Knowing the history of how sunlight exposure has been utilized to cure disease and improve health is important for understanding why it is still so essential today

Key Points

• The “Diseases of Darkness” that are associated with vitamin D deficiency, such as rickets, and other negative health effects resulting from a lack of sun exposure still exist today, and yet are absolutely avoidable and unnecessary
• Sunlight and artificial UV were the most effective treatments of these diseases of darkness until the 1950s with the invention of antibiotics
• Below is a timeline list of sunshine discoveries made and the uses of sunlight for health and wellbeing throughout history

Major changes in the way we live, especially over the past century, have affected the amount of sunshine we are exposed to on a daily basis, which for most people, is minimal. These days, most work is done indoors, digital devices have become a popular form of indoor entertainment, and air conditioning makes being indoors on a hot and sunny day easily attractive. Negative messages about the sun and skin cancer, even tanning, have scared people into staying indoors or covering up at all times when going outdoors, to the point where the body is unable to reap the benefits of sunshine and UV exposure. The “Diseases of Darkness” that are associated with vitamin D deficiency, such as rickets, and other negative health effects resulting from a lack of sun exposure still exist today, and yet are absolutely avoidable and unnecessary. In fact, in 2012 the UK cited 833 hospital admissions for rickets, more than four times the amount 10 years earlier.

History has demonstrated to us that, in many different health circumstances, natural as well as artificial sunlight can act as a major interventional tool to prevent and heal devastating diseases, when used with diligence. Before the ‘era of antibiotics’ phototherapy was a state-of-the-art treatment in contemporary medicine, and where natural sunlight was unavailable, artificial sunlight was successfully used to fill the gap. Now days, the message so often heard is to stay out of the sun, or to cover up when exposed to sunshine. What could the resulting health effects be from this type of sun avoidance? Why are so many ignoring the lessons learned throughout history about the benefits of sunshine exposure?

Click here to read the entire article in the Sept. 2022 issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.