The main danger to the eyes with increased activity of the sun is allergic conjunctivitis. There are a number of chemical and homeopathic medicines that reduce its manifestations, but the best method is grandmother: brew 1 tsp. turn half a glass of water, boil for 15 minutes. When it cools down, top the liquid with a pipette and bury your eyes twice a day, and to prevent drinking half a cup of broth in the morning and evening before eating for two weeks. And, of course, you can not neglect sunglasses. When the sun is at its zenith, a person must walk in them. No points - in hot weather, get a hat or a blazer. Their fields or visor cut off the ultraviolet.
How to choose the right sunglasses?
The best option is to choose them in optics with the help of an ophthalmologist. Children and adolescents need to measure the distance between the pupils, because if glasses of glasses are located further or closer from the visual axis, a squint may form. Famous European brands clearly determine the distance between the pupils for a man (64-66 mm) and a woman (60-62 mm). This disparity in the parameters is dictated by the anthropometric data of Europeans - the Japanese have completely different sizes. But if there is no time to carefully select this protective device, temporarily use any glasses - even cheap models cut off the harmful ultraviolet from the cornea.
As for the shade of glasses. In no case for protection from the sun do not use the blue spectrum, it is very toxic to the retina, and can also increase the intraocular pressure. There may be a question: where is the logic, because high in the mountains athletes use glasses with a harmful blue tint. In fact, this color gives the glasses an anti-reflective coating, and the material itself contains a valuable spectrum useful for the eyes: all shades of brown, beige. Patients with glaucoma ophthalmologists recommend green color, it is less toxic and optimal for normalization of pressure, which is confirmed by many scientific works. Glass glasses prefer plastic - it is more safe and environmentally friendly. Mirror-non-mirrored accessory - it does not matter. If you select it for hot countries with bright sunshine or plan to rest high in the mountains where snow lies, ask in optics glasses with the highest degree of blackout of glasses - up to 70%. In our latitudes, 50% of the blackout is sufficient, since in all regions of Europe, in any weather, the sun turns into a shadow.
How not to spoil the sight, watching the solar eclipse?
Since the last eclipse in Ukraine, eight cases of retinal burns have been reported. Few people know: it takes only 6 seconds to look at the sun at the zenith so that a retinal burn appears. This is very dangerous: vision from 100% is reduced to a level of 15-20%, with no recovery, the rays bake all 10 layers of the retina. I recommend looking at the sun during an eclipse through a welding glass or an ordinary CD-ROM, this will protect the eyes. If you do not have sunglasses and you are on the street during an eclipse, do not look up, just look at the horizon. Thanks to photochemical processes in the retina for 35-40 minutes, the right amount of dark pigment, protecting the eye from a burn, is produced.
Is it true that ultraviolet activates the development of malignant tumors? Why? When there were no blinds, sheets were hung on the western and southern windows, escaping from the unthinkable heat. Over the summer they turned into dust. This is the most vivid example of the aggression of ultraviolet radiation. The skin is the same tissue. Disdainful treatment of it as a protective organ leads to the development of malignant tumors (melanoma, cancer). Especially at risk of light-skinned people, a separate line should mention the patients with a diagnosis of "vitiligo". The small quantity is guilty in the first case, and in the second - the absence of a pigment in the skin, which does not allow to penetrate into its layers ultraviolet. In people with vitiligo, a sunburn occurs immediately. Solar irradiation is one of the main causes of the degeneration of skin cells. From the point of view of modern science, this is the following. Quanta - microparticles of solar energy - bombard matter (and the skin is a cellular matter), destroying it and causing mutations, changing the chromosome pattern of cells. If the dose of irradiation is not very high, then the cells can self-repair. But once this does not happen, and the tragic consequences of our carelessness even after years become irreversible.
What manifestations of allergies can the sun provoke?
Solar urticaria (photodermatitis, phytophtho- dermatitis) - the most common allergic skin reactions with prolonged exposure to sunlight. The skin test for solar (ultraviolet) attack is aggravated by taking certain medications (contraceptive, hypoglycemic, diuretic drugs, tetracycline antibiotics). The second provoker of allergy is perfumery. Due to the influence of essential oils on the skin, the so-called Berloca dermatitis (dark pigment spot on the irradiated parts of the body) is formed. If you often go to the heat, as a result of a malfunction in the immune system, you may experience an exacerbation of herpes infection (now you are vulnerable to viruses).
A person has two central organs of the immune system: bone marrow and thymus gland. After 40 years, the activity of the latter decreases and, according to the logic, immunodeficiency should be formed. But this does not happen, because in the body there is a certain number of so-called Langerhans cells that take on the regulation of the protective function of the body. But since they are close to the surface of the skin, with the wrong mode of tanning quickly destroyed. The activity of the cell link decreases - and the person becomes vulnerable to viral infections. A simple example: you are tanned - and after a while you come from the sea with a cold. Therefore, we, doctors, recommend to stay in the sun until 9:00 and after 16:00 - at this time in the sunlight there is a spectrum of long-wave radiation that increases the activity of immune cells. The higher the sun is above the horizon, the stronger the spectrum of the other - short-wave radiation, which extinguishes their activity.
Can sunscreen be harmful to the body?
Paradox, but when used improperly, these are the strongest photosensitizers (substances that can enhance the effect of light). According to its texture, the photo-protective creams are absorbent. As soon as the period of their action (2-3 hours) passes, free radicals are released under the influence of sun rays, which damage the skin, and the protective equipment starts to act against us. Therefore, the cream should be applied to the body at intervals indicated on the package, then wash it off and treat the skin again. The best option for the beach is powder. It is believed that it is 100% scattered by sunlight and thereby protects the skin.
