Is the ‘sunshine cure’ a real thing?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Imagine spending six months of every year living in total shade. That’s what life is like for residents of the Norwegian town of Rjukan, set so low in a valley that they see no direct sunshine at all from October to March. Marnie Chesterton heads there to hear about an ingenious solution: giant mirrors that beam rays down into the town square, where locals gather to feel the reflected heat. The man behind the project was motivated by a need for winter sun – but how much difference does it really make to our health and happiness? That’s the question posed by this week’s CrowdScience listener Michael, who has noticed living in the rainy Australian city of Melbourne is taking its toll. Many pensioners claim sunshine relieves achiness as well as conditions like arthritis but one of the biggest scientific studies found temperature actually has no impact on reported pain levels, while factors like air pressure and humidity may play a role. When it comes to our mood, it seems that spending time outside is more important than feeling the heat and the optimum temperature for wellbeing is around a cool 19 degrees centigrade, while excessive warm weather has been linked to an increase in violence and crime.
Contributors: Dr Anna Beukenhorst, University of Manchester Professor Oscar Ybarra, University of Illinois Professor Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley Martin Andersen, artist
(Image: Man with smoke coming out of ears. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism. |
| 0:09.0 | In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero? |
| 0:16.0 | Simply doing your job, being a decent human being. |
| 0:20.0 | A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by |
| 0:23.1 | their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism |
| 0:27.8 | with me, Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. If I'm awake to see the sun come up, it's a great start to the day. I mean, it's just |
| 0:41.6 | clear blue sky. You feel more energetic, positive. You know, the whole day's going to be pretty good. |
| 0:49.8 | I think my mood goes up, doubles, you know. |
| 0:59.2 | I'm Marnie Chasterton and you're listening to Crowd Science, |
| 1:02.8 | the show that answers questions sent to us from all over the world. |
| 1:07.2 | And sometimes, if we're lucky, also takes us to some of those places, |
| 1:12.4 | which is why I'm currently enjoying some winter sunshine in southern Spain. |
| 1:22.4 | I'm here to try and find out whether the weather makes a difference to our mood and our health, |
| 1:26.5 | because listener Michael in Australia got in touch with this question. |
| 1:31.2 | I would like to know why so many people at the slightest sight of sunshine and warmth have sharply increased enthusiasm for life and their moods appear far happier. |
| 1:36.7 | I'm wondering as to the science on whether it's actually better health-wise to live in a warm |
| 1:40.9 | climate. |
| 1:41.6 | I'd like you, Michael, to tell me a bit more about the bit of Australia that you're from, |
| 1:47.6 | because I always think of Australia as hot and sunny. |
| 1:51.6 | But you live in an anomaly? |
| 1:53.7 | I think the anomaly is the southern part, particularly where I'm from in Melbourne, |
| 1:58.6 | which is southern Victoria. |
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