Dr. Oz’s ‘Top 4 Benefits’ of Actually Soaking Up Some Sun

Most of us have heard of famous cardiothoracic surgeon, author, and TV host of his own show, Dr. Mehemt Oz. Dr. Oz became famous for his medical advice when appearing frequently on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004.

We are all used to hearing how bad and damaging the sun is -- it causes skin cancers, wrinkles and more. Well, according to Dr. Oz, the sun has some key benefits:

Doctors have known for years that sunlight has a profound effect on the body's production of vitamin D, which is often touted for its ability to maintain bone health. Several recent studies have found that there are other big benefits to soaking up sunshine.

 

Dr. Oz 'sTop 4 benefits of the sun:

1. Lower Breast Cancer Risk: One study of more than 6,000 women found that those who had the highest sun exposure and, as a result, the most vitamin D, were less likely to develop breast cancer compared with those with the lowest exposure.
2. Lower Blood Pressure: A small 2014 study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found that roughly 20 minutes of UVA exposure lowered subjects' diastolic BP (which measures the pressure in arteries between heartbeats) by nearly 5 points.
3. Less Joint Pain: Your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, causes the body to attack its own tissue, may be linked to your exposure to UVB rays. In a Harvard study, women who had the highest exposure to UVB were at a 21 percent decreased risk of getting rheumatoid arthritis compared with women who had the lowest, maybe because vitamin D can help the activity of immune cells and, may help the body from turning on itself.
4. Improved Brain Function: A few studies have shown the effects of sun exposure over the course of a year found that people age 45 and older who got less sun were more likely to experience cognitive decline. Scientists hypothesize that improved cognition may be linked to the sun's effect on the body's internal clock; exposure to daylight may boost the production of serotonin. Research suggests that increasing serotonin could help nerve cell growth in the  part of the brain that forms and stores memories.

But of course, the sun can be damaging, causing cancer, wrinkles and more. So we must keep our exposure without sunscreen at 15 to 20 minutes. After that, you must apply sunscreen and keep applying it often while you are in the sun!