How to adapt the body to the climate of another country?
I recommend this recipe: 10-15 drops of rhodiola tincture of pink or eleutherococcus drink for two weeks 2 times a day, morning and afternoon, 15 minutes before meals. To stop taking it is necessary for 5-6 days before the trip and after the same period upon arrival home to continue taking the tincture - again within 2 weeks. It is desirable the first 10 days at the resort to drink drugs with digestive enzymes - Festal, Mezim-forte. So you will help the digestive system cope with another diet. The largest restructuring of the organism under a different climate and regime takes place in the first 3-4 days. Children (3-5 years old) and old people are categorically not allowed to fly to another country for a short period of time - this is a tremendous stress for their body. To get the benefit from rest, it is desirable to spend on it 21-24 days - during this time the immune system has time to restructure. The main adaptogenic organ, the pituitary gland, adapts to another regimen exactly three weeks.
Can the endocrine system fail with solar activity and its effect on human health? The reaction of a healthy endocrine system to a change in temperature is manifested by a physiological change in the level of hormones. That is, if you are healthy and there are no hereditary diseases of the thyroid gland, adrenals and parathyroid glands, the sun has only a positive effect: vitamin-forming (increasing the synthesis of vitamin D), bactericidal. In addition, the sun's rays stimulate the production of endorphins (hormones of happiness). Naturally, we are talking about a safe, dosed stay in the sun: in this case, its rays do not reach the tissue of the thyroid gland. If the sun harmed the healthy thyroid gland, then endocrinologists would certainly notice the difference between the number of patients in countries with different climates - Scandinavia and Australia.
But people who are at risk (for example, thyroid disease have close relatives), and who suffers from various diseases of the thyroid gland and adrenal glands, one should be cautious - the course of these diseases in the heat deteriorates. The reason - not the brightness of sunlight, but the effect of high temperatures: the body in excess produces free radicals, decreases immunity, and as a result, the state of the endocrine system worsens. The excess heat accumulated during overheating leads to disruption of all metabolic processes of the body, in particular, water-salt and protein metabolism. The organism loses water, salt, protein denaturation occurs (loss of its natural properties). As a result - thickening of blood, it is difficult to move it along the vessels. The phenomena of autointoxication (self-poisoning) and hypoxia (oxygen starvation of the body) are increasing.
The nervous system is most sensitive to overheating - symptoms appear that indicate its defeat: in severe cases, heart failure develops, the work of the adrenal gland is disrupted.
In order not to overload the endocrine system (and the body as a whole), one should also remember the "holy trinity", which is incompatible with heat: alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. They increase blood circulation, activate the production of adaptive adrenaline hormones, norepinephrine, increase blood pressure, have a vasoconstrictor effect, provoke loss of moisture, thickening of blood. If you really can not wait to drink a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, in no case do it in the heat in direct sunlight.
How does the cardiovascular system react to solar activity?
For a person suffering from cardiovascular diseases, it is especially dangerous to overheat, as there is a companion of heat - tachycardia (rapid heart rate), which is extremely undesirable, since our motor needs much more oxygen to work under such conditions than usual. And with ischemic disease, coronary arteries afflicted with atherosclerosis are not able to provide the heart muscle with a sufficient inflow of blood, and this can even provoke an attack of angina pectoris.
It is also necessary to remember a group of serious diseases affecting the heart, which debut and activate in the sun. These are connective tissue diseases (for example, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis), which can be accompanied by myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle. Patients with heart failure are extremely dangerous overheating, because they can not provide themselves a sufficient drinking regime (as healthy people), because the treatment includes fluid restriction and sometimes diuretics (diuretics). When they are used undesirable excessive "flood" of the body. The same recommendations apply to hypertensive patients.
But here's the paradox: at an elevated ambient temperature a person is obliged to increase the amount of liquid consumed to avoid life-threatening dehydration (even more dangerous for the cores). By the way, when dehydration increases the viscosity of the blood and increases the risk of blood clots, which can end tragically. So such stresses are absolutely not necessary for cardiac patients, and if they happened to be at sea, then from the sun and the heat you need to hide, and to the water to go out in the morning and in the evening. Patients with any cardiovascular disease should avoid overheating, hypothermia and exposure to direct sunlight.
Is it true that under the influence of the sun the risk of developing gynecological diseases increases, in particular, fibroids of the uterus? The fact that women with fibromioma in the sun can not be at all is an exaggeration. In the hours recommended for sunburn, there will be no harm to the body. A greater risk arises when there is a lack of sunlight. This leads to disruptions in circadian rhythms, a disruption in the production of the adaptive hormone melatonin, which is characteristic of women with disorders of sleep and wakefulness, working, for example, in night shifts. A huge number of studies confirm a much higher frequency of menstrual irregularities in these patients compared to those who work in the usual regime.
How does solar activity affect pregnant women?
I would like to draw attention to facts that are rarely spoken and written about. A number of studies record an increase in the number of chromosomal abnormalities in pregnant women and their unborn babies during periods of increased or decreased solar activity. Scientists have noticed: if conception is preceded by a month of increased solar activity, fetuses have an increased number of cases of chromosomal abnormalities, children with defects of the nervous system are more often born. And in periods of low solar activity, many newborns have pathologies of the bone system. Therefore, I recommend that all future mothers comply with the regime of sun exposure.