12
&
June 2014 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Summer
Healing for
Body, Mind
and Spirit
By John A.
Patterson MD,
MSPH, FAAFP
It’s not just
your imagination.
Summer really can
be good for your health.
Summer’s health benefits result
from the interaction between our
behaviors in summer and certain
aspects of the season itself. Summer
vacations can help elevate your mood
and reduce stress and the risk of
heart attacks. Aside from vacation
time spent with family and friends
and time away from work or school,
here are several discrete health benefits of summer.
Vitamin D is called the ‘sunshine
vitamin’ because the synthesis of its
biologically active form begins when
sunlight hits the skin, followed by
a series of biochemical steps in the
liver and kidneys. Vitamin D research
has mushroomed in recent years,
suggesting possible protective effects
against osteoporosis, cancer, depression, heart attacks and stroke. Many
patients for whom I order blood
tests have low levels of Vitamin
D. Most people can use summer
sunlight to produce the vitamin D
they need. Caucasians require only
10-20 minutes of sun several days a
week, depending on the amount of
skin exposed and the time of day.
Less time is needed when the sun
is highest at midday. Dark-skinned
people may require several times this
amount of exposure to make enough
esteem and elevate mood. So choose
vitamin D.
any outdoor activity you love and
Sunscreens help prevent skin canwill stick with. Your bones, muscles,
cer by blocking ultraviolet B (UVB)
heart, immune system and mental
light, the part of sunlight that causes
health may all benefit from active
sunburn. Because UVB also initiates
pastimes you enjoy.
vitamin D production in the skin
Sweating helps us eliminate certain
many experts believe we have created toxins through the skin. The number
a vitamin D deficiency epidemic with of harmful bacteria and fungi on the
our successful sunscreen message.
skin are also reduced by sweat from
The modest exposure times without
the 2 to 5 million sweat glands on
sunscreen mentioned above seem to
the human body.
be a good compromise.
Barefoot walking in the cool,
Exercise increases with increased
moist, early morning grass was twice
time outside.
‘prescribed’ to
Physical activity
me during contends to aid relaxsultations with
ation and reduce
Ayurvedic physistress. Children
cians from India.
more than double
This was to counChildren with ADHD
their activity
teract the tendenlevels when they
cy of pitta dosha
often focus better
are outside, comto accumulate in
pared to sedentary
summer, leading
after being outdoors to disorders of
indoor activities.
Swimming is a
digestion, skin
and concentrate
summer activity
and emotions.
that exerc \