Over the last few decades we have all been bombarded with messages about how essential it is to keep out of the sun. We've understood exactly how real a risk skin cancer can be and are doing everything we can think of to prevent it from happening. We wear many layers of the largest SPF sunscreens that we can buy. We use giant hats. We use long sleeves and also pant legs even in the warmest of heat. We do our best to keep only in the shady areas--some have even started holding parasols and umbrellas around so that their skin never comes into contact with direct sunlight. Now we're beginning to find out that sunlight can sometimes be pretty helpful. Can you actually be helped by the sun?
A new study has been completed and it indicates that people who allow some time in direct sunshine aren't as likely to get MS as the people who do everything they can to keep out of the sun. At the onset, the study was more about Vitamin D and it's influences on Multiple Sclerosis. It didn't take much time for them to realize that it is the Vitamin D our bodies produce after exposure to the sun's rays that is at the center of the issue.
We've known for a very long time that sunshine and Vitamin D can impede the way the immune system plays a role in MS. This study, however, deals principally with the effects of sunshine on the people who are just starting to experience the very earliest symptoms of the disease. The true purpose is to see how sunlight and Vitamin D may affect the symptoms that are now known as "precursors" to the actual disease symptoms.
Sadly, right now there aren't truly very many ways that really prove whether or not the hypothesis of this study are true. This study is attempting to demonstrate whether or not sunlight can truly help a person prevent Multiple Sclerosis. Sadly, the only real way to quantify if this is correct is to monitor a person over his or her entire life. This is only way that it may be possible to calculate and understand the levels of Vitamin D that exist in a person's blood before the precursors of the disease show up. The way it stands today, 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.
The fact that the danger of developing skin cancer rises proportionally to the amount of time you spend in direct sunlight (without protection) is also a problem. So, in an attempt to stave off one disorder, you could be causing yourself to produce a different one. Of course, if you ever get skin cancer early on enough you are far more likely to cure it. MS even now has no cure.
So what should you do: chance skin cancer or chance MS? Talk to your doctor to figure out if this is an excellent idea. Your health care provider will figure out if you are at risk for the disease (and how much) by checking out your genetics, medical history and current health. This helps a family doctor figure out exactly what the best thing for you to do is.