The sun also rises over the medical establishment I've often wondered - and more than once in print - how the
human race ever managed to survive and thrive if what the
mainstream says about sunlight is really true. To hear them
tell it, natural sunlight is only slightly less harmful to
our health than nuclear fallout! How did we ever last eight
million years as an evolving species? But as usual, my pokings and proddings on the subject have
gone all but ignored by conventional medicine. Why? Because
of commercial pressures, most likely. After all, how much
sunscreen would you buy if they all of a sudden said that
getting out in the sun every day was actually GOOD for you? Every once in a while, though, a mainstream doctor will slip
up (or even skip ranks) and agree with me about something… Such was the case in a New York Times article in which a
Boston University Medical Center dermatologist named Dr.
Michael Holick re-affirmed what I've said all along - that
sunlight is good for you because it aids in the body's
production of vitamin D! An expert on Vitamin D with over 30
years of research on the subject under his belt, Dr. Holick
cites a deficiency of this vital nutrient as a major factor
in osteoporosis, diabetes, and cancers of the skin, breast,
prostate, and ovaries… If this all sounds familiar, it's because it's what I've
been telling you - and the medical establishment - about the
benefits of vitamin D for years now! Anyway… In the interview, Dr. Holick also mentions that vitamin D
plays a vital role in regulating cell growth - and on our
immune systems and cardiovascular health. But what are
really interesting are his studies on regional sun exposure
and vitamin D levels. In one such study, Dr. Holick
discovered that 36 percent of young Boston-area adults were
vitamin D deficient at the end of wintertime (not too
surprising, right)… But get this: They were still 11 percent vitamin D deficient
at the END of summer! Remember: these figures represented the youngest, most
active adults (aged 18 to 29), the hiking, biking, roller-
blading, and running demographic. Can you imagine what those
figures must be like for older adults with indoor jobs or a
less outdoorsy lifestyle? Not good. But this condition is so
easy - and fun - to remedy. My recommendation is that you get outside a little every
day - especially if you live north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Go ahead, play some golf or tennis, do a little gardening,
or take a stroll. It'll do you so much good on so many
levels, believe me. Of course, supplemental vitamin D isn't
a bad idea if you're sure that what you're taking is of good
quality, and highly absorbable. ***********************************************
Great news for underachievers: It's not your fault! That's the opinion, anyway, of pediatrician Mel Levine. His
new book entitled The Myth of Laziness asserts that all of
us are born with an innate drive to be productive, and when
some people fail to achieve, it's not due to simple
laziness - it's because of "output failure," a hard-to-
define mental illness that cleverly disguises itself as a
common character flaw. Honestly, I'm not making this up. As reported in an MSN online article, Dr. Levine actually
believes (hence the title of his book) that a failure to
achieve in life has little to do with an individual's
personality, upbringing, or our corrupt government's
willingness to pay them to do nothing all day long. Rather,
it's various kinds of faulty wiring that makes
people "victims" of the unmitigated sloth their brains force
upon them. Mmm-hmm. That's like saying that obesity is caused solely by genetics
or glands and not by a carb-heavy, sugar-saturated diet
coupled with a largely sedentary lifestyle (see also:
laziness). While this may be true in a small number of
cases, for many people, obesity is caused by personal
choices - like cramming their faces with junk food day and
night… But what I can't figure out from reading the article - and
I'm sure not going to waste time and money on the book - is
exactly what Levine's "angle" is here. Is his goal to
criticize the healthy competition (i.e., capitalism) which
REALLY DOES drive human achievement and excellence? Or is
his goal to increase a demand for more drugs and medical
treatment for lazy - er, "output-challenged" - children? Maybe his objective is simply to create a demand for his
book by demolishing for all the lazy people (who grow in
number every day) the last remaining link to anything
resembling personal accountability in their lives? Think
about it: If you were so dysfunctionally lethargic that you
couldn't hold a job down or keep your family together,
wouldn't you want a book that would once and for all excuse
you from any blame in the matter? I sure would. The book
would prove what I'd been telling my bosses and relatives
for years - that it's "not my fault!" That sure would motivate me to change my ways, wouldn't it? According to Dr. Levine, society is paying the price (and
footing the bill) for this unfortunate "disease" in the form
of unemployment benefits, mental health treatment, and (I
assume) criminal prosecution and incarceration in some cases.
And on this point, I agree with him - whatever label we give
our laziness.
Off to catch some rays,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
