Sun Avoidance As Bad As Smoking


Yes, you read that correctly. This is not the first article like this, and those of you who have been following my posts know that the relationship between sun exposure and skin cancer is far more complex than it's made out to be.

Previously the researchers had shown that sun avoidance doubles the risk of death in women. This time they went further and showed that:

Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6–2.1 years."Lindqvist, P. G., Epstein, E., Nielsen, K., Landin‐Olsson, M., Ingvar, C., & Olsson, H. (2016). Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort. Journal of internal medicine.

You don't want to suddenly get a lot of sun when you've been avoiding it, any more than you would want to go run a marathon if you've been sitting on the couch. You need to slowly build a base tan so that you're protected, and use organic sunscreen.

A link to the full article is here