How right amount of sunshine can help lower your cancer and heart disease risk

Dr Miriam Stoppard shares surprising research from Edinburgh University that reveals when exposure to higher levels of UV rays could improve life expectancy

Because there’s been so much emphasis on avoiding strong sunshine, it seems we’ve been depriving ourselves of its health benefits.

Experts are now giving us ­permission to stay out longer in the sun because the benefits outweigh the risks for people living in places where sunshine is limited. That means us.

Why should we do that? It turns out that exposure to higher levels of the ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight is linked to a drop in deaths due to heart disease and cancer.

In low-sunlight countries it might even improve life expectancy. Of course, we should still protect our skin when UV levels are high to prevent sunburn and skin cancer.

To investigate this effect of sunlight, which could help us avoid disease, Edinburgh University scientists ­examined the UV exposure of 395,000 people across the UK using data from the UK Biobank.

Due to the protection of skin pigmentation against UV exposure, participants were restricted to people of white European descent.

The team identified people exposed to higher levels of UV from their geographical location and calculated their yearly exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and, separately, whether they used sunbeds.

Living in locations with higher UV levels, for example, Cornwall, was associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer – 19% and 12%, respectively – than living in areas with lower UV levels, such as Edinburgh or Glasgow.

For sunbed users the figures were 23% and 14% lower risk compared to non-users. Those with a higher estimated UV exposure had a slightly increased risk of melanoma – a type of skin cancer – but their risk of dying from it wasn’t raised.

Edinburgh University Professor Chris Dibben says: “Our paper adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that in lower light environments, ­relatively higher exposure to UV is good for your health.

“Though there may be an increased risk of skin cancer incidence with higher UV exposure, this risk appears to be outweighed by a larger reduction in the risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular related disease.

“Dermatologists have traditionally only considered possible harm to the skin caused by sunlight, much of which dates from the experience of white-skinned individuals in sunny countries such as Australia. When the UV index is very high, protecting skin is important.”

Professor Richard Weller, also of Edinburgh University, adds: “This research shows that in the UK, the balance of benefit and risk from sunlight exposure is probably very different from that in sunnier countries.”