"Sunshower is my best friend"
Manja Schilstra (33) lives together and works as a product manager. An awful tick bite caused a long period of illness. Until 5 years ago, when the Sunshower came into her life. "My partner finds it strange when I say it, but it's really true: the Sunshower is my best friend. He makes me shine, gives me warmth, makes me happy and energetic."
Lyme disease
Manja was 16 when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. "While my peers were out exploring the world, I was living like a vegetable, in bed. All I did was breathe." Luckily, after a year, the antibiotics took effect. Manja picked up her life, passed her secondary-school exams, and got a nice job. Until Lyme got the better of her a second time, after a severe dose of flu, in 2012. Five miserable years in bed followed. "I hurt everywhere, my energy level was below freezing point, I was always cold, and if I walked just three steps, it took me an hour to recover. I thought it would never end. Until Sunshower came into my life."
Positive spiral
When Manja read about the positive effects Sunshower had on joints, muscles and the immune system, it was like music to her ears. So she bought a Sunshower - the surface-mounted version, so that she wouldn't have to renovate the bathroom. It has two buttons: one for the infrared rays and one with UVB light. "The infrared rays reduce my pain, drain waste products and enable my muscles, which acidify quickly, to recover and relax. The safe UVB light makes me produce vitamin D, which was especially important in the beginning because I was indoors 24/7 and saw no sunlight."
My best friend
Thanks to Sunshower, the sun is shining again for Manja. "I'm in a positive flow, I feel healthier - I can't remember when I last had a cold - stronger and more energetic. Thanks to Sunshower I can work, run, and play golf again - sport has always been my passion - and live a normal life like everyone else. So it's not so strange that I call it my best friend."
Good humoured
The always good-humoured Manja doesn't need the UVB light to beat winter blues, but the fact that sunlight keeps her looking healthy even in winter is, of course, an added bonus. And yes, that best friend also helps her enjoy a relaxed sleep. And she is only too happy to sleep next to her other best friend again.
Would you like to know what the UVA and UVB light in Sunshower can do for you?
Strengthen your immune system
A global cooperative study, comprising 25 studies with a total of 11,000 participants, has shown that a low daily dose of vitamin D helps protect the body against virus-induced acute respiratory infections. Without enough vitamin D, the body can have a severe response to a virus.
To protect us, the immune system suppresses the virus while initiating an intense inflammatory response. During this response, more and more immune cells are triggered to go to the inflammation, causing the immune system to overreact and attack the body. In her research study, published International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Beata Gruber-Bzura explains a clear link between vitamin D and our immune system.
Fewer hours of sunshine, more autoimmune diseases
The article Nieuw licht op Vitamine D ('A New Light on Vitamin D’) in the Dutch Journal of Medicine also shows that several autoimmune diseases occur more often at a higher latitude, the area of the planet where there are fewer hours of sunshine. ´Epidemiological and case-control studies show that good vitamin D status reduces the risk of various autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus type 1, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus', the authors say.
Vitamin D helps your immune system
Good to know that we can boost our immune system. When a healthy vitamin D level is maintained, the immune system works more efficiently and suppresses both viruses and related inflammatory processes. The optimal vitamin D level is examined critically, both nationally and internationally. The Dutch Health Council currently recommends a general lower limits for 25-hydroxyvitamin D of 30 nmol/l for women ≥ 50 years and 50 nmol/l for men ≥ 70 years.
In accordance with proposed European policy, Dutch laboratories generally maintain 50 nmol / l 25-hydroxyvitamin D as minimum for all seasons and ages.
In short, by combating a vitamin D deficiency you can protect yourself against respiratory infections, flu and colds and improve your immune system.
Want to know which Sunshower is best for you?
