Fwd: Sun block

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Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:29:09 -0500

WC Douglass

Sun block

 

Daily Dose

 

July 11, 2003

 

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Melanoma melodrama

 

I wrote about the " sunlight scare " in the last Daily Dose

(7/8/3). But there's a lot more you need to know.

 

Every summer, the news media performs the annual rite of the

Aztec Chicken Littles: The sky isn't falling, but the sun is -

right on your cancer-prone skin. The headline on

healthday.com: More than One Million New Cases in U.S. This

Year.

 

OooohWEE! If that's true, people must be dropping like flies

in a Raid storm! Malignant melanoma, which is causing all

this mayhem, must be conquered. Well, not exactly. That is,

malignant melanoma does need to be eradicated; it can be a

nasty cancer. But, of the " million new cases " of skin cancer,

only a small percentage are actually malignant melanoma,

which is not caused by sun exposure. The rest are basal cell

cancer, which may or may not be caused by excessive sun

exposure but is easily cured.

 

Here's the kind of propaganda that keeps Americans (and

others) on edge about the evil Sun God: " ...that's more than

twice the number who will hear they have prostate or breast

cancer, making skin cancer the most common cancer in the

United States. " Comparing a benign form of cancer, basal

cell, with deadly breast cancer is like comparing herpes to

hepatitis or conjunctivitis to encephalitis. The people who

write this distorted nonsense don't know they are snowing

people. But the medical professionals who review their

articles can't be that uninformed and/or dumb. They are

guilty of the worst possible misfeasance and, like crooked

stockbrokers, should be jailed and kept in a sun-free

environment - where they'll probably catch melanoma since it

almost always goes " where the sun don't shine. "

 

And there's more: " While prostate and breast cancers kill far

more people, skin cancer - usually caused by excess sun

exposure - can be deadly, too. The American Cancer Society

expects about 7,600 deaths this year from melanoma, the most

virulent of skin cancers. "

 

Get the clever wording here? The first sentence does not

say " sun exposure causes melanoma " because the experts do not

know what causes melanoma but they know that the sun is not

the cause. They pretend not to know this by ignoring it - a

conspiracy of silence. To be fair to the dermatologists, they

are not all conspirators; some of them are just ignorant. The

second sentence nails down the semantic subterfuge: " The

American Cancer Society expects about 7,600 deaths this year

from melanoma, the most virulent of skin cancers. " (This is

flat-out wrong. Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is far more deadly.)

 

In the next Daily Dose, I'll have something to say about sun

screen - that mainstay of summertime marketing may not be so

innocent.

 

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Burning the candle at both ends could leave you snuffed out...

 

Sometimes plain, old-fashioned common sense doesn't seem to

be common enough...especially when it comes to

health " basics. "

 

Case in point: Your body REALLY NEEDS its beauty sleep.

 

Now, you'd think everyone would know this - and allow for a

good full night of sound, body-recharging rest. Of course,

one would also assume that everybody under the sun knows to

avoid those waistline-straining, heart-stopping sugary and

carb-heavy foods, too. So much for assumptions...

 

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, more

than half of all Americans sleep fewer than the " magic

number " of eight hours a night - and to devastating effect.

Recent Harvard University research revealed a link between

chronic sleep deprivation and an increased risk of heart

disease, while other research in the past has shown a clear

correlation between consistent sleep loss and diabetes.

 

And that's not to mention the estimated 100,000 auto

accidents per year that result from a loss of sleep. I'm sure

that a lack of sleep also contributes to depression, dulls

the reflexes, and causes mental and memory lapses. Such

lapses even interfere with people's ability to realize just

how tired they really are...

 

Here's the bottom line: Allow for eight hours of sleep or

more a night. And if you're having trouble sleeping - as many

in their 50s, 60s, and beyond regularly do - look into

supplementation with melatonin and HGH (human growth

hormone). I've long believed there was a correlation between

insomnia and dwindling HGH levels. But one word of caution:

Most of the HGH pills on grocery store shelves are worthless.

Consult a doctor who's versed in subcutaneous HGH therapy for

best results.

 

Sticking to the sunny side of the street,

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

 

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