Coming into Balance with the Sun

For the past two decades, ever since my first skin cancer diagnosis, I’ve looked at the sun as my enemy. I’ve regretted all those hours spent on Florida beaches in skimpy bathing suits frying my skin in cocoa butter. Mea culpa, for goodness sake.

So I was most surprised when my husband pointed out an article in yesterday’s Examiner which revisited the effect of the sun. Excerpting,

A new study suggests that the main cause of deadly skin cancer – sunlight – might also help protect against the disease. The key could lie in the amount of ultraviolet B light the skin absorbs – enough to stimulate a healthy immune response in the skin but not so much that it boosts skin cancer risk. In 2006, a prominent cancer epidemiologist published a controversial study that found that melanoma patients with higher levels of daily sun exposure actually had better survival than patients who spent less time in the sun.

Go figure! Maybe it’s like homeopathy, which uses the thing to which you are allergic to protect you.

With this information, I may once again embrace the sun, remembering how good the light and heat can make you feel. Never again will I allow my skin to turn red and burn. But instead I will seek a balance that diminishes the fear I have come to associate with this most important lifesource.

Balance is the answer to so many of life’s issues, isn’t it?