How is sunlight beneficial for us?

It has been scientifically proved that sunlight has several medicinal values that help in the prevention, cure and treatment of many diseases. Apart from its general benefits these are some special cases where sunlight plays an effective role.

Sunlight destroys certain particular fungi and bacteria that may settle on our skin. Secondly, it acts as a protective agent by further activating the white blood cells. The white blood cells defend the body from the attack of disease-causing germs, thus sunlight helps us to develop a greater resistance to fight diseases.

When sunlight falls on the skin, it causes certain substances to move into the blood and give the muscles a new tone. The muscles become tenser and thus work better. In fact, our nervous system gets a kind of ‘charge’ from sunlight and thus we feel stimulated and want to move about.

There is a substance in the skin called ergosterol that is transformed into Vitamin D by the ultraviolet rays of the sun. This vitamin is very useful for bones, particularly, in diseases like rickets.

Exposure to sunrays is just like swallowing a tea-spoon full of medicine every five minutes. But it is important to remember that this ‘medicine’ is by no means harmless.

We have to be just as careful about sunbathing as we would have to be about taking medicine. Sunbathing raises the blood pressure, so people who have heart trouble or certain lung diseases run the risk of physical harm by excessive exposure to sun. In fact, everyone should expose himself to sunlight only in phases. For instance, while taking sunbaths the best thing is to begin by exposing one-fifth of the body for about five minutes. The next day, expose another one-fifth of the body for an extra five minutes, and so on. In this way one can get all the benefits of sunlight without running into unnecessary risk.