Living A Healthy Lifestyle

Sunlight can has positive and negative affects on health. While we’re frequently warned by healthcare advocates that too much sun exposure can lead to some forms of skin cancer, the benefits of moderate sun exposure are only just coming to light. These include increases in naturally produced vitamin D as well as the effect of sunlight on mood disorders such as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). In a time when everyone from the kid gamer to the student earning a PhD online to the average office worker is spending more hours indoors than in the past, understanding the health value of sunlight is crucial.

The effects of over-exposure to sunlight are well documented. Over-exposure can cause the following changes in skin:

* Precancerous and cancerous skin lesions caused by loss of the skin’s immune function;
* Benign tumors;
* Fine and coarse wrinkles;
* Freckles and discolored areas of the skin, called mottled pigmentation;
* Sallowness, a yellow discoloration of the skin;
* Dilation of small blood vessels under the skin;
* Destruction of the elastic tissue causing lines and wrinkles.

These effects can lead to disease, and the wrinkling, spots, and discolorations contribute to “sun aging.”

While too much sun can indeed do the body harm, no sun or getting too little can also produce ill effects. At its worst, lack of sun exposure can cause rickets, a disease characterized by bone deformation. This disease was especially prevalent in children during the industrial revolution, when many inner-city children worked long hours in factories and sunlight was occluded by a dense layer of smog. During early research into the cause of rickets, researchers discovered lack of sunlight was the culprit maiming many of the children in that era.

Later researched revealed the body’s production of vitamin D is dependent on receiving adequate sunshine. Vitamin D deficiency can result in children’s failure to fulfill their genetic growth potential. In adults, it can lead to osteoporosis and osteomalacia, which can cause painful aching, weakness, and brittleness in bones.

Another danger of receiving too little sunlight comes in the form of emotional health. Seasonal affective disorder is more common in certain populations, including:

* Those who reside in areas with winter days;
* Women;
* Those who have close relatives with SAD.

While experts haven’t definitively determined that lack of sunlight is the cause of seasonal affective disorder, they have noted a close correlation between reduced sun exposure and the disorder. Ongoing research projects are linking lack of sunlight with decreases in serotonin secretion in the brain, which may be at the root of the disease’s characteristic depression.

So how do we know how much sunlight exposure is healthy and safe? The average person should get about 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight each day without sunscreen. This small dose of UVB radiation is adequate to provide most people with a day’s worth of vitamin D production, without endangering the health of your skin. As the human lifespan increases with medical intervention, osteoporosis is much more common. Taking this small measure will help protect your bone health, may brighten your mood, and will help keep you healthy and more mobile throughout life.

You will find that there are a number of benefits to living healthy, including living a longer life. People who do things like eat healthy, exercise regularly, and make active attempts to reduce stress in their lives usually end up living longer than people who do not do these things. The fact is that those who really value their lives will need to think about ways to improve it. There really is no better benefit than living as long and as well as possible. When you take the time to do things that will help you to maintain a healthy life, you will end up being much happier overall.

There are also many benefits to following a strict healthy diet. When you discipline yourself to the point where you will only put healthy foods in your body, you will find that the benefits are tremendous. While most people do not pay close attention to what they eat on a daily basis, you will want to avoid making that mistake altogether. Because there is so much you should know about how to eat healthy and the benefits of doing so, you should think about doing some independent research or even taking a class on proper nutrition.

When you live healthy you will also live happily, which is something that everyone wants. Although it may take a while to make certain adjustments to things like your diet and lifestyle in general, these things will eventually become second nature. Since your diet is such an important part of living healthy, you will definitely need to carefully consider what you should put in your body each day. The more time you take to figure out what you should be eating, the better you will feel on a regular basis and the healthier you will be as a whole.

Laughing is the best medicine – literally

The best tip for healthy living is the simplest to follow – Laugh Out Loud (LOL). Laughing not only improves emotional well being of a person but also helps in improving physical fitness. If you are being skeptic, then here are a few facts. When you laugh, a number of hormones and chemicals called endorphins are released in the body that acts as excellent stress busters. There is a pronounced improvement in the cardiovascular function and circulation of blood and oxygen. Your capacity to handle stress improves. Your nerves relax and you feel much better. Deep heartfelt laughing can be your best protection against heart attacks and strokes. Furthermore, laughing provides a huge boost to your immune system and hence, your body is better armed to fight diseases. Laughing is also known to improve resistance towards pains and aches. You remain healthy and can live for long. If you are still scrunching your brows in skepticism, then it time you begin to smile and progress to laughing because laughing, with all its benefits, is indeed the best medicine for myriad health problems.

Formulate your own “stay-happy-healthy” plans

The high stress lifestyle of today does not provide much scope to laugh. However, you can create your own laughter hour. The internet and sites such as the YouTube can be your great friend in this regard. Watching fun videos can definitely make any person laugh. Humor in life can also be brought in by friends who have a great sense of humor. The best time to indulge in such a luxury is before you sleep. Laughing before sleeping can also be a very effective cure for insomnia. So, stop brooding and worrying about life because life is life and life goes on. Cheer up; stretch your body, think of something funny and LOL on your way to good health.