Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have found that exposing skin to the sun rays have several health benefits including reducing blood pressure, risk of heart attacks and strokes.
It's also known to prolong a person's life, the study suggests. Researchers explained the mechanism behind lowering blood pressure by exposing skin to sun rays is carried out by a compound, which is released in our blood vessels.
Despite the risks of developing skin cancer by exposing to sunlight, researchers suggest the benefits to overall heath and reduction in blood pressure prevail over those risks. Researchers noted that the deaths caused from heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure are 80 times more than those from skin cancers in the U.K., says the report.
For the study, researchers conducted an experiment involving 24 participants to see whether the sun's rays had an impact on human health. Participants were exposed to tanning lamps for two sessions of 20 minutes each. In the first session, participants were exposed to both UV rays and heat of the lamps, whereas in the second session, only heat of the lamps was absorbed by the skin.
Researchers found a significant difference when skin was exposed to UV rays than heat of the lamps. UV rays reduced the blood pressure for one hour post the first session. But there was no difference found in the participants' blood pressure after the second session. Hence, researchers concluded that sun's UV rays are beneficiary for human health. The levels of Vitamin D remained consistent in both sessions.
"We suspect that the benefits to heart health of sunlight will outweigh the risk of skin cancer," Dr Richard Weller, Senior Lecturer in Dermatology at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement. "The work we have done provides a mechanism that might account for this, and also explains why dietary vitamin D supplements alone will not be able to compensate for lack of sunlight."
Dr. Weller plans to continue the research to see till what extend people who have received different amounts of sun exposure are affected by heart disease and skin cancer.
"If this confirms that sunlight reduces the death rate from all causes, we will need to reconsider our advice on sun exposure," he said.
The study will be presented in Edinburgh at the world's largest gathering of skin experts on Friday.
