, 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.
There is also the very significant issue that spending a lot of time in the sun greatly increases a person's chances of developing skin cancer. So, in an attempt to push away one disease, you could be causing yourself to develop a different one. Of course, skin cancer-if caught early on-has an improved chance of being cured. MS still isn't curable.
So what should you do: chance skin cancer or risk MS? Talk to the doctor to figure out if this is a good strategy. Your physician can evaluate your current health status, your health background and even your genetics to determine if you are even at risk for the disease in the first place. This will help a family doctor figure out just what the best thing for you to do is.
