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Everywhere I hear this same warning: do not expose yourself to the sunlight. Wear a hat, or even better, stay inside.
What a pity, I love that early morning walk in the sun so much.
But I can`t argue with science, can I ?
Of course, uncontrolled sunbathing causes the skin to thin up and get dry and easily bruised. A kind of early ageing which you can easily avoid.
This is even true for black skin, altough it will be less pronounced or obvious.
And then there is that skin cancer thing, frightening isn`t it.
Let`s start with the worst kind, melanoma. Can be deadly.
Typically, a beautymark or mole transforms into a skin cancer, generally after age 50 but it can occur frome age 15 and up.
This skin cancer is the one who kills the most, even tough it`s not the most frequent type of skin cancer, because it tends to metastize if not diagnosed and treated early.
Melanoma has been related directly to uncontrolled sunexposure during childhood and adolescence, meaning hours and days of unprotected sunbathing.
Multiple large cohort studies from Sweden and the United Kingdom demonstrate that individuals with active sun exposure habits have lower all-cause mortality compared to those who avoid sun exposure.[1][2][3] The landmark Melanoma in Southern Sweden (MISS) cohort study of 29,518 women followed for 20 years found that women with active sun exposure habits had a life expectancy 0.6-2.1 years longer than those who avoided sun exposure.[4] Notably, the study found that nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, suggesting that sun avoidance is a risk factor of similar magnitude to smoking.[4]
The mortality benefits appear primarily driven by reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) and non-cancer/non-CVD deaths rather than cancer mortality.[2][3][4] While sun exposure does increase the incidence of skin cancer, it paradoxically improves overall survival and may even improve skin cancer prognosis.[5][6] Large cohort studies indicate that various measures of higher sunlight exposure are associated with improved overall life expectancy.[7]
The mechanisms extend beyond vitamin D synthesis. While higher vitamin D levels are associated with lower mortality risk, randomized trials of oral vitamin D supplementation show limited benefit, suggesting vitamin D may be a proxy rather than a mediator of sun exposure benefits.[8][9][10][1] Emerging evidence points to vitamin D-independent pathways, including photomobilization of nitric oxide from skin stores (which reduces blood pressure and cardiovascular morbidity) and activation of neuro-immune-endocrine pathways.[1][7]