The Ultra Violet Myth

In days gone by tillers of the land lived by their circadian rythms: risng at dawn,completing their hard manual labours before midday where they would sit down to a hearty protein and fat laden meal, rest for few few hours during the hottest part of the day and commence the rest of their activities later in the afternoon. Their lives were characterised by lengthy periods of mobility punctuated by short bursts of aerobic and anaerobic activity all carried out with large portions of their bodies exposed to natural sunlight.

The Modern Plague

Modern lifestyles and building designs – typical of offices, schools, and hospitals throughout the developed world – are compromising the health of people on a global scale, according to Dr Richard Hobday, engineer and author of The Healing Sun. It is entirely possible that the modern urban environment may increase the severity of pandemics.

We now have cities where people get only a few hours of sunlight a week, and school children sit in sunless buildings with all manner of paraphernalia, including the now-debatable use of sunscreens, to keep the sun off them.  We are seeing near-paranoia around sunlight exposure, without a proper understanding and appreciation of the sun’s critical role in the essential biochemical processes  underpinning our general health.

Sunscreens and Cancer 

New Zealand skin cancer experts, along with a group of international health specialists, have given Hobday’s book due consideration after noting that the incidence of melanomas has increased in direct proportion to the use of sunscreens, and in proportion to decreased sunlight exposure.

Some sunscreens have biological effects, besides tanning, known to produce chromosomal mutations. A contributor to the British Medical Journal in 1979 stated that “It is with considerable uneasiness that I suspect an increase in skin cancers to be probable in future years from the widespread and, in my opinion, ill-advised use of preparations containing 5-methoxypsoralen [sunscreen]”.

Office workers are more prone to developing melanoma than those who work outdoors.  Not surprising, considering office workers spend long periods indoors and only periodically subject themselves to short intense bursts of sunlight – without giving their bodies adequate time to adjust.  Further, there are suggestions that non-solar factors such as diet, hormonal levels, viruses, drugs, skin traumas and some occupations involving exposure to chemicals may have a far more relevance to melanoma development than reasonable and sustained exposure to sunlight.

To keep this in proportion, while there has been an increase in melanomas, it is in no way comparable to the exponential increase in deep organ cancers.

Stress, Depression and Superbugs 

Hobday demonstrates in his book that correct exposure to sunlight actually helps prevent diseases such as deep organ cancers, heart conditions and osteoporosis.  As designers, we have a privileged opportunity to help professionals, office workers and those who work indoors to gradually and increasingly expose themselves to safe sunlight levels, and in turn to reduce the likelihood of occupants developing melanomas or other cancer types.

While exposure to sunlight may be a factor in triggering skin cancers, other underlying lifestyle factors are likely to make us more susceptible: factors such as a diet of over-processed foods, exposure to ionising radiation and  electromagnetic fields, and increased levels of stress.

Our modern office environment, with its artificial lighting and lack of opening windows, places the body under stress, leading to the over-production of cortisol (a stress hormone implicated in a range of degenerative conditions).

Lack of sunlight affects magnesium levels, a vitally important mineral for the health of the nervous system.  Lack of sunlight is also implicated in the severity of depression, in particular SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). This is, in part, because sunlight is a requirement for the production of serotonin which, when low, causes depression.

Before the use of antibiotics, sunlight was used to speed up the healing of wounds and to treat TB patients, with those in sunlit hospital rooms recovering faster than those in darker rooms.  The design of modern (hermetically sealed) hospitals increases the risk of post-operative complications due to so-called ‘superbugs’. The modern urban environment may also be increasing the frequency and severity of pandemics.

Vitamin D Synthesis and Bone Density 

Sunlight exposure is critical for the human body to adequately synthesise vitamin D, low levels of which have been implicated in the incidence of breast, colon and prostrate cancers.  Low vitamin D levels also generate low levels of calcium – resulting in brittle bones, and increase the likelihood of developing heart disease.

New research now links levels of sunlight exposure with bone density. Hobday’s book mentions an interesting reference to a comparison of the bone density of Egyptian warriors’ skulls (who shaved their heads from childhood), to those of Persian soldiers, who kept their heads covered.  The Egyptian skulls were demonstrably denser than those of their Persian counterparts.

Sunscreens (which block sunlight from reaching the skin) are known to prevent the synthesis of vitamin D, leading to low bone density in young women.  Likewise, many dollars are spent on hospital care for the elderly specifically related to bone fracture incidents.  There are significant economic benefits to be gained from improving bone density across the population, alongside the more obvious benefits to individual health and mobility.

A Return to Basics 

We need to halt the tide of increased dependence on high-tech living, which will increasingly require medical intervention and monitoring of health. With this progression comes an increasingly unforgiving margin of error in what should be simply living.

As architects, environmental consultants, engineers and urban designers, Hobday’s book highlights our need to urgently revisit the health-giving attributes of the sun, and to factor this in as part of our various roles in developing designs that truly are sustainable.