The Health Benefits of Sunlight

The importance of sunlight in the human body is not a new discovery, but some recent scientific research has taken it to a whole new level. Get your daily dose by reading this blog introduction paragraph.

The “15 health benefits of sunshine” is a blog post that discusses the many health benefits of sunlight. The article includes information about the risks and how to get the most out of your time outside.

We’re all seeking for strategies to get rid of our depression and demoralization throughout this epidemic. One of the greatest I’ve discovered is to stand on the edge of my pool’s shallow end, arms crossed on the deck, back to the sun. Stress slips away as the rays penetrate my skin, and peaceful, almost ecstatic emotions flow through my mind. My body feels like a battery that is being recharged by the sun.

You’ve undoubtedly experienced similar experience while sunbathing as well. However, for many people, it’s an event they can’t really appreciate and is laced with guilt. In the moment, laying in the sun feels lovely, but so does smoking a cigarette. We’ve been taught that exposure to the sun is harmful for you, that it causes skin cancer, and that it should be avoided at all costs.

While there are certain risks associated with sun exposure, we may have overdone it. The fact that the sun’s rays promote both mental and physical health in some very major ways — and our old sense as to the validity of this — has gone forgotten in all the cautions against the sun. It’s time to repair our connection with the enormous flaming orb in the sky.

Every civilisation on the planet, from Mexico and India to Egypt and Germany, used to worship the sun as part of their religion. While you don’t have to kneel in front of the life-giving star at the heart of our solar system, you might consider making sunbathing a part of your daily ablutions, turning gathering rays into a regular ritual, and reintroducing the sun to Sunday.

What Happened to Soaking in Sunlight for Health?

Humans have always been attracted to the sun as the most democratic resource on the planet, an inexhaustible supply of warmth and light, and the heavenly force that provides life to everything on earth, and have ascribed health and healing characteristics to its beams for millennia.

The ancient Egyptians believed that exposing your thinning head to the sun would encourage hair growth. Sunbathing was advocated by Hippocrates, the Greek physician, for its health benefits, and many wealthy Greeks and Romans installed solariums in their houses to take advantage of this solar treatment.

Doctors exploited the vitamin D-producing property of sunshine to successfully cure and prevent TB and rickets in the 19th and 20th centuries, which became a bone-weakening plague in certain nations as urbanized youngsters spent less time outdoors. Sunbathing and UV lights were used at sanitariums and health resorts up to the middle of the twentieth century to cure a variety of diseases as well as to simply improve the well-being of the already healthy.

Solar rays, on the other hand, came to be connected with danger and death in the second part of the twentieth century. Dermatologists first raised concerns about the relationship between sunshine and skin cancer in the 1960s. In the United States, campaigns were launched to encourage people to spend less time in the sun and to use sunscreen anytime they were going to be exposed to its rays for an extended period of time.

By the end of the twentieth century, doctors were advising people to wear sunscreen not only when they went to the beach, but every day as a matter of course, since even a little amount of sun may cause cancer, they reasoned. Furthermore, the sun ages your skin, and who wants to appear old? Daily moisturizers started to be developed with built-in sunscreen to protect faces from even accidental sun exposure, such as driving to work or strolling into and out of a grocery shop.

However, in recent years, several scientists and dermatologists have started to cast doubt on the conventional knowledge around sun avoidance. Their findings reveal that avoiding sunlight excessively and blocking its beams with sunscreen when we do go out might cost us a lot in terms of health and energy. Indeed, many of these medical professionals believe that too little sun kills more people than too much light. In his fascinating story “Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?” for Outside Magazine, journalist Rowan Jacobsen profiles a handful of these outlaw dermatologists.

Last year, after reading that piece, I embarked on my own investigation into the link between sunshine and health. I’ve made obtaining sun a regular part of my lifestyle as a result of my studies. Here are some reasons why you should follow suit.

The Science of Sunlight

Understanding the impacts of sunshine requires an understanding of its composition, since various components of sunlight have varied effects on our bodies.

