 sunshine Sunlight is one of the most powerful natural medicines to man that exists
Imagine yourself looking at the sunrise or enjoying the first rays of Spring sunshine bringing everything to life.
People have always lived and worked in the great outdoors and used to be continually exposed to natural sunlight, until in the middle of the 19th century they began to withdraw more and more behind the walls and windows which filter out the UV which is so important to our health and to expose themselves to artificial light which differs significantly from natural sunlight.
Ever since the time of the Ancient Greeks, scientists have been making observations which confirm the positive effect of sunlight on mental and physical health.
At the beginning of the 20th century sunlight was still one of the most important methods of treating a large number of infectious diseases. In 1903 Niels Finsen was awarded the Nobel Prize for his successful treatment of tuberculosis of the skin with UV light.
However, the discovery of penicillin in 1937 pushed solar therapy – a non-invasive form of treatment – into the background for a long time.
Effects of sunlight through the eyes
 Suns effect through eyes
Prof. Dr. Fritz Hollwich, Director of the University Eye Hospital in Münster, made the discovery that only about 25 per cent of the light that is absorbed by our eyes is used for vision, passing along the part of the optic nerve that deals with vision. The remaining 75 per cent travels into the brain and hypothalamus – the body’s maincontrol centre – via the part of the optic nerve that deals with energy. This controls our nervous and endocrine systems, also affecting among other things the whole of our glandular and hormone system.
At the same time the hypothalamus is responsible for controlling many functions which are typically defective in people who suffer from depression.
The pros and cons of UV light
Everything depends on the correct dosage. A certain amount of the right components of UV light is very important for our health.
 Suns different wavelenghts
Since the hole appeared in the ozone layer, more and more very short-wave UV-C rays have been hitting the Earth's surface. Previously we had been protected from these by the atmosphere. The damage that they cause is generally bringing UV light more and more into disrepute.
However, the results of studies listed below show unequivocally that a certain amount of UV light, especially UV-A and UV-B, is very important for our health. Therefore it is not to be recommended that we cut ourselves off completely from UV light for fear of the hole in the ozone layer.
In his book "Sunlight Could Save Your Life"
Dr Zane R. Kime demonstrates among other things that in his opinion nutrition plays a greater role in the development of skin cancer than solar radiation.
Whilst on this subject it is also interesting to consider the following experiment carried out by Joan Smith-Sonneborn, Professor of Zoology and Physiology at the University von Wyoming. She irradiated a protozoon with UV-C, damaging its DNA and shortening the life of the cell. Afterwards she again irradiated the damaged cells, this time with UV-A, whereupon the damaged cells repaired themselves of their own accord and the ageing process ceased. With further UV-A irradiation the life of the cell was even prolonged by 50% compared to that of a comparison group. This shows that certain types of light are not only able to support cells in the repair of their DNA but can apparently also promote factors in the DNA which prolong life.
UV light and plants
In the early 1950s Walt Disney asked the well-known photographer and biologist John Ott to make a time-lapse film of an apple from the bud to the ripe fruit. It was to be used for the film "Secrets of Life", released in 1957.
 UV rays dont penitrate glass
For time-lapse photography it is extremely important that the object does not move, and so a glass box was built around the apple in order to protect it from the wind. At the end of the filming all the apples on the tree were beautifully red and juicy – only the apple in the glass box looked small, green and sickly. This was clear evidence of the importance for plant growth of the UV light that was filtered out by the glass.
The results of studies:
Sunlight and health
Consider the following results of studies (cf. Dr. Jacob Libermann, “Light – Medicine of the Future” and Dr Zane R. Kime "Sunlight Could Save Your Life"):
UV-A and UV-B light in small doses has a stimulating and harmonising effect on our energy levels, immune system, metabolism, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, endocrine system and our ability to concentrate, work and learn and also supports the formation of bones by synthesising Vitamin D.
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