Sunshine
I’ve always much preferred playing and watching football when the sun is shining and the sky is blue, and if you want to play your best game for Premiership Health, you need the best possible playing conditions.
Well, just as in a real-life, the best football is often played when the sun is out and the temperature is not too hot and not too cold – the Goldilocks principle.
No doubt you have read about the worrying increase in the incidence of skin cancer, and in particular Malignant Melanoma, which is really the one you need to be concerned about.
This has prompted an intensive public awareness campaign to ensure we cover up and slap on the highest factor sun cream, and up to a point this is sound advice. However, for Premiership Health, you need to focus on what’s best for your individual team.
For many, there may be positive health benefits from “catching a few rays” and soaking up some sun to boost your levels of Vitamin D.
From the epidemiological research, there are a number of facts we know for sure; fair-skinned people, particularly those living in Australia and New Zealand, have high rates of Malignant Melanoma and they tend to occur in areas of the skin most exposed to the sun.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume, excess sun exposure increases the risk of Malignant Melanoma.
On the other hand, dark-skinned people have much lower rates of Malignant Melanoma and they tend mostly to occur on areas of the body not exposed to the sun, such as the soles of the feet, so sun exposure is not as important.
There is also evidence, though not conclusive, that the main trigger for Malignant Melanoma, is severe sunburn when younger.
However, we also know from research, that the sun and UVB radiation in particular, is associated with a reduced risk of 5 other cancers; breast, ovary, colon, prostate and NH lymphoma.
Furthermore, death rates from cancer of the lung, rectum, pancreas, bladder and kidney have also been shown to be inversely related to UVB radiation. Indeed, a study published in the Cancer journal in 2002, estimated that lack of sunshine was responsible for in excess of 21,000 premature deaths from cancer in the USA. Compared with 8000 deaths from Malignant Melanoma.
More and more medical researchers are coming out in support of Vitamin D, as an important defensive player.
Professor Michael Holick – nicknamed “Dr Sunshine,” by the New York Times, because of all his research on Vitamin D and his best-selling book:
“The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems”.
makes a compelling case for the Sunshine Vitamin becoming the lynchpin of your defence against many chronic diseases, including cancer.
The latest research seems to imply that the beneficial effects of sunshine are derived from the fact you need UVB to manufacture Vitamin D and in turn, Vitamin D helps to prevent cells becoming cancerous and spreading around the body.
Therefore, providing you do not fall into the high risk categories; fair-skinned, multiple moles, strong family history, the best strategy to use for Premiership Health, is to gradually build up a tan (N.B. this does not include sun-beds, which deliver a highly concentrated dose of radiation, and have been implemented in an increased risk of melanoma).
Indeed, once again, if we look at this from an evolutionary point of view, people living near to the north and south poles, including the UK, have developed light-coloured skin to allow them to extract as much benefit as possible from the little sun they are exposed to during the year.
Video: The Vitamin D Solution
Video: Sunlight and your Health
Scouting Report: Sunlight effects on the Immune system