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There was a time not long ago when those with TB went to special hospitals high on sunny hillsides. Each day patients with bone TB were wheeled out to rest in the sun. The benefits of sunshine were known then. Today they are all closing down, but if you look at one near you you will see the terraces or porches on a sheltered side where the beds were placed. Sometimes they had single rooms facing south and with french doors that opened out into the sun. The bed was wheeled in and out as needed. Wealthy people with chest problems used to go to Switzerland to the mountain sanitariums. The patients there were encouraged to ski in bathing costumes. |
In other countries it is usual to see duvets out on the window sills to air in the morning sun. We have forgotten the value of putting our bedding in the sun. Sunshine is lethal to many harmful germs.
In primary schools the youngest children were put out on beds in the sun for a short rest time each day when the weather was suitable. It is hard to believe looking at the photographs, but the value of ‘sunshine rest’ was well known then, when there were so many diseases that threatened young children. Areas of open space and playing fields were later innovatively designed as places where city children could go to have time in the open air away from the cramped buildings.
Today if a baby unfortunately gets nappy rash, the solution is to apply creams, but not long ago it was treated with sunshine. If the nappy was left off and baby was placed in gentle sunshine for a short safe period then the nappy rash cleared very quickly. It can also help athletes foot and ease chronic psoriasis too.
In the operating theatres and in corridors of hospitals in the USA they used to have ultraviolet lamps to kill germs and disinfect vital areas. It has been wondered recently whether some of the problems with the rampant infection in our hospitals today could be due to the way they are built. There are long dark coridors that never see any sunshine and as hospitals are built in cities, much ultra violet is filtered out by city pollution. Very few hospitals are light airy places allowing sunshine to do its disinfecting work naturally. Could ultraviolet lamps be useful again, to reduce the antibiotic resistant organisms that we have today?
Some of these ideas were first put forward by Sir Henry Gauvain of a hospital in Alton Hampshire UK, and Dr Rollier of Switzerland, in a special supplement to The Times called Sunlight and Health supplement which was published May 22, 1928. Sunshine therapy was called Heliotherapy. Today it is the same sunshine, and the value is the same, but maybe we do not use it enough to increase our health and protect us. |
Here are some facts about sunlight.
1 It only takes 8 minutes for the light to travel the 93,000,000 miles from the sun to our earth.
2. The temperature of the sun is thought to be 15-20, 000,000 C.
3. The sun is 1.3 million times bigger than our earth.
4. The sun radiates huge amounts of energy, but we pick up just what is necssary for our life here for warmth and light. |
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HOW TO SUNBATHE.
In order to receive enough sunlight to make Vitamin D in our bodies, we only need to expose 2 square inches to sun for 15 minutes. Sitting by an open window with our face and hands and arms in the sun would be helpful, even if we are not able to go out. |
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Although it is good to have sun on our skin, we must take care with the strength of the sun’s rays. The safest times are before 10.00 am and after 3.00 pm. Begin with just five minutes at a time then build up gradually. We should never stay in the sun until we are pink, let alone red. To have too much sun makes the skin leathery. To have sun in moderation gives a soft glow of health.
Sunshine and Cancer
The warnings of cancer resulting from excessive sun on the skin has been well documented, and those warnings should be heeded particularly in certain areas, where the risk seems greater. But there is one area where we ought to take special care and that is car driving. When we have the window down and an arm on the sill, the skin there is being exposed to |
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