Written by Debby Amos

The rising of the Sun each day is an inevitable and natural part of every person’s life. In fact, without the warmth and luminosity of the Sun, we wouldn’t have life. The sun is on fire and gifts us power – scientifically speaking, heat and light are forms of energy, and the Vampire that enjoys feeds of the Elemental variety can testify to this.

Speaking of Vampires... Certain myths have risen alongside the Sun and I must say that none of them are positive. You might be surprised to learn, that Vampires only developed an extreme allergy to Sunlight in the 1900’s – Primeval Vampires didn’t have any qualms with the great fireball that reigns over the daytime sky...

According to myth, exposure to Sunlight for a Vampire can cause blindness, epilepsy, glittering skin, weakness, spontaneous combustion and/or death.

Blindness – apparently Vampires have hyper-dilated irises which provides them with good night vision for hunting. The fact is, the pupils of a person with Vampirism will dilate and contract with light exposure just like that of any other person. Don’t try and tell me you have supernatural night vision while you are turning lights on in your home in the evening – rest assured, when the sun comes up, your pupils will contract and you won’t go blind. However, this is not to lessen the importance of protecting your eyes from the Sun to hinder the very human risk of corneal burning which can be linked to cataracts and macular degeneration later in life.

Epilepsy – Once again, your Vampiric pupils will contract when hit with light, and you do not need to worry about your neural pathways misfiring and causing seizures.

Glittering Skin – Do I really need to go there..? Well, actually, if you stand in the sunlight and rub yourself down with coconut oil you may get some kind of shiny affect! But no glittering diamonds, guys – sorry.

Weakness – Dracula and other Vampires have been able to survive the Sunlight but they were rendered less powerful. In real life one can experience weakness caused from heat exhaustion in hot weather, but this is due to loss of essential electrolytes in the body and is a condition which affects all humans – not just those with Vampirism.

Spontaneous Combustion and/or Death – Actually, there are some really cool “scientific” explanations on the net which explain why Vampires explode/implode on exposure to sunlight. Basically, instead of your epidermal cells releasing more

Melanin and giving you a great tan, they begin to disintegrate and get reabsorbed into the body for elimination, blocking the system and causing heart failure... If that were even half true, it would make more sense for a Vampire to just peel like the rest of us!

One explanation for Vampiric Sunlight aversion is that where the light of the Sun is synonymous with the light of the Son(of God), and that the apparently evil Vampire simply is not conducive with such Holiness. Many who are newly aware of and learning about their Vampiric condition struggle with the misconceptions some of our most common religions can install. Fact... People who have Vampirism are not damned – Vampirism has nothing to do with your relationship with your God. Vampirism is not a sin. Vampires can comfortably stand in the light of their faith without exploding, spontaneously combusting or dying in any other way.

Not all, but many people with Vampirism, do however seem to have a sensitivity to UV light and report a myriad of complaints from susceptibility to sunburn, headaches, altered vision, day blindness and general weakness/tiredness etc, and many do seem to have a propensity for semi-nocturnal habits. But one must also remember that Vampirism isn’t the only cause of such sensitivities. There are actually many other medical conditions which render a person sensitive to Sunlight. Simply having fair skin and blue eyes can be a cause... White skinned people evolved as such because they originally lived in countries with less sun and their pale skin allowed for the easy absorption of sunlight and Vitamin D. Many people from hotter zones have darker, sunlight resistant skin and heavy eyebrows which naturally shade and protect their eyes.

We all know the dangers and risks of excessive Sun exposure... Skin cancer... Eye damage... Premature aging... And we know that we must be especially careful during those biting hours between 11am and 3pm... But let’s not forget the benefits of our union with our Sun. Exposure to Sunlight is not only fundamental for life on this planet but it is essential for our health and well being. People were meant to spend some time in the sun.

Moderate exposure to Sunlight is medicine at its finest and freest!

5 to 15 minutes of Sunlight 3 times a week:

· Improves Bone health and helps prevent conditions like osteoporosis and rickets.

· Alleviates Skin Conditions.

· Protects against colds and flus (seasonal illness are seasonal because of the amount of sunshine we are not absorbing).

· Can reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes by about one third.

· Improves blood pressure and general cardiovascular health.

· Decreases risk of autoimmune disorders like M.S., Type 1 Diabetes and Rheumatoid arthritis.

· Fights bacteria.

· Causes skin to release endorphins resulting in the overall improvement of mental health conditions like Depression, Seasonal Depression and PMS.

· Improves Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

· Greatly reduces the risk of Breast, Colon and other common cancers by more than a half.

· Actually inhibits way more Cancers then it causes.

Facts about Sunlight and Vitamin D:

· Vitamin D absorbed directly through the skin last longer in the body.

· Vitamin D cannot penetrate glass so getting rays while driving with the window up doesn’t count.

· People with darker skin require more sunlight exposure to get the same amount of Vitamin D.

· The further away from the Equator you live, the more exposure to unfiltered Sunlight you need to get sufficient amounts of Vitamin D.

So, in the end, this is another boring story about common sense and moderation... Do yourself a favour - Be Sun Safe, but not Sun Paranoid!

Ps. Sunnies look Cool!