| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | fractures. |
| Since ancient times, natural light was known to have | | | | Multiple Sclerosis patients - Studies reveal that people |
| positive physiological effects on the human body. It | | | | located in lesser sunlight-exposed areas are more |
| dates back to a time when the famous Greek | | | | prone to multiple sclerosis. For example, Norwegians |
| philosopher and the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, | | | | living near the ocean and consuming vitamin D |
| used the sun's rays in his naturopathic treatments for | | | | enriched seafood, report lesser cases of multiple |
| diseases. Heliotherapy is the practice of using sunlight | | | | sclerosis than those living inland. |
| to fight ailments and restore health. | | | | Old Age patients - Vitamin D production in a body |
| In the early 20th century, heliotherapy was | | | | decreases with age. Studies say that this vitamin acts |
| extensively used to treat diseases like tuberculosis, | | | | as a preventive agent against prostate cancer, which |
| rickets in children and war-wounds. Its importance | | | | is the second most common cause of cancerous |
| was formally recognized when Dr. Niels Finson got the | | | | death in people over 75. |
| Nobel Prize in 1903 for devising a method of | | | | Athletes - Repeated researches in sports medicine |
| ultraviolet therapy in tuberculosis-cure. | | | | have shown that routine exposure of athletes to the |
| Heliotherapy involves using sun’s ultraviolet | | | | sun not only optimized their performance capabilities, |
| rays to initiate Vitamin D production in our skin and | | | | but also significantly reduced the incidence and |
| thereby prevents breast cancer, osteoporosis, | | | | recovery time from minor injuries. |
| prostate cancer, psoriasis, acne, etc. The increased | | | | Apart from its medicinal virtues, heliotherapy signifies |
| metabolism in the body due to vitamin D production | | | | that Helios, or the sun, has always been a buoyant |
| also multiplies enzyme reaction rate, cell regeneration, | | | | factor for perking up people's moods. This has been |
| tissue repair, blood flow speed and increased oxygen | | | | reflected over the ages in several poems, songs and |
| supply. | | | | movies. Interestingly, researchers have also found |
| Some significant beneficiaries of Heliotherapy | | | | that exposure to sunlight increases the production of |
| Spinal Cord Injury patients — Paralytic people | | | | serotonin, a chemical that stimulates the human |
| suffer from severe loss of lower-extremity bone | | | | brain's pleasure centers, thereby uplifting our moods |
| mass. Vitamin D causes Calcium (which is the most | | | | in moments of depression and anxiety. Herein remains |
| vital component of bone-growth) to be absorbed | | | | the connection between heliotherapy and our mental |
| from the intestinal tracts. Vitamin D deficiency causes | | | | well-being. |
| deformed bone-growth, increasing the probability of | | | | |