Solar Powered Secrets to Health and Longevity
All life on this planet derives its energy from the sun. This includes you. Never mind what the heliophobes have told you.
The Big C
Yes, skin cancer is a thing. Yes, exposure to sunlight appears to contribute to incidence of skin cancer. No, I do not think you should be out baking your skin in the midday summer sun basted in baby oil (true story, we used to do this in the 70’s and early 80’s and some of us predictably ended up with skin cancer). But I also don’t think you should be layering suntan lotion on your skin as it too is associated with cancer and endocrine disruption (unless you’re using good old zinc oxide).
Did you know that outdoor workers like farmers and construction workers have the same rate of skin cancer as office workers? This suggests that skin cancer is not dose dependent. More sun exposure does not equate with higher skin cancer rates. Further, the incidence of fatal skin cancers in outdoor workers tends to be lower than in indoor workers. The people who get more sun die of skin cancer less frequently than those who get less sun exposure. Seem counter intuitive? It has to do with wave lengths of light. The skin cancer observed in office workers seems attributable to the light exposure through closed windows rather than direct sunlight. While window glass does block some UV-B and UV-C rays, it does not block UV-A rays and UV-A exposure does appear to be associated with more deadly forms of skin cancer.
Getting Primitive
Your ancestors did not use sunscreen. And they lived outside for most of their evolutionary history. They also had the sense to get in the shade during the peak of the midday sun. They didn’t need sunscreen to survive. Neither do you. Here’s the secret: you have a built-in sunscreen; it is called melanin. Here is how it works:
The longer wavelengths of light that reach us at dawn signal your body to put up its defensive shields. The mistake we make today is hiding inside until the sun is fully risen and then jumping unprepared into the short wavelength rays of the sun at full power without giving our body time to prepare its defenses.
This is compounded by the fact that we shelter indoors through the cold season emerging only when the weather gets hot. This robs our body of the time required to acclimate to the sun. Ideally, your sun exposure should begin in early spring when the sun is still relatively distant and cool giving your body ramp up time so by the time summer is upon us, your skin’s pigmentation has adjusted.
And keep out of the direct midday sun.
Powering Immunity
Vitamin D is turned into a hormone with many critical roles in your body. It fights chronic disease through its anti-inflammatory properties and also strengthens your immune response to pathogens. Most people in northern climates are vitamin D deficient resulting in metabolic derangement and impaired immune function. Supplements are better than nothing, but sun exposure provides a 20x response compared to supplementation. You can get your vitamin D in the shade or even on a cloudy day. Don’t let sunscreen rob you of your daily dose of vitamin D.
Circadian Rhythm
Exercise, nutrition and sleep. These are the three pillars of health and longevity. Can you guess which one is most important? It’s sleep. Impaired sleep results in elevated cortisol levels and metabolic derangement. Without sleep your brain’s lymphatic system cannot clear the waste products that accumulate through the day. This is why impaired sleep patterns have a strong association with dementia and other neurological disorders. You need sleep!
About 8 hours for most of us. There are a few genetic exceptions that can get by on less, but they are rare. So rare that the majority of people who claim to be one are not and are only fooling themselves into future health issues.
What is the secret to super sleep? It all has to do with cell programming. Every cell in your body has light receptors. Researchers tested this by shining narrow light beams on the skin of blindfolded participants. Though the light was shone upon a limb far distant from the eyes, the participant’s cells responded.
By now you’ve heard warnings about exposure to screens prior to bedtime but here’s something much more powerful:
It is the long rays of the sun at sunrise and sunset that your cells are most attuned to. Exposure to these long wave lengths programs your sleep cycles. Try it. Get 30-60 minutes direct sun exposure at dawn and then again at dusk and be amazed at how, when you lie down to sleep, whether or not you feel sleepy, you fall into a deep sleep almost right away. 10 to 2 is your goal. Those hours between 10pm and 2am are when the most restorative phase of sleep occurs. If you miss the window, your sleep, no matter how long, will not be as restorative.
Burden of Proof
Whenever an intervention is introduced that deviates from the natural behaviour of a species, the burden of proof should be on proving it will not result in long term harm. Replacing butter with margarine for example or releasing environmental pollutants into the atmosphere. Climate change proponents hate when I say this, but it is nearly impossible to prove human pollution drives climate change even if it seems obvious that it does. But proving it isn’t the point. They have the argument backwards. The burden of proof does not lie in proving climate change is happening. It is the polluters who need to prove definitively that the toxins they are releasing will not cause climate change.
The same holds true about sunscreen and sun avoidance policies. Our species long evolved outdoors in a sun rich environment. Before we change the practices of our ancestors the burden of proof is upon the heliophobes to prove that sun avoidance is not contributing to skin cancer occurrence (which has been on the rise in these modern, sun-starved times) and other health conditions.
It always comes down to basic principles: Trust time-tested practices over recent innovations. Your biology evolved to thrive in specific environmental conditions. Any dramatic deviation risks robbing you of the factors essential to supporting your health.
Now go out and get some daylight!
Friday Make Up Day
1) Descending C&J EMOM
3 min EMOM
5 C&J @Weight #1
1 min Rest
3 min EMOM
4 C&J @Weight #2
1 min Rest
3 min EMOM
3 C&J @Weight #3
1 min Rest
3 min EMOM
2 C&J @Weight #4
1 min Rest
3 min EMOM
1 C&J @Weight #5
1 min Rest
Increase the load each EMOM
Your score is the sum of the 5 loads used
2) Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
200/250-meter row
25-foot handstand walk
10 dumbbell box step-overs
25-foot handstand walk
3) 5 rounds for time of:
15 GHD back extensions
25 AbMat sit-ups
50 double-unders