Ultraviolet radiation is a kind of radiation that is produced by the sun. UVA (ultraviolet A), UVB (ultraviolet B), and UVC (ultraviolet C) are the three forms of ultraviolet radiation found in sunlight (UVC). UVA and UVB have the largest impact on human physiology, and we’ll discuss them extensively in this essay.

Light that can be seen. This is the visible light that, when reflected through a prism, creates the Pink Floyd ROYGBIV rainbow on the wall. Our sleep cycle is influenced by different sections of the visible light spectrum, such as blue light.

Infrared radiation is a kind of energy that is emitted by a Infrared can’t be seen with the naked eye. While studies have shown that infrared radiation may be employed for health treatments, I couldn’t find any evidence that this component of sunshine is useful.

Sunlight’s Health Advantages

Vitamin D levels rise when exposed to sunlight.

If you’ve spent any time reading health books or blogs, you’re aware that our bodies produce vitamin D in the presence of sunshine. Vitamin D production is triggered by UVB rays in sunlight: your skin contains cholesterol, and when UVB impacts this epidermal cholesterol, a chemical reaction occurs, converting it to vitamin D.

Vitamin D isn’t a vitamin at all. It’s a prohormone (hormone precursor) that the body needs to produce all of its hormones, from insulin to testosterone.

Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to a variety of health problems due to its important role in hormonal function, including:

Depression
Osteoporosis
Cancer
Low testosterone levels
Diabetes
Cardiomyopathy is a condition that affects the heart.
Stroke

It’s difficult to acquire enough vitamin D from food alone since it’s only contained in a few foods, such as fatty fish. Although you may acquire vitamin D through an oral supplement rather than the sun, the latter is preferable for various reasons: 1) The sun is unrestricted. 2) While it is possible to overdose on additional vitamin D, it is not possible to overdose on the form your body produces from the sun because your body shuts down the conversion process after it has had its fill. 3) While vitamin D is connected with beneficial health outcomes, it may not necessarily be the operative component in sparking these advantages, as we’ll describe below.

Is it the Vitamin D or the Sunlight that causes this?

Because we spend less time outside and use more sunscreen than previous generations, 43 percent of Americans are vitamin D deficient. As a result, many physicians and health experts have suggested that Americans take an oral vitamin D supplement in recent decades. I used to pop one every morning till a few years ago.

But then I began reading research that revealed that supplementing with vitamin D isn’t all that beneficial to one’s health.

Vitamin D, for example, is required for our bodies to absorb calcium and mineralize our bones, making them denser and stronger. However, a 2018 research found that vitamin D supplementation had no effect on bone health.

Low vitamin D levels have been linked to an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke in certain studies. However, one of the biggest and most comprehensive trials of vitamin D ever undertaken revealed that it had no effect on these disorders when the trial’s 25,871 participants were given high doses of the vitamin for five years.

So, what exactly is going on here? If low vitamin D levels are linked to poor health, shouldn’t boosting vitamin D levels by supplementation enhance health?

On this subject, some scholars are arguing that we’ve mixed up cause and correlation. Instead of vitamin D being directly connected to better health outcomes, it’s possible that sunshine is the source of all of those advantages, and that someone’s vitamin D level is just a signal indicating they’re receiving enough sunlight.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, research reveals that many of the health advantages we associate with vitamin D are more likely produced by the other health-improving effects of sunshine. As a result, vitamin D may just be an indicator that you’re receiving enough light to activate those other positive effects.

This isn’t to argue that there aren’t any health advantages that can be attributed solely to vitamin D. However, these studies imply that we should investigate claims that increasing vitamin D consumption, especially via an oral supplement, would always result in immediate health benefits.

Some cancers may be less common as a result of exposure to sunlight.

While sunshine is one of the leading causes of skin cancer (more on that below), studies have shown that obtaining enough sunlight is linked to a decreased risk of a variety of other cancers, including prostate cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia.

The findings implies that sunlight’s function in cancer prevention is mostly due to vitamin D (albeit the complicated correlation/cause problem is still at play, because oral vitamin D supplementation does not seem to impact the disease’s incidence).

While it’s hard to totally reduce the risk of being diagnosed with cancer, eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough of sun may help.

