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Sunshine Good day to all our subscribers, I don't know if you do sometimes watch the weather forecast for the rest of the world? Well, I do, and always feel very privileged to be in a country that is so generous with it's sunshine but then, in the same breath, comes the question, " yes, but what about the danger of skin cancer?". Let's look today at what "Life Science" has to say on the role of sunshine and our health. Throughout history humans have made use of the beneficial effects of the sun. Playing and relaxing in it's illuminating rays have been as much a part of natural living as the procuring of food and water or any other necessity of human life. Indeed, humans originally existed without clothing on any part of their body and were sun-kissed throughout the years of their lifespan. It is known that the Babylonians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans all were aware of the hygienic use of the sun and equipped their cities with sun gardens for this purpose. Akhenaton of Egypt, Zoraster of Persia and Hippocrates of Greece all looked upon the sun as a great force and worshipped it as a god. An example of this worship is given to us by the Egyptians, whose first temple was erected in honour of their sun god. It was located in a city called On, east of the Nile, and its name was later changed to Heliopolis - City of the sun. The ancients knew of the effects the sun had on strengthening the body, including the muscles and nerves, and extensive instructions were given in this regard by Herodotus. The Romans applied this knowledge in the training of their gladiators, giving them regular sunbaths. It is also known from the writing of Philostratus that the Olympian athletes were required to take sunbaths. In the old German epic poem, the Edda, we learn of the hygienic use the Germans made of the sunshine, carrying their sick to the sunny mountain slopes for exposure to the sun rays. An account has also been recorded regarding the Incas of Peru using the sunbath in the treatment of syphilis. In the third century A.D., Mithraism, or sun worship, came very close to being accepted as the universal religion. The birth of Christianity ended the sun-worshipping era, even though it was so widely used by the people of that time. Christians viewed the sunbath as a pagan ritual. Only the Jewish and Arabian physicians preserved the sunbath in their care of the sick. Sunbathing surfaced again in Bohemia, in the year 1755, then in Germany in 1857 and spread to Denmark, France, and Switzerland. In the United-States, books on the therapeutic advantages of sunbathing were published in 1843. Both plants and animals make use of the catalytic powers of sunlight, attaining the highest form of their development in the neighbourhood of the equator, where the sun's rays are most abundant. At the equator, life exists in greater profusion, but as we approach the higher latitudes, where nights are longer throughout the many winter months, we notice life consists of poorly developed forms or is absent altogether. Sunlight is an essential nutritive factor to both plant and animal life. Under it's influence, plants both excrete and absorb oxygen. Their leaves are able to absorb carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into plant substances by transforming the carbon dioxide into formaldehyde. This in turn is polymerised to sugar, thus forming a carbohydrate. This is the process of photosynthesis, and both chlorophyll and xanthophylls are associated with this process, making the green colour of plant life. Additionally, the conversion of starch into sugar during the ripening process of fruits requires the action of both the heat and light of the sun for perfection. The beautiful colouring of the flowers, stems, leaves and fruits of plants are all dependent on sunlight for their production. When deprived of it, the result is an inferior plant, pale and colourless. Until next Thursday, The Crazy Nut Team