Can You Reduce Multiple Sclerosis with Sunlight
Over the last few years we have all been inundated with messages about how exactly important it is to stay out of the sun. We’ve realized precisely how real a risk skin cancer can be and are doing almost everything we can think of to prevent it from happening. We put on countless layers of the highest SPF sunscreens that we can buy. We have on large floppy hats. We put on long sleeves in addition to pant legs even in the warmest of temperatures. We do our best to stay only in the shady areas–some have even started carrying parasols and umbrellas all over so that their skin never comes into contact with direct sunlight. Now we’re beginning to discover that sunlight can sometimes be quite helpful. Can you really be helped by the sunshine?
A new study has been done and it shows that people who allow some time in direct natural light aren’t as likely to get MS as the people who do everything they can to keep out of the sun. At the beginning, the study was much more about Vitamin D and it’s effects 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 sunlight that is at the center of the issue.
We’ve known for a very long time that the sun’s rays and Vitamin D can hinder the way the immune system plays a part in MS. This study, however, deals chiefly with the effects of sunshine on the people who are just starting to experience the very earliest symptoms of the disease. The real objective is to discover how sunlight and Vitamin D may affect the symptoms that are now known as “precursors” to the actual disease symptoms.
Sadly, at this time there aren’t really 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 physician 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 what the best thing for you to do is.
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