How to Prevent and Treat Sunburn Naturally – mercola.com

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You’ve heard the advice before: stay out of the sun or use plenty of sunscreen to block cancer-causing ultraviolet (UV) rays. But while it’s true that excessive sun exposure resulting in sunburn may increase ayour risk of skin cancer, it’s a fallacy to believe that sun exposure should be avoided altogether.

The key is to find the right balance, where you’re exposing plenty of skin to the sun’s rays, but not staying out to the point of getting burned. Sun exposure can only be therapeutic when it’s done in appropriate and measured timeframes.

Excessive sun exposure provides no benefit and can only result in damage like sunburn, which is an inflammatory response in your skin to UVB overexposure. However, UVB exposure is precisely what you want, in appropriate amounts, because when UVB strikes the surface of your skin, your skin converts a cholesterol derivative into vitamin D3.

The benefits of optimizing your vitamin D stores cannot be overstated, and I’ve discussed this in a large number of articles spanning more than a decade. Ironically, one of the benefits is actually a significant reduction in cancer risk—both skin cancer and many other types of cancer.

Most recently, researchers1, 2 again confirmed that adequate vitamin D stores increases the survival chances for bowel cancer patients. Another recent study3 found that low vitamin D levels increases the risk for advanced liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C.

Research continues to support that vitamin D truly is a “master key” for optimal health and disease prevention. This is why it’s so important to strike the right balance. You need sun exposure—but not so much that you burn your skin.

UVAs versus UVBs

Read More  How to Prevent and Treat Sunburn Naturally.