Fresh Air and Sunshine

People these days seem to have forgotten some important principles that my mother knew. She saw to it that I was outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine every day that the weather permitted. At times I whined and groaned, but she would always insist and negotiate a time I would agree upon. She also opened the windows to air out the house, even in the wintertime. It felt really cold when she did that, but, again, she insisted. My mom made health choices that were sometimes uncomfortable or inconvenient, but then she was able to walk a half mile uphill to church and back again when she was 85.

Modern research is finally catching up to some of what my mother knew all along. They call it "green space" now. Studies show that spending time in a place where there are many trees helps children to be healthier. This makes excellent sense in the light of elementary life science where we learn that trees give off a huge amount of oxygen. Our bodies use oxygen for all life processes. When oxygen intake slows down, body processes begin to fail. For example, people who aren't conditioned to the thinner air in high altitudes regularly become sick when trying to climb Pike's Peak too fast. On the other hand, the positive effects of increased oxygen are quite dramatic. I learned this when I was caring for an elderly person who was brought back from death's door with oxygen and lived almost a year beyond the time when she was expected to die at any moment.

My mother was very well read in the area of vitamins and nutrition. She knew that vitamin D was formed by the action of the ultraviolet rays of the sun on bare skin. The authors of elementary science books seem to have forgotten that these days. A science lesson I saw recently presented the ultraviolet rays of the sun as something harmful to be avoided and failed to even mention the vital importance of vitamin D. This vitamin makes calcium usable. Inadequate vitamin D produces problems with the nervous system, teeth, bones, muscles, and the circulatory system. Before anybody knew anything about the necessity of sunlight on bare skin the sons of kings sometimes died of rickets, the vitamin D deficiency disease. These boys apparently stayed in their castles all the time. Of course, the sicker they became, the more they stayed inside. Undoubtedly, some poor peasant children were running around in the sun and enjoying good health outside the castle. A synthetic form of vitamin D is added to milk now. It's also in vitamin pills. This does seem to prevent rickets; however, the synthetic form is poorly absorbed. In addition, many children and adults don't drink much milk. Although children may have milk over their cereal for breakfast, children often eat the sweet cereal and leave the milk behind, so they're not even getting synthetic vitamin D.

Another effect of sunlight that has been discovered more recently is its role in preventing or lessening emotional depression. Some people experience seasonal depression, which occurs during the darker months of the year, but people also flock to sunny places to enjoy the emotional lift that they feel in the sun.

So many families spend their lives indoors where the TVs and computers are, where the temperature is always 72 degrees, where the light never hurts their eyes, where the wind never ruffles their hair, where there's no mud, mosquitoes, or rain, where the easy chairs are soft and nothing takes much effort. Their only outdoor time consists in going to and from their climate-controlled cars. Then they wonder why they don't feel well.

It's quite amazing that more people don't spend time in green spaces, air out their houses, and catch the healing rays of the sun. The powerful health benefits of fresh air and sunshine are free. We don't need a doctor's prescription or a $100 bottle of pills with dangerous side-effects. Of course, life on the outdoors isn't always totally comfortable. Sometimes we freeze, sometimes we sweat. There's mud, mosquitoes, rain, and no soft places to sit. Computers and TVs don't adapt well, so we're (horror of horrors) left to our own resources for amusement. There's a lady in my neighborhood who seems to be about 70 years old. She often passes my house and greets me pleasantly when she takes a walk. She cuts her own grass too. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Readers, please share your thoughts and experiences with me. The comments of many people make this column vibrant and relevant. Contact me at: newskill7@msn.com or call me at: 703-691-0191 (home), or 703-501-9013 (cell). I'm eager to hear from you.

Mary Sue Laing, M.Ed.
Resource Teacher, St. Ambrose School

by Mary Sue Laing, M. Ed., New Skill, Inc. Academic Tutor