Uticopa Blog

The minute summer arrives, everywhere we look the media tell us it's bad news.  We should all stay out of the sun for fear of skin damage, food-poisoning, hay fever, eye damage...so the list goes on.

How refreshing, then, to hear that a leading professional - Professor Steve Field, Chairman of the Royal College of GPs - says that summer is a time when "health advantages far outweigh the disadvantages". 

Hear, hear! 

Furthermore, he continues in similar vein:  "As long as you take a few sensible precautions, summer is a time to enjoy and a period to boost your health.  Get outside and do some exercise. That will do you the most good of all". 

Of course, no-one needs a full scientific study to tell them that sunny days lift the spirit.  Depression-sufferers everywhere know that as soon as the daylight hours lengthen and the dark days of winter are passed, they feel much, much better in themselves.  All winter that heavy weight pressing down on the head has left them struggling like an insect held down with a pin.  But as soon as that glorious sun arrives, everything changes.  All of a sudden, we feel like venturing outside again and maybe tackling the garden, or arranging to meet a much-neglected friend.  There is certainly no doubt that the sun has always been good news for our mental health.

But, can mental health sufferers also improve their physical health in the summer?  The answer is,  yes!  New research now suggests that there is a type of fat which is more abundant in depressed people.  How often do we see depressed people with that characteristic ‘apple shape' - fat accumulating particularly around the middle (waist) region?  Well, researchers have now come up with a scientific answer.

The May issue of Psychosomatic Medicine speculated that depression triggers the accumulation of visceral fat by causing chemical changes in the body such as the production of cortisol and inflammatory compounds. So, it seems that the very act of helping to banish depression actually allows summer to help our arteries in another way - by actively discouraging the abdominal fat that we now know is bad for our hearts. 

The moral then of this blog? 

Those struggling to lift their mental health symptoms, particularly depression and anxiety, should look no further than the summer months.  Not only does the sun miraculously lift the heavy weight of depressive symptoms, but it can go some way in reducing that stubborn fat layer that lies around our waists, as well as improving a myriad of other physical ailments as well.
We always knew that Vitamin D produced by the sun protected us from key physical cancers, including those of the breast, lung and pancreas, but now it can help mental health sufferers as well.