Bright Ideas to Bring Sunlight Into Your Life
Winter months can bring depression in some and Lightbathing, say light therapists, stimulates the circulation, tones up muscles, detoxifies the body and boosts production of vitamin D and hormones. Here are some tips on simple ways to maximize your light exposure.
- At times of the year when the danger of burning is very low, get as much natural daylight as you can. there is no need to lie exposed to the sun – gardening, dog-walking or even just walking outside in your lunch hour can help.
- As the sun gets brighter, you need to adjust the amount of sun you take to suit your skin type. Light therapists insist that it is burning that causes skin cancer, not sensible exposure. As a rough guide, you need to stay out for half the amount of time that you can safely be in the sun before burning, that will be around 10 minutes in very bright sunlight for very fair skins, through to an hour for people with very dark-toned skins.
- The more of your skin that is exposed to the light the better.
- Glasses, sunglasses and contact lenses all filter out the light. Wearing dark glasses all the time, say light therapists, will tend to make you depressed or irritable – use a hat instead to shield you from the glare.
