HOW TO SUN-BATHE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 8

HOW TO SUN-BATHE

Tanning Without Burning The Object SHORT PERIOD AT FIRST Advice that will soon be- valuable, now that the summer has begun, was given by a doctor who lectured to the ■Wellington Health Club on sunshine, and iu a leaflet on sun-bath-ing that was distributed at the meeting.

Proper use of the suu by normal people could increase their resistance to disease so that they no longer caught minor ailments like colds, influenza and sore throats, said the lecturer. Most people who worked in towns received insufficient sunshine on their working days, and on holidays some took too much and did more harm than good. The absence of a brown pigment on the skin allowed the sun to burn it, and harmful substances from the burnt skin would be absorbed by the blood. An excessively sunburnt person felt ill and wretched, his tongue was furred and dry, and he would have a severe headache and no appetite. The lecturer had seen children most dangerously ill through severe sunburn. Those unaccustomed to the sun should start gradually and take a little more each day, aiming to become tanned gradually without ever being uncomfortably sunburnt. They needed a hat and tinted spectacles for protection also. The fair skinned had to be specially careful. All fair-skin-ned people burnt easily and many did not form an even brown tan. The protective brown pigment iu their skins was not smoothly and evenly distributed, but was formed into small collections which appeared as freckles, and those people sunburnt easily and badly. Everybody starting off at the beginning of the summer should begin with just a few minutes back and front, and gradually increase the time. Begin with Small “Dose.” The leaflet stated that early morning was the best time for sun, air and sea bathing. It should not be. taken through glass. Benefit came partly through cool air acting ou the skin. One should begin with a small “dose,” noting the reaction six or 12 hours later when sunburn would become apparent, and gradually increasing the time and exposing larger areas. When browning was obtained, usually after a few exposures, the time might be safely lengthened. A feeling of wellbeing should accompany and follow a sun-bath. Fatigue, lassitude, irritability, fever, nausea or headache were symptoms of au overdose. The following was suggested as. a safe procedure: First day: Five minutes’ exposure of arms and legs to fullest extent, giving half the time to the front and half to the back. Second day: Five minutes for arms and legs a s before and five minutes for whole body, front and back. Third day: Fifteen minutes for the whole body, divided equally between front and back. Subsequent days: Au increase daily of five minutes up to a niuximum of one hour. Individual reaction was important. The very old. very young, very debilitated and the very fair, specially red-haired, burnt more easily. There could 'be no rule of thumb. Effect of Oiling, Oiling the skin before sunbathing greatly limited the action of the healing rays, and it was better to have shorter exposure without oiling. The best time for sea-bathing was tw’o or three hours after breakfast. The sunbath should precede the bathe rather than follow it. Very small children should be allowed to run about in the sun for a few minutes only on the first day, wearing short knickers or trunks, and the time should be increased by a few minutes each day, a watch for sunburn being kept. The beneficial action of cool air on the skin occurred in the shade as well as in the sun. To illustrate the importance of sunlight the lecturer showed slides of children deformed by tuberculosis and rickets. wliicb thes* would not have had if a proper amount of sunshine had fallen on their bodies, and pictures of the same children cured by treatment that included sunlight. The sun killed the tuberculosis germs and induced the presence of vitamin D, the absence of which caused rickets. Cod liver oil, which was. administered for the vitamin D it contained, obtained that substance from the sun. Minute vegetable substances that grew in the warm waters of the coast of Florida were carried north by the Gulf Stream and formed the food of squids, which in turn were food for cod. However, the skin could make the vitamin in its own substance if it were exposed to the sun. and with decent living conditions there should be no rickets,