The Sun’s UV Rays and Your Health

July is UV Safety Month, so let’s take a little time to talk about your time in the sun. Some things about staying healthy are easy and straightforward, and some a little more complicated. Right now people are getting two different messages about the sun and whether to have some exposure to Ultra-violet (UV) rays to improve your health. Let’s try to clear up some of the confusion so you can have a healthy relationship with spending some time in the sun.

On the one hand . . . Sun is important for getting vitamin D, which helps keep bones and joints healthy.

Vitamin D is very important for everybody’s health, and up to 50% of the people in America may have a vitamin D deficiency. One of the easiest ways to make sure you get enough vitamin D is to spend a little time in the sun. There are certain kinds of UV rays that the sun produces and our skin absorbs, called UVB rays, that cause a chemical reaction in our body to produce vitamin D. If we don’t get enough sunlight, we don’t naturally make enough vitamin D, and this can be bad for our health.

On the other hand . . . Over-exposure to the sun is bad for your skin and eyes, and can lead to damaged and wrinkly skin, certain kinds of cancer and problems with your eyes as you get older.

If you spend too much time in the sun, you can dry out or burn your skin, cause damage to your eyes, and set yourself up for medical problems. The kind of radiation found in the sun’s UV rays can cause damage to the cells in your skin and eyes, the kind of damage that can lead to cancer. In fact, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in America, affecting over 3.5 million people, including over 75,000 cases of the most dangerous form of skin cancer, melanoma.  It is also possible to get cancer in your eyes from too much exposure, as well as a progressive eye condition called macular degeneration.

On the one hand . . . Getting enough Vitamin D is not just good for your bones, it is also important for your mood, and your health, and protects your immune system.

Vitamin D has many important purposes in helping us maintain our health, including important contributions to keeping our mood happy and our immune systems strong.

On the other hand . . . Too much sun and too many UV rays can actually depress the immune system of your skin. This can strip away some of the very important protections against germs that try to invade your body only to be stopped by the protective barrier your skin provides.

What it comes down to . . . Don’t avoid the sun altogether and miss out on the easy and free way to let your body make vitamin D. But be sensible and smart about it. If you have a really bad incident where you get a really bad sunburn, it is more dangerous than if you have the same amount of exposure spread out over many days. For best health, try to limit your exposure to the sun to brief periods, especially in the summer and during the middle of the day. If you need to be out for long periods in the sun, cover up and use appropriate sun screen.

Because your head, face and ears tend to get more sun over the course of a lifetime, consider wearing a hat to protect these vulnerable areas. If you can, wear sunglasses with good UV protection in direct sunlight in order to reduce the risk of macular degeneration, especially if your eyes are grey or blue. With a little bit of care, you can enjoy your time in the sun without putting yourself at risk.

(Contributing author:  Charlie Safford, LCSW, Employee Development and Wellness Services, Georgia State University)