Vitamin D & the Sunbath

I felt a cold coming on Thursday night. It started with my skin looking pale. I looked bad before I felt bad. Then the throat tickle and the nose tickle and the omg I am so tired and I want to go to bed at 8:00 p.m.

I've felt shitty all weekend, until this afternoon.

I went on my balcony/deck/terrace (depending where you are from, call it what you will) and I sunbathed. I can sit outside in my bathing suit without feeling watched.* I took a bath in Vitamin D, and man did I feel better. It was almost like a miracle cure. 

I thought about how when I was a kid my family would go to Florida for Spring Break. We would come back toasted with a golden glow. Did it fight off bugs and viruses we didn't know about? Remember all of those Victorian novels where people would go to Italy for their health, like "A Room with a View?**"  Did doctor's more than a century ago prescribe a sunshine cure? Did they know something that has been lost in time via modern medicine? What kind of modern doc tells you to head for warmer climates to feel better? They would be considered a kook or a quack.

I was reading an article in The Atlantic about the health benefits of sunshine.

It’s long been known that sun exposure triggers vitamin D production in the skin, and that low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased rates of stroke, heart attack, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, osteoporosis, and many other diseases. It was natural to assume that vitamin D was responsible for these outcomes. “Imagine a treatment that could build bones, strengthen the immune system and lower the risks of illnesses like diabetes, heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure and cancer,” The New York Times wrote in 2010. “Some research suggests that such a wonder treatment already exists. It’s vitamin D.” 

The article goes on to discuss why manufactured vitamin D isn't as effective, but what about the original source of vitamin D: sunshine?

I remembered this article this afternoon when I was feeling crappy. I laid my beach towel on my couch on my balcony/deck/terrace, and read a book outside for a few hours, no sunscreen. Even if sunshine isn't a miracle cure, there isn't anything better than feeling the sun on my back. I remember going to the beach as a kid, lying there for hours, never bored, just soaking it all in. "A day at the beach" is an expression for something extremely pleasant and relaxing, but isn't it?  What if a lazy day at the beach isn't just fun and chill, but could cure--or at least mitigate--our common ailments? 

I'm in!

* Maybe I am a little afraid of Google earth satellites getting a snapshot of me sunbathing, but I'll take my chances.

** Technically, not a Victorian novel, but close enough.