By J. D. Heyes, contributing writer to Natural News
A substantial new study has found that women who received more “active sunlight exposure” were at far less risk for cardiovascular disease, meaning they are likely to liver longer, healthier lives.
The study, published in March in the Journal of Internal Medicine, found that the avoidance of direct sun could actually be as harmful to a person as smoking.
As reported by Wake Up World, the study was conducted by Swedish researchers who studied 30,000 women, assessing the differences in sun exposure as a risk factor for all-cause mortality. The 20-year study involved the Melanoma in Southern Sweden (MISS) sampling of women aged 25–64, and recruited into the study from 1990 to 1992.
When sun exposure habits were analyzed using modern survival statistics, researchers made two major observations:
-- Women with active sun exposure habits were mainly at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and noncancer/non-CVD death as compared to those who avoided sun exposure; and
-- As a result of their increased survival, the relative contribution of cancer death increased in these women.
Putting ‘Increased Cancer Risk’ in Context
Cancer risk tends to increase with biological age, and as such, the longer a person lives, the higher their cancer risk. “Therefore,” Wake Up World noted, “because increased sunlight exposure actually increases your longevity, it will also appear to increase your risk of cancer. But this does not necessarily mean that sunlight is intrinsically ‘carcinogenic,’ which is commonly assumed.”
Researchers have long known that heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. and the rest of the developed world. Since sunlight appears to reduce this most common cause of premature death – even if it increases the risk of the second-most common cause of death, cancer – the overall net affect, according to this latest research, is that a person tends to live longer. That puts the “increased cancer risk” in context.
Get Some Sun
The latest study showing that more sunlight, not less, enhances one’s life may not be earth-shattering to those who have long known of such benefits, but these findings are likely to be very useful to anyone hearing them for the first time. And perhaps they will help you get outside more this summer.
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