While their study was focused on Vitamin D supplements, we believe the findings can be applied to Vitamin D generated through sunlight exposure.

Their findings showed that 18 of the 167 children who received supplements subsequently contracted influenza, while 31 of 167 children who had only a placebo went on to get ill.

An unplanned finding showed that of children with a previous diagnosis of asthma, asthma attacks as a secondary outcome occurred in 2 of the children in the supplement group and 12 in the placebo group.

We believe this study shows the value of adequate Vitamin D levels. If you have the opportunity – get your Vitamin D from sunlight. And if you’ve wondered how much sunlight is the right amount – we explored this issue in a previous article – you can find this here.

Related posts:

1. Anaemia and Vitamin D
2. Full-spectrum light in schools
3. Sun helps to battle skin cancer?

In this recent overview of the medical research – Vitamin D: A Neglected ‘analgesic’ for chronic musculoskeletal pain – the authors made the following points:

• Chronic musculoskeletal pain and fatigue syndromes are common and difficult-to-treat clinical challenges.
• Conclusive scientific evidence indicates that adequate levels of vitamin D are essential for musculoskeletal health.
• Vitamin D is a complex nutrient that functions as a hormone to benefit numerous body tissues.
• A majority of all patients, and particularly those with pain, have inadequate intake of vitamin D.
• While further research is needed, current evidence demonstrates that supplemental vitamin D can help to resolve or alleviate chronic pain syndromes in many patients who have been unresponsive to other therapies

The key findings then go on to recommend taking a Vitamin D supplement because the authors believe that acquiring it from sunlight is an unreliable method. We would however put forward the suggestion that gathering Vitamin D from sunlight is not something to be ignored.

The question of how to get adequate an adequate dose of sunlight to produce Vitamin D is debated with some saying:

• 10 minutes at midday in shorts (for fair skinned people)
• 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen
• 10 or 15 minutes in noontime summer sun is enough.

There are many very real health benefits being discovered to Vitamin D and developing a safe consistent routine for getting this vitamin is worth investigating for all of us.

Related posts:

1. Sun helps to battle skin cancer?
2. Vitamin D Deficiencies At Epidemic Levels
3. Vitamin D and Pneumonia

But there is more to our relationship with sunlight than just a block of soap. We found this article that listed 28 reasons why hanging your laundry out in sunlight is a positive move. Three of the items on the list that we would like to highlight are:

• Save money, and in effect help the planet. Using a dryer costs money that could be spent in other positive ways in your household.

• Get some incidental physical exercise and a daily dose of Vitamin D. Both of these are long-term health giving activities. If you’re interested in what Vitamin D can do for you, you may want to read these blogs we’ve published previously.
• Disinfect your clothing without adding any harmful chemicals

So take a moment to celebrate something simple and natural that can save you money and give you a better quality of life – hang out your washing!

Related posts:

1. What is the relationship between sunlight and breast cancer?
2. Health, Happiness and Sunlight Closely Linked
3. To sunblock or not to sunblock?

Anaemia occurs when the body has too few oxygen carrying red blood cells. Mild anaemia symptoms include fatigue, lightheadedness and low energy. Severe and prolonged anaemia can damage organs through oxygen deprivation.

The study looked at 9400 children between the ages of 2 and 18. The lower the vitamin D levels, the lower the hemoglobin and the higher the risk for anemia, the researchers found.

While the findings show a clear link between low vitamin D levels and anemia, they do not prove that vitamin D deficiency causes anemia, the investigators caution. It does however suggest strong avenues for study in future research.

Related posts:

1. Vitamin D Deficiencies At Epidemic Levels
2. Getting ready for flu season
3. Vitamin D and Pneumonia

Light Health For Pet Birds
Exposure to natural light is very important for the proper absorption and utilization of calicum in pet birds.

Full Spectrum Lighting – Use it to Feel Better
Bright light therapy is key to raising serotonin levels and improving mood. Full spectrum lighting answers: what, how, when and why.

Nan Waldman’s answer to What’s the best way to feel awake, fresh …
Replace every light bulb in your bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with full spectrum light bulbs. You may be dragging on grey Monday mornings in the middle of …

Benefits of Full Spectrum Lighting | Thehumanstain.net
Fluorescent lights have become commonplace inside many homes and offices because they are a rather inexpensive form of light. But as a result people are no…

Feeling depressed about winter? 5 ways to beat the winter blues …
Create artificial light in your home by changing your standard light bulbs to full-spectrum ones. Ultraviolet rays to infrared plus rainbow colors and a variety of shades in between make full-spectrum lights ideal for the winter season. ..

Stitchqueries: What kind of lighting? | Stitching the Night Away
Bad lighting can make your stitching seem difficult and really strain your eyes, so this week’s question is an important one.

Advantages of Full Spectrum Lights | Home and Garden Today
It’s vital to spend time in real light to function in the world but not everyone knows that. As a result a lot of people spend time getting inadequate …

Eye Exercises
Sight directly effects brain and body chemistry in less than 1/100 of a second. What you see influences body chemistry.

Related posts:

1. Full-Spectrum Light (issue 23)
2. Full-Spectrum Light (issue 13)
3. Full-spectrum lighting (issue 9)

The experiment covered in the article showed that laboratory-grown gingival cells treated with vitamin D boosted their production of an endogenous antibiotic, and killed more bacteria than untreated cells.

