The Sun: Friend or Foe?

“When your body is toxic the sun will draw out from that body and bring those toxins to the surface. It helps you cleanse and detoxify your system, keeping you young, beautiful, and healthy.” - More Natural “Cures” Revealed,p. 65 .




According to Andreas Moritz in Heal Yourself With Sunlight, if you experience sun sensitivity with only a reasonable time in the sun, then your body is toxic (45). For example, liver gallstones interfere with the various functions of the liver. When the liver’s function of detoxifying drugs and alcohol is impaired, the kidneys have to work harder to remove the poisons from the blood (30). It is similar with sun sensitivities. Moritz, who promotes the sun as a friend says, “Sunbathing may be dangerous, however, for those who live on a diet rich in acidic-forming, highly processed foods and refined fats or products made with them” (38). A toxic system is an acidic system. Moritz writes about the next step of toxicity for the person saying, “The skin becomes vulnerable to the natural elements, including sunlight” (31). Smoking and drinking alcohol can make the skin “highly vulnerable to ultraviolet (UV) radiation” (39). Is it fair to blame the sun when the person simply needs to cleanse their liver and ingest higher quality foods and beverages? Moritz says, “Skin cancer and cataracts only occur if the liver is congested” (32).

Many have come to blame the sun for health problems, when in fact a poor diet more likely contributes to the problem. “Ever since refined polyunsaturated fats have been introduced to the population on a large scale during and after WWII,” says healer and author Andreas Moritz, “degenerative diseases have increased drastically, skin cancer being one of them” (41). He believes that tissue-damaging free radicals from polyunsaturated fats, plus the chemicals within sunscreens, make the sun seem dangerous (45).
Chemicals like sulfa, paraminobenzoic acid (PABA), hypoglycemic and diuretic drugs, tranquillizers, anti-depressants, antibiotics, anti-arrhythmic Quinindine, and antihistamines cause sensitivity to our skin and eyes (29). Feel you are out of the woods because you don’t usually use any drugs or medications? Check your tooth paste, soaps, and cosmetics for their chemical ingredients and then research them. You may be surprised. Three examples that you may find on the ingredient list are hexachlorophene (a prescription drug/cleanser not suggested for routine use, especially of the whole body), sodium lareth sulfate (alters cells and compromises immunity), and propylene glycol (an antifreeze ingredient that doesn’t leave the tissues of the body). More chemicals come into contact with the skin than many realize, and when combined with sunshine, cook up a harmful interaction.

People slap on copious amounts of sunscreen and suddenly feel impervious to damage from sun over exposure, as if the sunscreen were Superman in a bottle. Sunscreens teach humans to suppress the natural response for getting out of the sun (17). Their bodies may be screaming for shade or a shower, but their intellect is convinced that they’re safe (16). Sensible actions rather than unconscious use of sunscreens may be in order.

Also, read sunscreen labels with a discriminating eye, looking for chemicals in the ingredients. It is also sensible to expose your skin to the new summer sun briefly, slowly increasing the exposure time (47). Being sensible is paying attention to when your skin becomes itchy and noticing the itchiness as a sign that it is time to get out of the sun before you burn (19). The strong sunlight during summer months from 10:00 AM until roughly 2:00 PM should be avoided, or at least taken into consideration when planning outside activities (46). If you’re forced into the hot sun all day, for example, while at an amusement park during the summer, wear a long-sleeve cotton shirt; light, airy long pants, a hat, and take along an umbrella that can contract to fit in a pocket. The next time you visit such a place during the summer, notice how all day long people apply sunscreen. Yet by the end of the day, you will observe many of these same sunscreen users with red-hot sunburns. This happens because sunscreens offer a false sense of security by tricking its users into overexposure, believing they’re protected (29).

Sunlight called Ultraviolet B (UVB) “activates the synthesis of vitamin D, which is crucial for the absorption of calcium and other minerals,” says Moritz (18). UVB rays, not usually the UVA rays responsible for tanning, are blocked by most sunscreens (18-9). The average consumer is unaware which rays from the sun their sunscreen blocks. Moritz asserts that sunscreens don’t prevent cancer, but actually causes it through encouraging too much UVA absorption by people who, believing protection is offered, remain in the sun too long (20). Having said that, some sunscreens do block out both UVA and UVB rays, thus depriving the body of natural immunity (20). With habitual sunscreen use, people can’t win either way.

