10 reasons to love the sun again. Our sun has become an object of fear but maybe it’s time enjoy it again– here are my 10 reasons to love it! 1. Feel good factor. Our moods and behaviour become more positive as a direct result of the light and warmth of the sun. Sunlight can also help in chronic or acute depression, by stimulating the synthesis of endorphins. 2. That the sun’s rays – a source of vitamin D - strengthen the immune system and vitamin D deficiency has been associated with auto-immune or inflammatory diseases, including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetes. 3. The skin synthesizes vitamin D that enables calcium absorption in the intestine and through that stronger bone growth, helping to prevent rickets in both children and adults and osteoporosis in older people. 4. Norwegian researchers have also shown that that childhood sun exposure with increased vitamin D production reduces risk of multiple sclerosis while a recent Scottish study pointed to a stronger cardiovascular system with improved blood circulation, and beneficial effects on blood pressure. It also showed that moderately high glycaemia and cholesterol levels can be normalised. 5. The sun’s rays also improve liver functioning, being effective in treating jaundice and they help the kidneys as the skin takes some of the strain of waste elimination when we sweat. 7. It can even have a beneficial effect on general well-being as it helps weight loss by increasing the metabolic rate through the thyroid stimulation and research has also shown that sunshine eases premenstrual syndrome symptoms. 8. The sunshine vitamin helps to impede the progress of some cancer cells. Regular but guarded exposure has a preventive effect against a range of cancers. Research in the United States has recently indicated that people with higher levels of vitamin D are more likely to survive cancers of the colon, breast and lung. 9. There is also a growing body of evidence that vitamin D can have a beneficial effect on the progress of leukaemia and lymphomas. Research in the past year has shown that men exposed to a high amount of sun had half the risk of the disease than those exposed to a low amount. 10. The caveat here is to be careful and not overdose on the sun – the threat of developing skin cancer remains if excessive time is spent soaking up its rays and it only takes a short time each day to produce large amounts of vitamin D. The World Health Organisation agrees that small amounts of UV radiation are beneficial to health, and play an essential role in the production of vitamin D and continue to advise people to seek shade, wear strong sunscreen and limit their time in the midday sun.

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   15 minutes of sun exposure will only produce enough vitamin d if, and only if:

You are white, not wearing sun cream or makeup, it is between 11:00am-2:00pm, it is summer and it is not cloudy and raining.

So if the UV index is less than 3 you can forget it.

And the latest research shows that low vitamin d levels are very bad for you. Try Googling colon cancer "vitamin d" and read