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Dr. Roizen: The sun can nourish and harm you
The sun helps our bodies in many ways. But like many things in life, too much of a good thing can harm you. Learn how to protect yourself – but enjoy the benefits – from the sun. |
Watch out for UV radiation
By Dr. Michael Roizen
You don’t have to look and feel your age – not if you follow these guidelines from the book, YOU: Staying Young, co-authored with Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The sun is the symbol of life. It helps plants grow and can help prevent cancer and osteoporosis, but it also can be a major generator of death – or at least a heck of a lot of wrinkles.
The sun acts like one of those machines that shoots out tennis balls. But the sun’s tennis balls come in the form of ultraviolent (UV) rays that are torpedoed down on you.
The ABCs of UV
The atmosphere blocks one type of UV ray – UVC rays – like tennis balls hit into the net before they reach you.
UVA rays and UVB rays are always played in your court.
You have a choice: get pummeled by the rays, or take a swing and block them so they bounce off you.
On the surface, it may seem you’re supposed to block every ray that’s served at you. And for good reason. Even though UVB rays stop at skin level, stimulating melanocytes to produce "tan", they can still cause burning and cancer of the skin.
Meanwhile, UVA rays deeply penetrate the skin to cause burns, wrinkles, and skin cancer. To top it off, sunlight also destroys your reserves of folic acid, also known as folate or vitamin B9. Your body needs folate to replicate DNA properly – that’s why it helps protect against birth defects.
How do UV rays cause damage?
- One way is through connective-tissue breakdown. UV radiation causes the structural protein of our skin – collagen – to break down and disables our ability to repair damage.
- Another way sun ages our skin is through the formation of free radicals – aggressive charged compounds that damage cells and break down collagen as well. Free radicals can cause cancer by altering our DNA and preventing our body from repairing it.
- A third way is by thinning the walls of surface blood vessels through the skin, which can lead to bruising, bleeding, and the appearance of blood vessels through the skin.
But we really need UV
Natural sunlight creates active vitamin D, which we need for bone health because it helps regulate calcium. It also helps ensure the proper function of your heart, nervous system, clotting process, and immune system. Thousands of cancer deaths a year are linked to insufficient UVB exposure and subsequent deficiency of active vitamin D.
Protect your eyes from harmful UV rays
For the best protection find sunglasses that:
- Filter out UVA and UVB rays – look for a label that says 99 or 100 percent UV protection
- Reduce glare, but aren’t so dark they distort colors
- Protect your eyes when you water or snow ski – you have higher UV exposure on snow, water, and concrete because of reflection. In addition, wear a hat with a three-inch brim to protect your eyes from UV rays that enter from the top and sides of glasses.
Bottom line
While you don’t want too much sun exposure, you can’t have too little – finding the balance is one of the real secrets to slowing the aging process.
Take the RealAge test
Want to find out if your body is actually younger – or older – than your calendar age? Take the free RealAge test . You’ll get a personalized plan to feel and be younger and a list of the things that are making you younger or older.
Who is Dr. Roizen?
A nationally renowned expert, Michael Roizen, M.D., or “Dr. Mike,” is personable, witty, and full of important health insights imparted through his books, a radio show, and his Website, www.realage.com. He’s also chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, where he practices both internal medicine and anesthesiology. He’s listed – along with his physician wife – as one of the 1,000 Best Doctors in the United States.
At the age of 62, Dr. Mike has also been a top-ranked squash player. His RealAge books and his “YOU” books – coauthored with Dr. Mehmet Oz – YOU: On a Diet, YOU: The Owner’s Manual,YOU: Staying Young and YOU: The Smart Patient – are runaway bestsellers. His radio show, “YOU: The Owner’s Manual with Dr. Michael Roizen,” is sponsored by Humana and heard on radio stations nationwide. His Website, www.realage.com, has a program aimed at helping health-conscious consumers stop biological aging and live longer, more exciting lives.
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