Something unexpected: Sunbathers live longer

What's interesting about this study in Swedish women is that if you look at the results section the high sun exposure group has the highest disposable income and most years of education. Low exposure has the lowest disposable income and least years of education. Probably because for Swedish women high sun exposure means travel which is expensive.

It's hard to say if the study measures sun exposure or the ability to stay healthy with a higher income & better education.

If this was truly the case we'd probably see massive differences between countries depending on latitude, no? And yet life expectancy is strongly correlated with gdp per capita.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-pe...

New study finds people that follow the least number of studies live the longest.

The abstract refers only to “sun exposure,” but it really did focus on sunbathing:

> Four predetermined questions were posed regarding sun exposure: (i) How often do you sunbathe during the summertime? (never, 1−14 times, 15−30 times, >30 times); (ii) Do you sunbathe during the winter, such as on vacation to the mountains? (no, 1−3 days, 4−10 days, >10 days); (iii) Do you use tanning beds? (never, 1−3 times per year, 4−10 times per year, >10 times per year); and (iv) Do you go abroad on vacation to swim and sunbathe? (never, once every 1–2 years, once a year, two or more times per year).

Another factor is the location of the study in Sweden. In summer the typical peak UV index in Sweden is 5 whereas in Australian summers the UV index is often 11+.

People who take time to de-stress living longer, seems entirely unsurprising.

[flagged]

(2016)

This feels to be strongly in the “correlation does not imply causation” bucket. Something like being in the sun means you’re outside and therefore not sedentary fits with our current understanding of health and might balance out the increase in mortality due to skin cancers