Blood Pressure Is Lowered by Exposure to the Sun

Researchers studying cardiovascular disease have discovered that high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease rates are related to how close or far you live from the Earth’s equator: the closer you live to the equator, the lower your chances of developing cardiovascular disease; the further you live from the equator, the higher your chances.

This dynamic, according to the study, has something to do with sunshine. The closer you are to the equator, the more direct sunshine you will get; the farther you are from the equator, the less direct sunlight you will receive.

So, how does sunshine affect your heart and circulatory system?

Richard Weller, a dermatologist, has identified a biochemical route that permits our bodies to produce nitric oxide. When nitric oxide enters the circulation, it dilates blood vessels, lowering blood pressure. Our bodies retain a large amount of nitric oxide in our skin.

What causes the nitric oxide stores in our skin to be released into our bloodstream?

Sunlight. The UVA component of sunshine, in particular.

This research implies that obtaining enough sunshine on a daily basis may help prevent or lessen the occurrence of a variety of cardiovascular illnesses. In fact, new study suggests that sunbathers had a lower risk of heart disease than those who spend more time inside. Pelle Lindqvist, a Swedish health researcher who has researched the sunbathing habits of 30,000 Swedish women for the last 20 years, discovered that women who spent more time in the sun had lower incidence of blood clots, especially during the winter.

More study into this biological process is required, but the first results are encouraging. Getting enough sun, in addition to eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, may be a significant aspect of living a heart-healthy lifestyle.

Insulin Resistance May Be Reduced by Exposure to the Sun

For many decades, type-2 diabetes has been on the rise among Westerners, and it is currently the sixth greatest cause of death in the United States. When you have type 2 diabetes, the cells in your body grow resistant to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that instructs your cells to open up and allow glucose to enter so that they may get energy. When your cells become resistant to insulin, they cease allowing glucose into your circulation, leading blood sugar levels to rise to dangerously high levels. This may result in a variety of health issues, including renal failure, heart disease, blindness, and blood vessel blockage (which can lead to tissue death, which can lead to limb amputation).

Diabetes may be prevented and managed with a good diet, exercise, and sleep. However, evidence shows that sunshine may help to avoid insulin resistance as well.

People who receive more sunshine had lower blood sugar levels, according to many studies. A metaanalysis of all of these research found that sun exposure may lower the incidence of type-2 diabetes by a modest amount.

So, what is it about sunshine that makes it so beneficial to blood sugar levels?

The initial premise was that since sunshine boosts vitamin D levels and those with good vitamin D levels have a lower risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes, vitamin D must assist keep blood sugar in balance.

However, research found that vitamin D supplementation had no effect on blood sugar levels, indicating that there may not be a link between the vitamin and diabetes after all.

Researchers are now looking at whether sunshine, in addition to vitamin D, has any effect on blood glucose levels. We still don’t have any leads, but it’ll be intriguing to see what the investigation reveals.

Catch some sunlight in the meanwhile to keep diabetes at bay.

The Immune System is Boosted by Sunlight

Do you want to become ill less often? Increase your exposure to the sun.

In two ways, sunlight seems to boost immunological activity. For starters, it produces vitamin D, which has been linked to improved immunological function in several studies. Emerging research reveals that vitamin D may help lessen the problems of COVID-19, which is particularly relevant in our day.

The body’s capacity to fight illness is also boosted by sunshine, which improves the function of our T-cells. Invading viruses and bacteria are rendered harmless by T-cells. Our T-cells mobilize quicker when exposed to sunlight because it stimulates the creation of hydrogen peroxide, which is what triggers our T-cells to migrate to an infection in the body.

While receiving lots of sun won’t fully minimize your risks of becoming ill, evidence shows that it may help you remain healthy and fight infections more effectively.

In addition to improving the immune system’s ability to resist external invaders, sunlight may eliminate viruses and bacteria on surfaces, preventing them from entering the body in the first place. The adage “sunlight is the greatest disinfectant” is more than a metaphor: UVR has been demonstrated to kill viruses including the flu and COVID-19, as well as bacteria like anthrax, e.coli, and TB.