The article suggests this means vitamin D can protect gums from bacterial infections that lead to gingivitis and periodontitis.

In addition to the antibiotic mentioned above, the researchers found that the cells treated with Vitamin D produce another protein, called TREM-1. While this protein has not as yet been well-studied, it is thought to be made by white blood cells and boosts production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

While as yet unresearched this may be the means by which Vitamin D protects against autoimmune diseases.

Related posts:

1. Anaemia and Vitamin D
2. Vitamin D Deficiencies At Epidemic Levels
3. Vitamin D and Pneumonia

• Robert Scragg (associate professor at the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland) is pushing for more sun. His position is “go out in the sun, just don’t get sunburnt”.
• For its part, the Cancer Society says Scragg’s advocacy of 15 minutes at midday is “irresponsible”. Dermatologists, who deal with the effects of sun damage every day, are adamant that we can get all the vitamin D we need through incidental exposure.
• Dr Louise Reiche (represented the New Zealand Dermatological Society on the Cancer Society) says sunning yourself in winter, when vitamin D levels in the body drop, is pointless. “We get very low levels of UV in our winter, so even if you were brave enough to stand naked in the midday sun in the winter, you would not be able to generate vitamin D from the sun at all.”
• However, Richard McKenzie, principal scientist in atmospheric processes with Niwa, says this is in contention.

Given these viewpoints and the current state of research into the importance of sun protection, how do you plan to limit or extend your sun exposure this year?

ADDENDUM: Subsequent to posting this piece we were sent a copy of this video. It gives a comprehensive account of the current state of research into Vitamin D and health benefits associated with it. We highly recommend taking the time to watch it.

Related posts:

1. Sun helps to battle skin cancer?
2. Vitamin D and pain relief
3. The Sun. What it really does to you.

The study completed at Waikato Hospital looked at blood samples of the 112 patients hospitalised with pneumonia. They found that the death rate was 29% for those with very low levels of Vitamin D compared to only 4% amongst those with normal or slight deficiencies. While this was an observational study, it suggests avenues for research on whether Vitamin D is a viable treatment option for respiratory diseases.

The article continues on to look at other studies that have found relationships between vitamin D deficiencies and other diseases – type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

Vitamin D is produced in the skin after exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun or artificial sources, and occurs naturally in fish amongst other foods.

Related posts:

1. Vitamin D Deficiencies At Epidemic Levels
2. Why are we Vitamin D deficient?
3. Does Vitamin D affect immune system response?

Around the world different people are talking about how they use full-spectrum lighting in their day-to-day lives.  We feature some of the best here.

HEALTH

Beating the Winter Blues | Create Our World: Hitchhiking | Hoboing
Full spectrum light bulbs provide similar light as the Light Therapy lamp, yet you can put them in other lamps around your house. These are a cheaper alternative than the Light Therapy lamp and provide a similar experience. …

weight loss » Five natural ways to beat the winter blues
Increase exposure to light indoors by replacing light bulbs with full-spectrum light bulbs. Unlike standard office and home lights, full-spectrum lights contain a range of rays from ultraviolet to infrared, with rainbow colors of violet …

Stress: Why is it bad, and how can we minimize it?
If your sleep cycle has become irregular due to your consistently bad sleep habits, simply reset it by exposing yourself to bright, full spectrum light in the morning, and minimizing exposure to light within two hours of desired bed …

jumping for joy… « Nourishing Your Sober Self
Of course, another aid to what is called SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is what my kids call the happy light, or the official name is full-spectrum lighting. Sitting in front of this type of light helps with mood and energy levels …

Managing Fibromyalgia Symptoms and Weather Changes
Just yesterday I re-ordered the full specturm, replacement, fluorescent light bulb for it. The old one had lasted over 2 years of day in and day out use. Its full spectrum bulb provided a natural sun light quality to my room all that …

ART
Home Art Studios, How to Create an Artist, Friendly Work Space
Ideally you can have ample natural light in your home with northern exposure lighting. In case you do not have enough light available, you will have to buy full spectrum lighting in order to have ample light in your workspace. …

PHOTOGRAPHY
The Importance of Good Product Pictures
My quick & dirty picture set-up is a piece of white foam poster board, a piece of cardboard wrapped with white tissue paper, my full spectrum craft light, a miniature size tripod and various knick-knacks from around the house to pose my …

MISCELLANEOUS
Cold Snap: Oh, Snap!
I also rigged up a full-spectrum light alarm clock. It has been getting harder and harder to get up in the mornings since it is so dark, and this is my solution. It worked like a charm this morning even though the timing was a bit early …

Related posts:

1. Full-Spectrum Light (issue 11)
2. Full-spectrum lighting (issue 6)
3. Full-spectrum lighting (issue 9)

The main findings of this study were:

1. the students in full-spectrum light were healthier and attended school 3.2 to 3.8 days more per year;
2. libraries with superior light resulted in significantly lower noise levels;
3. full-spectrum lighting induced more positive moods in students; and
4. because of the additional vitamin D received by the students in full-spectrum light, they had 9 times less dental decay and grew in height an average of 2.1 cm more (over the two year period) than students attending schools with average light.

The full study can be review here.

Related posts:

1. How important are light fixtures in schools
2. New fluorescent lamps awakens sleepy students
3. Full-Spectrum Light (issue 11)