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The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

(www.economist.com)
279 points petethomas | 1 comments | 19 Sep 25 04:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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wewxjfq ◴[19 Sep 25 07:50 UTC] No.45299013[source]▶
The way I see it: If you live where your ancestors lived for thousands of years and if you make sure your skin gets gradually attuned to the sun each year, you probably get more health benefits. But beware if you're of Northern European ancestry living in Southern USA or Australia or if you work an office job and only seek the summer sun with pale skin.
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mcdeltat ◴[19 Sep 25 08:43 UTC] No.45299386[source]▶
> make sure your skin gets gradually attuned

Is this a thing? Surely DNA damage from UV is dose-dependent, in which case any greater amount of UV results in a greater chance of skin cancer.

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1. wewxjfq ◴[19 Sep 25 21:19 UTC] No.45306747[source]▶
A sunburn is what you want to avoid and it's easier to get when you stayed indoors the whole year and only go outside when the sun is out full blast. I personally think this modern lifestyle is one of the reasons people get more skin cancer despite being outside less. There are studies that show that chronic sun exposure isn't that bad.