In Australia the Cancer Council are apparently advising us to get some sun exposure in winter to boost Vitamin D levels, contrary to previous advice to shun the sun to avoid exposure to UV rays that can cause skin cancer.
The mid-winter solstice is coming up soon in the southern hemisphere. In the middle of winter in many parts of Australia the levels of UV are low enough that it is safe enough to be outdoors on a sunny day without a hat or sun protection. Believe it or not, even in a sun-drenched country like Australia there are lots of people, of all ages, who don’t get enough sun on their skin during the colder months of the year to maintain good levels of vitamin D (and they also don’t get enough of the vitamin from dietary sources or supplements). Scientists have only recently become aware of the full importance of vitamin D, and this is still being researched. A lack of this vitamin has been linked to a wide range of serious ailments, including bone diseases, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, peripheral arterial disease and possibly cancer.
So check the current UV levels in the place where you live, and if they aren’t dangerously high, and the weather permits, why not get out in the sun and the fresh air and enjoy a bit of exercise too. Maybe you might like to fix your eye on a landmark on a distant beach, and set aside an afternoon to reach it by foot, maybe taking some time along the way to climb to the top of a large sand dune, and jump down the side of it, rolling and tumbling down as the clean white sand caresses and trickles down your bare skin. This could be more fun if you bring along an attractive companion, or a sheet of cardboard to use as a sled. Either you love sand or you cannot stand the feel of it. I love it. Leaping down the side of a sand dune for fun is considered to be a bad thing by environmentalist kill-joys because it causes erosion, so I advise that you restrict fun on sand dunes to more remote beaches where no one will see.
Of course, it might be wise to curtail your sun-drenched coastal adventure if you find yourself near an army rifle range, or a shipwreck that has a curse on it, or a bloated dead stinking beached whale that is attracting man-eating sharks to the vicinity, or an old WWII bombing range full of unexploded ordnance, or a nudist beach where things happen that you don’t approve of or don’t want to look at or are against your religion, or a dog beach full of dog turds and uncontrolled genetically psychotic pit bull dogs. Stroll at your own risk.
Music tracks to enjoy while mid-winter sunbaking
I am the black gold of the sun – Rotary Connection (recorded 1971)
(from the LP Hey Love)
music clip at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DR_NMtBEj4&feature=related
I am the black gold of the sun – Nuyorican Soul (covered 1997)
(from Chillout Classics Disc 2 – Ministry of Sound)
music clip at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIzqQOs_IrI&feature=related
The sea – Morcheeba
(from Chillout Classics Disc 2 – Ministry of Sound)
music clip at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnCS25z18pI&feature=related
Waiting for the sun – The Doors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0kypyGSKs
Sonne - Rammstein
(from the CD Mutter)
Music clip of lyrics translated into English at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3uxhesiKgE
Regular music clip from YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqEMuXGK08&feature=related
Hymn to the sun – singer counter-tenor Paul Esswood, composer Philip Glass
(from the opera Akhnaten, about the megalomaniac pharaoh Akhenaten who worshiped a sun god and had the legendary beauty Queen Nefertiti as his Great Royal Wife (only wife number 1 actually – not such a great position as it sounds)
music clip at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW_ZUC5uqqc
image of Queen Nefertiti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nofretete_Neues_Museum.jpg
image of Pharaoh Akhenaten depicted as a Sphinx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Akhenaten_as_a_Sphinx_(Kestner_Museum).jpg
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