In summer, many people are afraid of tanning and skin aging, so they wear sunscreen all over their bodies. But experts remind that proper sun exposure can help lose weight and predict high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. The sun is closely related to our health.
Although summer is coming to an end, I still want to tell everyone the indispensable stories about sun exposure, weight loss, and health.
There has been a crazy photo on the Internet. A 66-year-old truck driver has deep wrinkles on his left face. They are the result of long-term exposure to the sun's rays through the side window of the truck. Since the right face is not exposed to the sun, the entire right face is neat and clean.
This photo once frightened a large group of girls. Sun exposure = skin aging + skin cancer; this impression has been deeply embedded in everyone's cognition unknowingly.
According to a survey conducted by the LifeTimes, among the 2,625 respondents, only 25.9% of them often sunbathe, 43.8% occasionally sunbathe, 27.7% rarely sun, and 2.6% never sun. Past the sun.
As for white-collar office workers, they go to the office by car as soon as they leave home. Lunch is basically solved at the nearest restaurant or cafeteria, and they go home in a repeated way after getting off work. The daily exposure to sunlight may be less than 10 minutes. In addition, out of fear of aging, many people even put on sunscreen over and over again on the exposed parts of the body from head to toe, and then go out and wear a parasol (for whitening and anti-aging, the girls fight like this...).
So, if you are not the old driver in the picture above, or the peasant worker who worked hard on the construction site, or the peasant who hoped the grain every day at noon...then what you need to worry about now is not that too much sun causes all kinds of aging. But too little sun makes your health diving and weight soaring.
Why do we need to bask in the sun?
All things grow by the sun-human beings are no exception!
Although there is a risk of skin cancer from excessive sun exposure (note that this means excessive), in fact, adequate sun exposure helps us live healthier and longer lives, and make us feel more happy. New research data shows that sunlight can keep us away from many fatal risks, such as obesity, bloating, stroke, asthma and multiple sclerosis. Sun exposure can also indicate libido and good mood index.
Vitamin D:
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and has always been regarded as a hormone precursor that acts on calcium and phosphorus metabolism.
Vitamin D is closely related to sunlight. 90% of the vitamin D in the human body must be obtained through sunlight, so vitamin D is also called "sunshine vitamin". The average person can get the amount of vitamin D they need in the sun 3 times a week, every 10 to 15 minutes.
In the United States, the Harvard Medical School in Boston once had research results showing that people with low vitamin D levels have a higher risk of heart disease, heart failure, and stroke than ordinary people. In addition, a study by the University of London in the United Kingdom also showed that vitamin D, which is naturally produced by the skin after sun exposure, helps to delay aging.
The most common effect of vitamin D deficiency is the decrease in bone density, which is prone to osteoporosis. In addition, adequate vitamin D can also help the body reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers.
Nitric oxide:
Scientists have discovered that exposure to the sun will release nitric oxide, and nitric oxide is not only beneficial to the health of the heart and blood vessels, but also beneficial to the regulation of the body's metabolism. Therefore, moderate ultraviolet radiation to lose weight and prevent and control the development of type 2 diabetes.
Nitric oxide also helps the brain release serotonin-making people feel happy.
Gene expression:
In addition, scientists have also discovered that sun exposure can change our gene expression. About 28% of gene expression in our body changes according to the season.
For example, in winter, the genes that initiate the inflammatory response are more active-thus fighting against the cold winter environment with many bacteria.
In summer, our body needs to suppress inflammation, otherwise long-term active inflammation can easily cause heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases-but the problem is that our body needs sufficient sun to turn off inflammation genes. So in summer, if you stay at home or have strict sun protection all over your body, on the surface, you have resisted skin aging, but in fact, it is very harmful to your body.
The harm of lack of sun is equivalent to smoking
This research result was released by the world-renowned Karolina Institute. Researchers have followed nearly 30,000 Swedish women for 20 years. It turns out that those women who sunbathe once a day have twice the mortality rate within 20 years than those who do not sunbathe.
Moreover, even a non-smoker, not sunbathing, has the same life span as a person who smokes but often sunbathes.
In other words, from the perspective of lifespan, lack of sun exposure is similar to smoking.
Not getting fat in the sun
Scientific research has also found that in addition to making us healthier, sunlight can also make us slimmer. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Southampton exposed mice on a high-fat diet to the ultraviolet spectrum and found that ultraviolet light can effectively control weight gain and control the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Of course, the main reason is that the sun can promote the secretion of nitric oxide from the skin.
In addition, when the sun shines on the skin, the vitamin D3 produced by the human body causes the brain to secrete a hormone called serotonin, which makes people happy and relax, and increases satiety. Therefore, close contact with sunlight can help you resist food cravings and the urge to overeating.
The right time and way to embrace the sun:
Although there are many benefits of basking in the sun, there is no need to rush to the square at noon when the sun is scorching.
OK time: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. In these two time periods, the sun is oblique. The longer the ultraviolet rays travel in the atmosphere, the more absorption, so the intensity is lower. Less damage to the skin.
NG's time: 10 am-4 pm, especially during the time period of 12 noon-4 pm, do not spend a long time in the sun. Because this time period is directly exposed to the sun, the intensity of ultraviolet rays is high, which is very harmful to the skin.
For an average healthy adult, exposing the limbs 3 times a week for 20-30 minutes can provide sufficient vitamin D. Dark-skinned people and the elderly have weaker skin to receive sunlight to synthesize vitamin D, and the time is slightly longer. In addition, sunscreen will block ultraviolet rays, so don't apply it on your limbs.
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