This talk will look at the long and deep history of humans’ relationship with the sun. It will look at how we have very gradually become a species that lives in the shade, and, increasingly, indoors.
While being out in the sun all the time is hardly a healthy thing to do, many people (especially children) in urban environments do not spend enough time either in the sun, or being exposed to good quality light. This is being expressed in a variety of ways. Lack of exposure to good light is driving the epidemic of shortsightedness, which has doubled in the UK in the last 50 years. Indeed, the problem is so bad that it is anticipated that 50% of the world’s population will be myopic by 2050. Rickets, the bone disease most commonly associated with Victorian children is also making a comeback. Lack of vitamin D (through less access to sunlight) makes it difficult for children to grow healthy teeth, bones and muscles. The disease was thought to be eradicated after the Second World War but our indoor lifestyles is resuscitating it. Finally, allergy (food/nut allergy in particular, but indirectly, asthma, hay fever and eczema) is also being associated with vitamin D deficiency. Our love of the indoors is not good for us, or our children.
This lecture is part of the Science Museum’s “The Sun: Living With Our Star” exhibition between the 6th of October 2018 and 6th May 2019. Tickets are free bus please book through the Science Museum’s webpage.
Dr Vybarr Cregan-Reid is a Reader in English and Environmental Humanities. His latest book, Primate Change: How The World We Made Is Remaking Us is published by Cassell.