Introduction
Exposing oneself to the sun can be a contentious issue. Intentional tanning can lead to precancerous lesions, skin cancer, and premature aging. Staying indoors for a prolonged duration can lead to deleterious effects on a person’s emotional well-being, individual’s social life, and vitamin D levels. If an elderly person looks pale or has an expressed interest in going out, this individual should be taken out for the summer outing. Early detection of these symptoms in individuals is important.
What Is Sunbathing?
Sunbathing is an act of lying or sitting in the sun. This is done for tanning and provides health benefits if done properly. There is a major difference in going outside for 10 minutes without sunscreen and regularly spending time in the tanning bed. The risks of sun exposure are many. Spending time in the sun without adequate SPF can be a major cause of melanoma and other skin conditions.
What Are the Benefits of a Sunbath?
Exposure to the sun itself helps in making Vitamin D naturally and is essential to many individuals. Vitamin D deficiency is a common deficiency worldwide. Vitamin D cannot be acquired by food alone. It can be obtained from egg yolks and fish but is mostly found in fortified products like milk. There are many benefits of vitamin D. They are:
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Better Sleep: Sunbathing can regulate circadian rhythm, and the body can start to get reliably drowsy when the sun goes down.
- Stronger Bones: Vitamin D helps with absorption of calcium, leads to stronger bones, and helps prevent arthritis and osteoporosis.
- Boosts the Immune System: Vitamin D helps the body fight diseases, including conditions of heart, flu, sclerosis and autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
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Lower Preterm Labor Risk: Vitamin D can protect against preterm infection and labor associated with birth.
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Reduced Depression: Depression can be improved or reduced by spending some duration in the sun. Sunlight triggers the brain to release the hormone serotonin, which can boost mood and promote the feeling of calmness. Depression can be reduced by spending time in the sunshine.
How Does Sunbathing Benefit Elderly Individuals?
Sun exposure can have dangerous effects. With a balanced approach, there are lots of benefits to sunbathing. Sunbathing can boost one’s overall well-being and health. The benefits are:
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Mood Enhancer: Sunbathing is a good mood enhancer and sunlight helps in increasing serotonin levels and helps beat depression and mood disorders. This feel-good chemical is great for lowering symptoms like sadness, depression, sadness, anxiety, and apathy.
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Increased Vitamin D Production: Aging can cause many degenerative bone diseases, like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. This can be due to low vitamin D levels in the body. Lack of this vitamin can result in pain, stiffness, and immobility of bones. Natural sunlight is a good source of vitamin D. This helps in compensating the shortfall in vitamin D than any supplements in the elderly.
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Healthy Glow: Some individuals become pale when not exposed to the sun adequately. Adequate sun exposure is responsible for a healthy glow and makes skin look and feel better.
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Pain Reliever: Enough sun exposure can help deal with musculoskeletal pain, and this also helps in increasing joint mobility.
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Check on Blood Pressure: Sunbathing benefits individuals dealing with hypertension greatly. Sunbathing helps in activating nitric oxide that is found in the topmost layer of skin, and this helps in improving blood circulation by widening blood vessels and helps to keep blood pressure in check.
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Good Sleep: An alternative to taking pills for insomnia, sunbathing can provide immense help. Sunbath helps in the production of melatonin, which is responsible for a better quality of sleep.
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Heal Skin Issues: Studies suggest that sunlight is harmful for skin, but bathing in the early morning sun can of great benefit actually. Taking a sunbath can help with extreme skin issues.
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Boosts Immunity: Sunlight is the oldest method to treat autoimmune diseases. This is a great way to boost the body's immunity.
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Keeps Diabetes in Check: Vitamin D is a contributory factor in perennial production of insulin and this helps in controlling diabetes.
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Helps to Relax: Calms the muscles and helps in the cognitive development of the brain.
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Helps With Bone Health: Vitamin D helps in better absorption of calcium, and makes the body's bones stronger. This synthesis requires an adequate amount of sun exposure.
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Fights Depression: Sunbath is a great mood enhancer, especially in winter. In winters the incidence of seasonal affective disorders are higher, and sunbathing has proved to be of great benefit. They make individuals feel energized and calmer.
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Good for Eyes: Vitamin D plays an essential role in vision, and just staying in sunlight for fifteen minutes can be beneficial for healthy eyes and eyesight.
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Reduces the Chances of Getting Alzheimer’s: The Alzheimer's patients who were exposed to the sunlight had fewer symptoms of forgetfulness and depression compared with others.
What Are the Risk Factors of Sunbathing in the Elderly?
The biggest and most common risk of sunbathing is skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. The main contributory factor is overexposure to sunlight. Skin cancer and sunlight are linked due to radiation from ultraviolet light. Overexposure to UV light is the biggest risk factor for skin cancer. Exposure to UV also carries a number of other damaging effects causing burns, wrinkles, discoloration, and loss of elasticity.
Conclusion
Sunbathing is both beneficial and harmful for the elderly, it is tough for the elderly to find a healthy balance. Following a good guideline to ensure the seniors receive at least five to ten minutes of sunlight for at least two to three times a week is important. This amount is needed to produce healthy levels of vitamin D in the body and low enough to increase the risk of skin cancer. Applying sunscreen while spending more time in the sun can help in minimizing the harmful effects of sun exposure and minimize the risk. There is no clear medical consensus on where the line between unsafe and safe exposure to sunlight arises. A small amount of UV exposure can increase the risk of skin cancer, but the benefits of small amounts of sunlight far outweigh the slight increase in the risk of cancer.
