IELTS Reading Matching Features Example 3

How to handle the Sun

A. The medical world appears to be divided on the effects of the sun upon the human body. From statements like, “There is no known relationship between a tan and health” to “perhaps sun-tanned skin absorbs the ultraviolet rays and converts them into helpful energy”, there are some things which are still the topic of research. Doctors agree on one of the benefits of the sun – vitamin D. It is well known that vitamin D is acquired from the direct rays of the sun – an entirely separate miracle from sun tanning. The sun’s ultraviolet rays penetrate only a tiny amount into the human skin, but in the process, they irradiate an element in the skin called ergosterol, which is a substance that stores up reserves of vitamin D received from the sun. This is both healthy and beneficial for human skin. The sun has long been called nature’s greatest health giver and healer and has played a chief role at health resorts ever since August Rollick, the Swiss father of heliotherapy, opened his first high-Alps sanatorium in 1903. 

B. Dr. W. W. Coblenz suggests that the sun cure is a major factor in the treatment of at least 23 skin diseases, ranging from acne and eczema to ulcers and wounds. Another specialist, Dr. Richard Kovacs writes, “Sun treatment is often helpful to persons suffering from general debility – repeated colds, respiratory diseases, influenza and the like”. After a long winter, the return to the sun writes Dr. Leonard Dodds, the British sunlight scholar, “is a general stimulus to the body, more potent if applied after a period when it has been lacking which gradually loses its effect if exposure is over prolonged, even when not excessive”.

1. Suggests that the sun assists with common illnesses
2. Thinks the location is very important in maximizing the benefit from the sun
3. Suggests that the sun is an excellent healer
4. Thinks that initially, the sun is of benefit to the body