‘Dangerous’ sunlight actually decreases all causes of mortality! | Dr. Stephanie Coxon

By Dr. Stephanie Coxon

Gone are the days of slathering baby oil on one’s skin and soaking up the rays of the sunlight, unburdened by the thought of cancer creeping into the head. The world has bathed in the sunlight since the dawn of time.

Historically, unicellular organisms used the sun to restore structural defects. As a redhead and someone who hails from a medically inclined family, sun avoidance has been the name of the game for as far back as I can remember. The sun dodging doctrine is recited throughout the medical community to every American that decides to listen. As we use more sunblock, spend less time in the sun, and heed the advice of the medical community, skin cancer rates have increased ⎯ especially melanoma.

In 2016, the Journal of Investigative Dermatology published an article called “The growing burden of invasive melanoma: Projections of incidence rates and numbers of new cases in six susceptible populations through 2031.” The outlook is not good. With all the new precautions being taken, it seems the rate of serious skin cancers is only rising. And that brings me to another article that the media and medical community must have missed, “Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort.”  

This article in the Journal of Internal Medicine states, “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.” Read that again ⎯ while you smoke a cigarette. Essentially, the dangerous sunlight actually decreases all causes of mortality. Is it possible that we have been lied to?

I am not advocating for every redhead to get out there and burn because, as we all know, redheads are the least likely to ever develop a tan. However, in the dawn of a new century, there are solutions, and as one biohacker proved, it can absolutely be achieved. Going low and slow with the sun and using peptides to increase melanocytes, there are now gingers walking around with a tan, no longer seeking shade under every tree or pavilion.

What is behind the magic of the sun?

Let’s start with the dreaded UVB radiation (290nm-315nm), which happens to be the primary source for the body to synthesize vitamin D. Vitamin D rates are dismally low. While your average doctor thinks you’re okay if your levels are above 34, in reality, the functional level should be around 80. Not only is vitamin D an immunomodulator, but it also controls T cell activation. T cells are derived from your bone marrow and are a critical part of your immune system. They protect your body from not only infections but also cancer.

It is the only vitamin the human body makes, and we are avoiding the very source that creates the conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to the pre-vitamin D3.This is necessary for both bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis. A deficiency in this vitamin is linked to diseases such as inflammation, diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. So why are we avoiding it?

Your body needs the sun’s full-spectrum light waves to stave off chronic diseases that we see so abundantly in our culture. So, while my forever dismal vitamin D levels never came up with supplementation, 6 weeks into my tan-building protocol, my numbers have jumped 15 points. This leads us to UVC, which stays within the range of 100-228nm and plays a critical role in our neurotransmitters but also acts to destroy bacteria and viruses.

In 1903, a Dutch physician named Niels Finsen discovered that this particular ray would destroy the bacteria responsible for anthrax and lupus. Let us forget that heliotherapy was also traditionally used as a curative for tuberculosis. In effect, the little arachnids found on your face (yes, this is a thing) are killed by sunlight through the UVC wave.

Listening to the WHO or CDC, you’ll be scared away due to the increase in skin cancer and premature skin aging. However, the actual skin cancers developed from the sun are the non-life threating types: basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. It appears that melanoma may develop from other initiators like chemicals (like the ones found in your average sunscreen) or ionizing radiation.

Essentially, we are trading health for two types of cancer that won’t prevent you from living life. If you are like me and would like not to experience the skin aging impact of the sun, there is actually an easy solution in today’s techy world: red light beds. Find yourself a center that specializes in the higher-end beds; it’s worth it. Red light is the early morning frequency that the sun loves to nourish your skin, helping with collagen production, so if you are an early morning person and live in the south, you are in luck. If not, it’s worth the investment in your health to find a facility.

In short, red light helps your body produce reactive oxygen species or singlet oxygen. This particular reaction seeks out disease and senescent cells to cause apoptosis (healthy cell die off). In addition to that 30% increase in skin quality, your cells benefit, leaving you healthier on the inside and outside.

I am not giving health advice here, so enter this domain at your own risk, but here is the problem: We have been lied to at every level. Perhaps it is time to bring the baby oil back (unless you’re Diddy’s neighbor).

The bottom line: Get yourself a biohacker and start changing your life. Your metabolic age will thank you for it.