INTERNATIONAL NUDIST

Though nudity is often taboo in modern societies, frequent nudity can have health benefits. Obviously, if the air temperature is too cold, your environment or activity is dangerous, dirty, abrasive or otherwise hostile, nudity may not be so healthy. However, if you are somewhere where nudity is safe, legal and acceptable, such as home, private backyard or a nudist resort, you can be doing your body good!

Here are a few health benefits:

• Vitamin D - Sunlight exposure to the skin allows your body to make it’s own vitamin D. If you are nude, you are creating more vitamin D than if you only have, say, your face and arms exposed to the sunlight. Of course be careful of too much sun, which can lead to skin cancer. A good rule is to avoid sunburn. It’s your body’s way of saying you’ve been in the sun too long!
• Skin health - The drying effect, UV light and warming by the sun is good for many skin conditions. Ultra-violet light helps lessen the symptoms of psoriasis and kills surface fungus on the skin. The increased air flow allow parts of the body to air-out and this helps prevent fungal, bacterial infections as well as bad odors.
• Keeping cool - The human body has an amazing ability to regulate it’s temperature, especially to stay cool enough as the temperature climbs and humidity increases - if it’s allowed to. The body can cool much more effectively when nude. Clothes often do what you’d expect - they insulate! Various ideas about long sleeves being better to wick away sweat or keep out the heat are mostly BS. I always have to laugh when I see western anthropologists wearing a lot of clothing when studying nude natives in hot, humid areas. The westerners claim it’s somehow better to wear clothing in the environment…implying that somehow the natives didn’t figure that out over thousands of years!
• Comfort/Stress-relief - Comfort is like the opposite of pain and stress. Nudity, in a comfortable environment can relax your mind and your body, lowering stress hormones.
• Digestive tract flow - Few people realize how everyday clothes constrict the proper flow of digesting food in the intestines. Nudity lets things move naturally.
• Body awareness - Nudity can be indirectly healthy because when nude, you are more likely to think about your body and see signs of unhealthiness needing treatment. If others see you nude, they could point out health-related concerns as well.
• Nude exercise - Nudity can be a great way to enjoy exercise. With nudity, you have more freedom of movement, greater comfort and a greater ability to cool naturally and effectively by sweating.

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You haven’t lived until you’ve hiked naked!

Have you ever been walking along, in the wilderness or otherwise and thought “Gee, this would feel even better with out clothes”? Hiking nude may be the ultimate experience of freedom. Nothing between you and the air allows you to totally relax and become one with the environment.

Now, finding a place to hike nude is not always easy. You may be lucky enough to live near a nudist resort with adequate trails. If not, you can find sufficiently remote areas of state and federal parks where you are  unlikley to encounter anyone. Usually if you do encounter someone, they will not report you nor have an unfavorable reaction. It is considerate, however, to have a pair of shorts handy in case you see them before they see you. Types of suitable terrain could be anything hikable, from forests, to mountains to deserts. Your items you want to carry can be kept in a back-pack or fanny-pack. As with clothed hiking, keep in mind sunscreen and insect-repelling needs. 

Check these links for more information on hiking nude:
Nude Hiking on National Forest Lands (legalities, etc.)
Naked Hiking on Wikipedia
Nude Hiking and Soaking in the Pacific Northwest
Hiking Nude, on BodyFreedom.org
Hiking Naked Forums (hikingnaked.com)
Nude Hiking is for Real
Hiking Nude. What It Feels Like!
Roger’s Nude Hiking Page
Arroyo Seco River Hike
Nude Hiking in the Northwest: A Mini-Guide
Steve’s Northwest Nude Hiking: reactions!
Naturist Hikers Yahoo group
Naked Hikers Yahoo group
Nude Hiking in the Yukon & Alaska
Nude Hiking Etiquette & Tips
Hiking au’ natural in the Pacific Northwest (slideshow)
Go Nude Hiking on 43things.com
Naked hiking on Wikipedia
Nude Hiking on Flicker
Nude hiking thread on Nudist-Resorts.org
Welcome to Bare Country (Canadian naturist hiking)
Hiking Naked Forums
Randonnues (French)
Naked-Hikers / Bushwalkers Australia
Nackt in den Bergen (German)
North Florida Naturist Hiking & Camping
Randonue ou Randonnue (French)
SE Queenland Nudists (Australia)
Shane’s Hiking Journal
Nude bush walks article
Nude Hiking in Washington’s Cascade Mountains
Five days of nude hiking (barepacking) in the Ocala National Forest
Nude Hiking in Washington’s Cascade Mountains
Naked Rambler official site
Singles Outdoor Club Naturist Walks (UK)
Nude Hiking in Washington’s Cascade Mountains
ScoutLeben: gebührenfreie Natur- und Wildnislehren (German)
Nackt Wandern (German)
Nackt Joggen (German)
WaldFKK forum (German)
NacktWandern.org (German)
Hiking Naked - Naked Body, Naked Mind

