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The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

economist.com

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Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#141

Post by Earw0rm »

uncircle wrote: post #5
ponchel wrote: post #4

Who actually thought that getting sunlight was bad ?

There is a lot of weird discussion on English-speaking forums that you should always always wear sunscreen, even if the day is grey, because skin cancer is a constant risk. I do not get if it’s a massive and long-running marketing campaign that has brainwashed the entire population, if it’s because many living in US and UK have a very white skin tone thus burn easily, or what else. Skin cancer is a fact of life, but…

It's context collapse, the curse of a shared language.

If you live in Australia or Florida and have Anglo skin, you'd best believe that's good advice.

In the natural range of the Anglo skin type, Edinburgh or Dublin, not so much.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#142

Post by apt-apt-apt-apt »

cisasteelersfan wrote: post #112
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's instructive to look at people who drive for a living. One arm will have significantly more sun exposure than the other and it's trivial to spot the difference as the sun does have a very noticeable aging effect.

What's interesting is that sun exposure through a car window removes almost all UVB rays and most UVA rays. So it's closer to comparing lower sun exposure vs sun exposure with sunscreen.

Dangerously incorrect, side car windows do not remove most UVA rays.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#143

Post by waterhouse »

trhway wrote: post #18
calebm wrote: post #9

I am very white, but getting sun feels very healthy for my skin. Obviously I don't want to get burned bad, but good sun exposure helps my skin feel softer and less inflamed. My grandfather also spent most of his days out in the sun gardening, and my mom was just commenting a few months ago about how surprisingly smooth his skin is (and he's 92).

>good sun exposure helps my skin feel softer and less inflamed. The UV light polymerizes collagen in presence of vitamin B. They did experiments by repairing cornea that way: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3018104/ "The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of riboflavin-ultraviolet type A (UV-A) light rays induced cross-linking of corneal collagen in improving visual acuity and in s…

> couple studies on Somali immigrant population in Minnesota and Sweden - where such dark skinned population naturally gets very low on vitamin D - showed such correlation as autism rates in that population is higher than back there in Somali (and that would explain the correlation of low sunlight expo.

Or autism among Somalis causes them, or their parents, to want to immigrate to Minnesota and Sweden?

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#144

Post by geor9e »

I wish there was anything we could do about "x may y" "studies" where it's just a grad student finding 2 weakly correlated variables in an existing dataset and hitting publish. Maybe experimental studies can be called science and observational studies can be called schmience. Of course that is a terrible solution, but god I wish something could be done.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#145

Post by meatmanek »

gaoshan wrote: post #107
spullara wrote: post #92

dunno man, just had melanoma removed from my ear and if it had moved to my lymph nodes I had a 50% chance of dying within 5 years. thankfully it didn't but it was caused by sun damage incurred in my youth. I'll be wearing sunscreen and mostly avoiding direct sunlight.

Make sure your sunscreen is free from things like benzene* or you may just be trading one cancer causer for another. * https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/is-sunscreen-safe

A reality check on the sunscreen benzene panic: https://labmuffin.com/will-benzene-in-sunscreens-give-you-ca...

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#146

Post by anthomtb »

joseakle wrote: post #82
NaomiLehman wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get melanoma, it can progress within weeks or months to stage >1. An annual checkup is not enough. And then you get 50% chance if you qualify for gene therapy or die.

What is the recommended screening frequency ?

Perhaps by "An annual checkup is not enough", they do not mean you need screenings multiple times a year. Rather, one needs to regularly examine their own skin in addition to yearly checks by a professional.

An aside for my fellow wookies: moles can form under hair!

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#147

Post by wewxjfq »

mcdeltat wrote: post #51
wewxjfq wrote: post #46

The way I see it: If you live where your ancestors lived for thousands of years and if you make sure your skin gets gradually attuned to the sun each year, you probably get more health benefits. But beware if you're of Northern European ancestry living in Southern USA or Australia or if you work an office job and only seek the summer sun with pale skin.

> make sure your skin gets gradually attuned Is this a thing? Surely DNA damage from UV is dose-dependent, in which case any greater amount of UV results in a greater chance of skin cancer.

A sunburn is what you want to avoid and it's easier to get when you stayed indoors the whole year and only go outside when the sun is out full blast. I personally think this modern lifestyle is one of the reasons people get more skin cancer despite being outside less. There are studies that show that chronic sun exposure isn't that bad.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#148

Post by Carrok »

photon_garden wrote: post #118
ToDougie wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also have bright rope LEDs surrounding a few of my room ceilings, hidden behind coving. That light reflects smoothly off the entirety of the white ceilings. A great combination of very high intensity lighting, that is also gentle, diffuse and calming. Summer days, indoors, all year round. I am intrigued -- please can you share any publicly available image of this solution? I'm not sure what to google search, or w…

David Chapman has a great writeup on this: https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens His other writing is great too, but much more philosophical which may or may not be your cup of tea.

> That light reflects smoothly off the entirety of the white ceilings. A great combination of very high intensity lighting, that is also gentle, diffuse and calming.

The description from GP, and the photos in the article you linked, seem like polar opposites of each other.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#149

Post by everybodyknows »

Nevermark wrote: post #90

For winter I got a standing tanning machine. Which I use 2-4x a week for 1 minute per use. I calculated this was equivalent to 5-15 minutes outside, depending on time, but engages the entirety of the bodies largest organ. My (anecdotal, subjective) experience is that it helps. Both vitamin D and nitric oxide are good rationales for that. This would be economically impossible at a tanning salon. If you like to be tan,…

> For winter I got a standing tanning machine. Which I use 2-4x a week for 1 minute per use. I calculated this was equivalent to 5-15 minutes outside, depending on time, but engages the entirety of the bodies largest organ.

Excellent idea. In my temperate climate, I use the outdoor method, with one further tweak: Cover the head and arms, which get too much inadvertent exposure anyway during daily activity.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#150

Post by JumpCrisscross »

geor9e wrote: post #144

I wish there was anything we could do about "x may y" "studies" where it's just a grad student finding 2 weakly correlated variables in an existing dataset and hitting publish. Maybe experimental studies can be called science and observational studies can be called schmience. Of course that is a terrible solution, but god I wish something could be done.

> where it's just a grad student

This study was "just a grad student"?

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