Hello Spring!

Well Spring has arrived and with it a taste of Summer. It is far more comfortable being naked at home in the evenings and the sun drenched days, when not at work, allow the body to be draped in sunlight.

From my point of view the best thing about this time of year is the fact that the full force of the sun is not yet out, so while we still need to be careful of sunburn the likelihood of being burnt after the first 20 minutes is unlikely.

People may say that as Naturists we are encouraging risky behaviour by our predisposition to going naked outdoors and to clothing optional beaches.

This however is far from the case! In fact it is the very fact that we enjoy the outdoors so much ensures that we have a good quality sunscreen and seek shade in the hottest part of the day.

However unlike the greater part of the population we, as Naturists, are far less likely to be vitamin D deficient. Our society has been so conditioned by the advertising of the last decades that people believe that to show the slightest piece of skin to the sun is risking certain death.

There is, however, a body of scientific evidence regarding the positive effects of vitamin D actually increasing the bodies natural immune system to fight off the more common and deadly cancers that society face being bowel and breast cancer. (Check out the book The Vitamin D Solution by Dr Michael Holicks PhD MD)

Therefore we all should get 10 to 15 minutes of sunlight each day just as the skin first starts to go pink and then apply covering or a high quality sunscreen.

So fellow Naturists enjoy the coming Summer.

VITAMIN D deficiency is putting Australians at risk of developing diabetes, a landmark study has shown.

The largest study of its kind found people with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with lower levels. It could lead to at-risk patients using vitamin D supplements along with diet and exercise to stop their development of the potentially deadly condition.

The study's co-author Ken Sikaris, a pathologist at Melbourne Pathology, said the research could have a big impact in slowing increasing rates of diabetes in Australia. "It's hard to underestimate how important this might be," he said.

Between a third and a fifth of the Australian population could be vitamin D deficient and rates were highest in the southern states, which received less sunlight, Dr Sikaris said.

The study, published in the journal Diabetes Care and presented by Dr Lu at a conference of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, retested blood samples taken as part of the major AusDiab study of risk factors for diabetes.

It found vitamin D deficiency was an independent risk factor, even after adjusting for others, such as weight and physical activity.

Read more: HERE @ SMH Online

Anyone who has experienced the joy of the feel of the sun all over their body will tell you the inherent benefits, both mental and physical of the experience. Of course Naturists are also mindful to avoid sunburn by applying good quality sun screen.

The "Slip, Slop, Slap" campaign run by government is again a case of a message of caution being taken to a message of fear, in this case the fear of melanoma. If one does some research you will find that some melanoma occur where the skin is not exposed to the sun.

Also in the book  "The Vitamin D Solution" Dr Michael Holick states that the action of Vitamin D can actually help prevent internal cancers and even skin cancers with a healthy immune system and that sensible exposure to natural sunlight the benefits of increased levels of vitamin D are many.