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Did prehistoric man tan? It seems quite likley that they would have taken at least short breaks from their clothing to dry out, clean up and feel refreshed. Genetic studies of the human body louse indicate at least some humans started wearing clothing about 72,000 years ago. I say some, because there are still remote ethnicities that live their lives nude today (not even counting us nudists of western society)!

Imagine something like ice age clothing. You’d need multiple layers, and you would start sweating with the everyday activities such as hunting, gathering, and grinding food. This was way before washing machines, underwear, swim trunks, inexpensive clothing at Old Navy, private bedrooms, soap and showers. On top of this, notice I mention the study of lice. Yes, body lice had been a consistent scourge of humanity since we invented clothing, until more modern hygienic times. Now imagine all the itching and how all sorts of things, from lice, to fungus, to smelly bacteria could breed under a caveman’s clothes. What would be the only real solution? Get naked - and often! Getting nude in the sun for a few minutes would have help to dry and cleanse the skin and clothing, and would have provided more vitamin D absorption through the skin. In fact, it’s the human body’s physiological “desperation” for vitamin D that led to the evolution of lighter skin tones of some races. By the fire at night would have been another good place to get nude, with similar drying-out effects to sunlight.

And remember… the study said that some humans started wearing clothing 72,000 years ago, which indicates everyone was pretty much nude, all the time and everywhere, before that!

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There is an exploding craze out there sweeping the nation. Sure, maybe it’s a small minority of folks, and of course it will never reach every small town. Yes, it’s nude yoga. An obviously good idea, right? Why did we ever think it was a good idea to wear clothing for an exercise system that is intended for you to freely stretch this way and that? Unlike some exercise, there are no dangers warranting clothing, and the free, relaxing state of being nude seems the perfect way to do yoga.

Though nude yoga has been practiced in a limited way in the U.S. since the 60’s, the recent wave seems to be radiating from San Francisco (who would have guessed?). In fact, it is legal to do nude yoga in public in San Francisco. Now there are nude yoga classes springing up from New York City to Seattle. Will it come to your town? Maybe you could start such a class - provided you’re qualified to teach yoga, that is!

Naked Yoga article on Wikipedia
Liberating Experience of Naked Yoga (Ygoy.com)
Naked yoga and nude exercising are become quite the rage (Terra Cotta Inn)
Naked Yoga, a naturist and spiritual practice (BecomeNatural.com)
Naked Yoga (FitSugar.com)
Doing it in the altogether is what makes this yoga practice altogether free from distractions (SFGate.com)
Naked Yoga Revealed (CommonGroundMag.com)
Yogi bare: Stripping off allows for a more spiritual practice, says instructor (The Vancouver Sun)
Naked Yoga NYC ~ Asana Exposed (SensualShaman.com)

Naked Yoga Slideshow (The Vancouver Sun)

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Recent studies have showed surprising cancer-prohibitive effects of sunlight. It is well-documented that excessive sunlight exposure increases the rate of skin cancers. But now studies show that the incidence of some other, internal cancers are reduced.

Studies have revealed cancer-prohibitive effects of vitamin D on colon and breast cancers so far. Vitamin D is available from some foods, and is also produced by a reaction of the skin to sunlight. A severe deficit of vitamin D can cause disease such as rickets. Of course, if lighter skin people benefit from sunshine, darker-skinned people need even more for the same effects.

So why is this on a nudist blog? Nudists are generally sun-lovers, getting more sunlight exposure than the average person. A nude body also gets more sunlight than someone with a conventional bathing suit. Sunbathing for the sake of getting sunlight exposure/vitamin D is therefore a little safer nude, allowing one to absorb a given quantity of sunlight, spread over a little more of the body than would be the case in a bathing suit (thereby allowing one to absorb a quantity of sunlight with less time in the sun).

Of course, take into consideration your own skin’s ability to handle the sun. A dark complected person may be fine all day in the sunshine, whereas a light-complected person may burn in minutes. Sunburn should always be avoided, so regardless of your skin tone, know your own limits.

Scientific American: A Protein Twofer That Triggers Tanning and Protects against Skin Cancer
Researchers find that a protein activated to repair DNA damage also activates tanning, which can protect against melanoma.

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