Brain and Behaviour
Podcast – 6th May 2011
Sleep and insulin resistance, ‘solar power’ for human beings and emotional eating.
Topic
Category: Sunlight
Brain and Behaviour
Sunlight
‘Solar power’ for human beings
A very good friend of mine’s daughter is planning to write a dissertation for a school project. She previously had a stress fracture and then turned out to have very low levels of vitamin D. When I offered advice regarding testing and taking of vitamin D, I mentioned that the vitamin D might have some […]
Exercise and Activity
Podcast – 8th April 2011
Does sunlight cause malignant melanoma, the benefits of ‘high intensity intermittent exercise’, and why a diagnosis of celiac disease (gluten sensitivity) can be a blessing in disguise. For technical help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing to this podcast, please click here.
Sunlight
Could shying away from the sun increase our risk of melanoma?
It’s a glorious warm and sunny day today in London, UK. A shadow was cast, though, by this story which appeared today in one of the UK’s national newspapers. It concerns the tragic death of a 21-year-old lady from malignant melanoma. We’re told that that the victim ‘hated the sun’ and did her utmost to […]
Brain and Behaviour
Why you don’t need to be ‘SAD’ to benefit from light exposure
I saw an individual in practice yesterday, who told me she’d recently had a bout of low mood that was ‘out of character’ and not for any obvious reason. The issue started around mid-December last year, but had recently appeared to lift. The first thing that occurred is perhaps this lady was suffering from seasonal […]
Nutrients and Supplements
New evidence suggests sunlight exposure and vitamin D protect against multiple sclerosis
Sunlight and enhanced vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced risk of a wide range of chronic diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS). This condition in characterised by degradation in the fatty coverings of nerves in the brain and spinal column. These fatty coverings are known as ‘myelin sheathes’, and so the process of degradation […]
Food and Medical Politics
Article reveals the truth about sunscreens and skin cancer
Too much sunlight can cause sunburn, and sunburn is a risk factor for skin cancer. So, if sunscreens help prevent sunburn, they should reduce the risk of skin cancer too, right? It turns out, according to a piece appearing last month in the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, that the evidence that sunscreens protect against […]
Healthy Eating
More evidence that weight control is determined by much more than ‘calories in/calories out’
There’s no shortage of awareness about the burgeoning rates of overweight and obesity afflicting Westernised countries. There are two principle theories about what causes obesity: 1. It’s all about calories in/calories out Proponents of this theory state that body weight is simply a function of the calories we put into our body (food and drink) […]
Brain and Behaviour
Natural approaches to combating the winter blues
Here in the UK many of us will be acutely aware that the days are already noticeably shorter. One of the risks associated with shorter days is lowered mood or full-blown ‘seasonal affective disorder’ (SAD – also known as the ‘winter blues’. For sure, some people are more susceptible to this than others. For those […]
Specific conditions
Evidence suggests vitamin D has direct effect on risk of a wide ranges of diseases
Higher vitamin D levels and/or increased exposure to sunlight has been associated with a reduced risk of a wide variety of conditions including cardiovascular disease, auto-immune disease (disease where the immune system reacts against the body’s own tissues such as in multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes) and several forms of cancer. However, […]