A reader is stunned by the light:
Very interesting! I knew that the right kind of sunlight produced vitamin D. I wondered about the efficacy of vitamin D supplements. I’ve just started reading about the importance of NO in the blood stream. I’ve had several lesions removed from my skin, and being very fair as well as having been badly sunburned a couple times as a kid, conventional wisdom has said that I’m at higher risk of skin cancer.
Well, I know I’ve read somewhere that low Vitamin D levels correlate with cognition deficiencies, so I wouldn’t give up on supplements just yet. But there’s more to this sunlight game than we know, apparently. And while cancer is never something to be wished for, most varieties of skin cancer can be remedied if caught early and vigilantly treated.
Here’s a study, published in 2009, that suggests blood pressure is affected by temperature:
Falling temperatures in winter may cause an unhealthy rise in high blood pressure in elderly people, according to a new study linking cooler temperatures with higher blood pressure. …
Now a large study from France has shown that blood pressure in elderly people varies significantly with the seasons, with rates of high blood pressure readings rising from 23.8% in summer to 33.4% in winter. Blood pressure increases were seen in both the systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) numbers. …
“Mechanisms that could explain the association between blood pressure and temperature remain undetermined.”
So that’s a correlation, not causative.
And it might be worth sunbathing right before that next checkup, just to keep the blood pressure down.