The problem with sunscreens goes beyond overexposure to sunlight: it’s the chemicals within them! Moritz comments, “Sunscreen lotions containing paraminobenzoic acid (PABA), for example, not only block out the therapeutic and healing effects of sunlight, but may also cause genetic damage to the skin”(17). Simply put, the cells aren’t able to reproduce themselves normally. Moritz says, “UV light induces damage to the DNA in the presence of PABA” (17). UV is being blamed for damage caused by a sunscreen ingredient. Isn’t it odd that a product sold to be used in the sun becomes harmful to you if you are in the sun? The cells of the skin are constantly smothered in chemicals with each application of sunscreen, thus destroying the skin’s brilliant protective network (18). Messing with human cells can lead to malignancies (19), including cancer.

Moritz places sunlight’s importance for the body on a par with our other necessities: eating, drinking water, and sleeping. This analogy works well, especially when he’s driving home the point about not indulging in too much of a good thing, like sun exposure or lack of it (13). He contends a “lack of sun exposure is one of the greatest risk factors for disease” (5).

When I have been ill, nothing felt better that the warmth of the sun. Sunlight can make people feel well, “provided they don’t use sunscreens or burn their skin” (7), warns Moritz. Sun exposure and diet improvements used to be respected treatments for health ailments (6). Big business in the form of modern allopathic medicine and antibiotic use has ousted the free-of-charge heliotherapy that was once commonly prescribed (5). The sun is medicine that can restore your body and your mind (37).

Moritz makes an interesting assertion about sunlight and obesity. He says that both people and animals locked indoors away from the sun can gain unhealthy weight and “any person who misses out on sunlight becomes weak and suffers mental and physical problems as a result” (7).
How many over-weight people and others with health problems in general can claim they get enough sunlight? And, it’s important to note, that few people enjoy sunlight, even from under a veranda, without glasses or contacts blocking the light from entering their eyes. Unhealthy people, if they even get outside into the sun, most likely go slathered in sunscreen and thus are prevented from receiving many of the sun’s health benefits.

Let’s examine this thought about the importance of being out in the sunlight without something over or on the eyeballs. Moritz writes, “Sunglasses block out important rays of the light spectrum, which the body requires for essential biological functions” and he adds, “Your eyes receive these rays even if you are in the shade” (6, 45). Wow, how often do you hear that prescription glasses, sunglasses and contacts interfere with sunlight entering through the eyes, preventing that very sunlight from stimulating the immune system? Moritz says, “Unfortunately, it is the ultraviolet portion of sunlight that is the most easily eliminated by windows, houses, spectacles, sunglasses, sun lotions, and clothing” (5). He suggests installing UV glass in the windows of your home for when it’s too cold to have light entering through wide open windows and doors (46). This is important for the health of those who get shut inside for long winters. Moritz says, “With sunlight, the use of oxygen in the body tissues increases, but without, our cells begin to starve for oxygen” (45). After the cells stop working correctly, the person seems to look or feel older, and perhaps even expires before his or her time. People nowadays, even children and dogs, shut out sunlight on a regular basis with sunglasses. Because of this, Moritz says, “the eyes are unable to properly repair themselves and replace worn out eye cells” (28). When you go for a walk for exercise, don’t wear contacts, and hold your prescription glasses in your hand in case you need to see a situation clearly. Give the sun an opportunity to keep you healthy whether you are under an umbrella or a hat or not.

It has been proven time and again that sunlight is important for our health on many levels. Moritz writes, “Solar research from all over the world has shown that exposure to ultraviolet light is probably the most comprehensive and impressive healing method there is” (26). Let’s take a closer look at how the sun is beneficial to humans. Our organs are directly supported by specific colors of the light spectrum (49). Moritz explains, “Upon entering the pineal gland in the brain, the different rays are chemically encoded in the brain and passed on to the organs and systems in the body” (49). Red, yellow and green light rays are especially required to the extent that without them the kidney, heart, and liver respectively may malfunction (49, 50).

Not only is the organ level dependent on sunlight, our hemoglobin needs it. Moritz says, “The hemoglobin in our red blood cells requires ultraviolet (UV) light to bind to the oxygen needed for all cellular functions” (8). UV light sounds pretty important, yet most people are encouraged to hide under sunscreen. Additional benefits are being recognized all the time. Moritz claims that research is available proving that sunlight treatments can decrease high blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, lower “blood sugar levels in diabetics, and increase the number of white blood cells” (5). White blood cells, of course, help with immunity.

Thyroid hormone insufficiencies and a more serene mood are also supported by the sun. The UV rays within the sunlight, according to Moritz, “actually stimulate the thyroid gland to increase hormone production, which in turn, increases the body’s basal metabolic rate” (7). Sunlight’s UV light “raises one’s tolerance to stress and reduces (instances of) depression” (27). Moritz adds that sunlight becomes like insulin within the body “with the storage and break-down of glycogen in the tissues” (37). In other words, the lack of sunshine may have caused health problems in the first place, and sunlight may help restore health now that it has been compromised, even with the person in the shade.

