For once, I'm actually thanking Congress

I don't know who it was that back in 2005 introduced the bill to begin Daylight Savings Time on the second Sunday in March and have it last through the first Sunday in November, but I am grateful as shit to them.

There's a direct correlation between my mood and the weather outside. Sunshine just makes me feel better.

I wonder, though, what all the sunscreen that we're slathering on these days is doing to our absorption of Vitamin D. We're supposed to get 15 minutes per day on our faces, arms and hands, at least, to be able to absorb and synthesize our Vitamin D. I wonder if the sunscreen negates the good things that the Sun sends our way now that we've fucked up the ozone layer to where we're all at the risk of skin cancer by walking out the door into the sunlight.

My reflexologist was telling me a few weeks ago about how she heard that women in Afghanistan have a lot of problems with rickets because they'd been under burkas for so long that their skin hadn't absorbed any Vitamin D. It made me wonder how many children these days are at risk. Back in my day, she said, feeling like an octogenarian, we all played outside and got sunburned at worst. A little Coppertone was all you needed--I think the stuff I wore was 8SPF, if that. Now, I've seen stuff that's 64SPF. Damn.

There was an interesting article several weeks ago in the Baltimore Sun about how a researcher at Johns Hopkins believes that the common cold is linked to a deficiency in Vitamin D. During the colder months, we're not outside, getting that sunny D, and therefore we're more susceptible to colds. Makes sense to me.

All I know for sure is that for me as long as there's sunshine, it's a better day. I'll take as much of it as I can possibly get, and I vow to spend less time inside on the computer when we change our clocks and more time outside.