Sunny side up

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. And if you ask my Mom, she would say Sunlight is the best detergent, referring to the world’s first branded laundry soap. But this post is about the real thing, not the detergent variety.

Sun has a special place in Asian culture. Some of us see it as God, Sun is at the core of feng shui and vasthu techniques, we have a land of rising sun in here and even have an yoga exercise routine named after the Sun – Surya Namaskar.

Yet we as Asians, yours truly included, has overtime developed a pathological aversion to sunlight. We give all kind of excuses to get away from the sun – tanning, sun-burns, allergy, headaches and the list goes on.

It turns out that even in the sunny Dubai, ‘photophobia’ is prevalent. I was recently at the Doctors for routine check up and it so happens that my Vitamin D levels were less than adequate.  The only consolation was that I am not the only one, she reckons half of Dubai needs to go out in the sun more often – the only natural source of Vitamin D.

Deficiency of the Sunshine Vitamin at the very least could give you occasional moods swings or depression and at its worst can cause horrible things like diabetes and cancer. And for most part this can be cured by being in the sun for a reasonable amount of time.

In today’s ‘car to carpet’ culture it is so easy to skip the sun.  But we are missing more than outdoor fun when we choose the call of the mall over the time in the sun. As Sheryl Crow once sang, I'm gonna soak up the sun while it's still free……