Are unhealthy people exposed more to artificial light inside a poorly ventilated room or to outdoor sunlight and fresh air on a daily basis? Moritz suggests that those who “work under artificial lighting have the highest incidence of skin cancers” (21). Our children spend a huge portion of their day under florescent lighting. Office workers spend a huge part of their day under artificial lighting. Then there is the air conditioning. Many schools and work places run the AC daily, at times even when the outside temperature doesn’t warrant its use. Air-conditioners blow dry air into a room. This dry air leaves, as Moritz says, “the skin with little natural protection against the elements, fungi, and bacteria” (22). Natural, moist air supports the skin with its job of waste removal (22). Surely a sojourn to the beach can’t be blamed in place of our harmful daily practices and lack of healthy activities when, years later, dis-ease manifests. Moritz reminds us that the Greeks exercised nude in the sun. He suggests it could help with reproductive health since that is a growing problem (35). He’s not being funny. How many infertile couples have allowed the sun to touch their nude bodies as surely happened long ago on a regular basis?

Our modern concept of a germicide is something found in a bottle that we pay a high price to get our hands on. Free of charge, ultraviolet waves are germicidal (1). Moritz claims, in fact, that sunlight purifies ocean water down to twelve feet and that “the longer the UV wave length, the deeper it penetrates the skin” (27). The sun isn’t only a germicide, it’s a power plant, potential energy for us. The huge range of the sun’s electromagnetic waves is from nanometers to kilometers (3). Each wave has a certain outcome in the atmosphere and on our planet (4). Moritz writes, “The sun is, in fact, the only true source of energy on planet earth” (1). He believes that the most adequate food sources for humans are those from the bottom of the food chain, vegetation. Of the foods we ingest, the lowest forms are “manufactured directly by sunlight” and have “the most sun energy” available to benefit us (2).

A big craze right now is to take a vitamin D pill or to eat processed foods with vitamin D added. If eating healthy is your goal, choose to eat organic fruits and vegetables over eating foods with huge ingredient labels. As far as vitamin D goes, if it is at all possible, allow the sun to help you. Take off the glasses and sunscreen for a sensible amount of time, and allow your body to work through its innate wisdom to maintain your health. Moritz claims that a healthy body can store enough vitamin D to last for up to six weeks (42-3). The trick, of course, is having a healthy body.
Some of us have heard that the darker our skin is, the safer we are from sunlight. Perhaps what we haven’t heard is, as Moritz says, “darker skinned people require more sunlight to synthesize vitamin D” (32). For therapeutic levels of vitamin D from sunlight to guard against breast cancer, for instance, darker-skinned individuals would need to spend twenty-five minutes a day, three times a week, in the sunlight. Lighter skinned individuals would only require ten to fifteen minutes in the sunlight three times a week (32-3). Moritz cautions people against taking vitamin D. Instead, he advises people to synthesize it themselves through natural sunlight (34).

What of the unsafe light passing through the hole in the ozone layer? Moritz claims that the hole in the ozone layer has not significantly been responsible for skin cancers in humans. He says, “A study of Punta Arenas, the largest South American city close to the Antarctica ozone hole, showed no increase in health problems related to depleted ozone. In fact, UV measures were too small to have any noticeable effect” (10). He goes on to write that in spite of declining UV radiation from 1974 to 1985, skin cancer diagnoses due to sun exposure w ere increasing (10). This is saying that the theory about the hole in the ozone layer may not be the true cause of the cancers that are being attributed to it. Melanomas, which make up roughly 5% of skin cancers, occur on parts of the body hidden from the sun! Why are cancers that are attributed to sun exposure occurring on hidden parts of the body? It may go back to a toxic internal environment being bombarded with poisonous soaps and creams on the exterior. Keep in mind, statistical findings related to the diagnosis of people thirty years ago are likely to have changed. Today, further criteria are included when diagnosing certain cancers, like melanoma, that wasn’t regarded in the past (15).

For the sun to be your friend, not your foe, simply exercise, know what you are putting into and onto your body, and expose yourself sensibly to sunlight. Stop eating “refined, processed fats and oils” and stick with fresh, organic, foods (42-3). And research, research, research! Don’t trust that just because a product is sold legally that it will benefit your health.

For more information please read, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation by Andreas Moritz, The Art of Seeing by Aldous Huxley, More Natural “Cures” Revealed by Kevin Trudeau and visit www.ecolani.com for reef safe, earth friendly, organic sunscreen. Also investigate Miracle II Soap and “green” Amway products.