SUNBATHING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20454, 4 January 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUNBATHING.

EFFECT ON HEALTH.

BY It. E. BROWN

I am not, aware that last winter was anv worse than average for dark sunless days, but to me, cooped up indoors, and with my health a trifle below par, it appeared as if tho sun had indeed " gone out of business" permanently. As may be supposed, I was considerably cheered when September brought settled weather and I was able to move out on to the porch into the glorious sunshine. And such a difference the sunshine made. It didn't seem to be the same world as the one I had been living in previously. You know, one is so much less sensible of weakness and discomfort and so forth on a sunny day than on a dull one. It seems as though the bright sunshine creates a fresh fund of cheerfulness and hope and lightens the load of troubles. At any rate, it had a strongly tonic effect iipon my system, and 1 began to mend rapidly. It' was not very long liefore 1 was well enough to take an interest in the plans being made to transfer me to the seaside for a change of scene and air.

When the time for my departure came my doctor had a parting word or two with me, shook my hand and left in it a sealed envelope. Contrary to my supposition, it was not the account for "professional attendance," but a sheet of typed instructions for my guidance during convalescence. Quite a lot about diet and exercise and so forth, and concluding with orders to go in for a couise of sunbathing as a remedy for what he termed " ultra-violet starvation. ' as much direct sunlight as possible he wrote. The idea didn't seem to create much enthusiasm in my breast, or it is one experiences such sensations. ou see, f well knew the kind of sunbathing my doctor had in mind. His kind meant that I should have to sit in some infernally hot corner of the porch clad in half n bathing suit while my wrist-watch ticked off a carefully decided period. Rathei different from the sunbathing indulged in bv youth and beauty on the Continent of Europe. Conjure up this mental picture. The smiling waters of the Paver NecKer flowing gentlv past the delightful old < it\ of Heidelberg. On the river's placid bosom float hundreds —nay, thousands—of canoes, eacli with its human freight ot brown-skinned youths and maidens clad in gorgeous-coloured bathing costumes, the whole scene reflected in the glittering waters by the bright sunshine from overhead. Comparing ibe two pictures, was my lack of enthusiasm to be wondeicd at'!

Excuses. You know, I am inclined to the belief that this sun-cure business is over-rated, verv much over-rated. At the present, time tiiere is an idea that sunlight, applied direct to the skin, will cure anything. from biliousness to bunions, just as. fifteen or twenty years ago, this was thought of liquid paraffin. Of course, 1 am quite prepared to admit that health-dividends would _be returned if most, of the world's work could be done out of doors, and much of it. at least in summer, out o: clothes, as has l>e°n suggested bv a leading physiologist. But. to 'digress ior an instant,_ let me hasten to state that I have no intention of here recording any views I may hold upon the subject of dress reform. Returning to mv subject, I may say that, while the doctor's treatment might be sound enough in most cases, with me it would simply be further proof that " what is one man s meat is another man's poison." You know, I belong to a family famed for its " peaches and cream " 'complexion. My delicate skin never tans, but merely burns repeatedly. =o that at the end of the summer holidays my face resembles nothing so much as an inexpertly peeled island orange. I «on t think T shall ever, if T live to be a hundred. forget an experitfice 1 had at the Great Harrier some years 1 was domf a bit of deep-sea fishing and rather foolishly adopted the mode of dressing favoured by my launchman, a brown-skinned young fellow clad in " shorts " and a cotton singlet. 1 had to pav in more ways than one for mv folly. I had to pay that launchman to sit up for three nights fanning a gigantic • blister on my back, while I grovelled in agony on my stomach. And when, seeking sympathy, [ told others of my plight, they mvariablv grinned. I ask you, my understanding reader, could I be expected to view with enthusiasm the prospect ol further experiences of such a trying nature? , No. my holiday programme called for a judiciously increased daily dosage of golf, commencing quietly " solo." and increasing as my strength returned. And talking of golf, I shouldn t be at all surprised if some of these sun-cure cranks averred that the increase of sunlight as much as, or perhaps more than, anv other feature, explained the benefits of the glorious game.

Early History. 1 don't know—l don't suppose anybody knows—when doctors first began to trust the sun. According to historians, Herodotus found the sunbath already an ancient custom. Go right back t'o Hippocrates, famed as the Father of Medicine. He learned all that was then known about sun-cures from his father, win was resident physician and h jo-h priest, at the hillside health-temple on" the Greek island of Cos, off the const of Asia Minor. And yet nobody really knew anything about sunlight, until Newton investigated {he matter. He showed that white light was a masquerade: that it consists of all (he colours of what is termed the spectrum. Doubtless the mnemonic Vibgyor will have assisted you to remember the colours in correct order. After Newton, a German-English musician named Herschel happened quite accident ally upon the next greatest discovery about light. While playing about, trying his ther momcter in the different colours of the spectrum to see if there was any variation of temperature, ho laid his instrument for a moment or two just outside the red band at the end. To his delighted surprise he found that it registered greater heat, thereby proving the existence of an invisible raw

Theory Upheld. For manv years no one thought of connecting these discoveries with the ancient knowledge of sun-cures. At the close of last century, however, due largely to the investigations of D:\ Atigusto Rollier—who now controls a world-famous sunclinic at Leysin, in the Swiss Alps—it came to be acknowledged by the medical profession that the invisible ultra-violet rays have power to cure rickets, tuberculosis, arthritis, and other disorders. And yet it has been stated that in Upper Egypt and in the Sudan there is as much skin disease as in England, and more: and there is as much rickets, tuberculosis, and the rest even among children who run about entirely naked in the sunlight dav after day and year after year.

But the chasing of sunshine means the chasing of fresh air. And whether medical science accords its support or otherwise to the propaganda for less and thinner clothing, the hatless habit, short sleeves, bare legs, and so on, it will do you no harm to laze about for a while on the warm sands in the sunshine after your morning " dip in the briny." But "let an old stager sound a note of warning. Sun baths, like cocktails to the unaccustomed, are best begun not too many at a time. And, if you have a " peaches and creamcomplexion,, beware.