Sunlight may also aid in the treatment of autoimmune illnesses.

When the immune system goes wild, it fights normal components of the body instead of external intruders, resulting in persistent, harmful inflammation. As a consequence, an autoimmune illness develops. Autoimmune disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease, to name a few.

According to certain studies, regular sun exposure may lower the risk of developing an autoimmune condition. Individuals living farther away from the equator, for example, have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with an autoimmune illness than those living closer to the equator, according to research.

Because of its vitamin D and T-cell boosting qualities, sunshine may assist some people who have already been diagnosed with an autoimmune illness maintain a healthy immune system.

However, certain autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, cause photosensitivity, which may make being outside in the sun uncomfortable and painful. So, if you have an autoimmune problem, get medical advice before attempting sun treatment.

Myopia is reduced by exposure to sunlight.

Myopia, also known as near-sightendess, is a condition in which a person can clearly see objects that are close to them but has difficulty seeing things that are far away.

Myopia is on the rise among youngsters all around the globe. The most significant increase in this disease has occurred in China: 60 years ago, 10-20% of young Chinese individuals were myopic; now, close to 90% are.

While myopia hasn’t increased as much in the United States as it has in other countries, it has increased by 25% in the last 40 years.

The most apparent culprit in this trend is technology; with today’s youngsters spending so much time looking at displays just a few inches away from their faces, an increase in near-sightedness seems unavoidable.

However, new study suggests that it’s not the displays that induce myopia, but rather the lack of sunshine that youngsters are exposed to while they’re inside gazing at their screens.

Dopamine is created in the eye when sunlight strikes it, which helps to keep the eyeball from elongating. Myopia is caused by encrustation of the eyeball, which results in a refraction problem. It also indicates that nitric oxide — which, as you may recall, is boosted by sunshine — plays a role in preventing ocular elongation.

Now that health authorities are beginning to recognize the link between myopia and sunshine, China is attempting to limit the number of young people who get the condition by requiring students to spend more time outdoors during the school day. You don’t need to wait for a government requirement to go outside and stop digging inside like a mole, no matter where you live.

Sunlight is good for your mood.

Sunny days are usually associated with pleasure and a good mood. This is because sunshine causes our brains to produce a plethora of feel-good chemicals. Sun exposure, according to Australian researchers, raises levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in maintaining pleasant emotions and preventing depression.

Sunlight also boosts our feeling of motivation, enthusiasm, and drive by increasing dopamine levels in our brains.

Finally, sunshine generates endorphins, which are mood enhancers that may make us feel joyful and elevated.

Sun + nature = a fantastic cocktail of pleasant feelings, since obtaining sun necessitates going outdoors, and being outside is connected with a slew of mood-enhancing benefits.

So, if you’re feeling depressed, go outside and enjoy some sunshine.

Sunlight Helps You Sleep Better

The circadian rhythm of your body is similar to an internal clock that controls when you feel awake and when you feel fatigued. Light is the key thing that affects this clock. Exposure to light, particularly blue light from the visible spectrum of sunlight, inhibits the hormone melatonin while increasing attention and alertness; light effectively tells the body, “Hey, it’s daylight, I better wake up.” Melatonin levels rise when the body winds down in preparation for sleep as natural light fades as the sun sets. Electronic gadgets that generate sunlight-like blue light may disturb this process, which is why physicians advise minimizing your exposure to it at night.

However, if you really want to improve your sleep, you must do more than avoid blue light in the evening; you must also ensure that you receive enough sunshine throughout the day. You can maintain a healthy sleep-wake cycle by exposing yourself to sunlight in the morning and throughout the day. For example, studies have shown that office employees who are exposed to more sunshine during the day via their workplace windows sleep better at night than those who work in windowless rooms; the impact is likely to be much higher for those who are directly exposed to sunlight.

Isn’t it true, though, that sun exposure causes skin cancer?

“Alright,” you may be thinking, “so sun exposure has some health advantages.” Sunlight, on the other hand, is the leading cause of skin cancer. Because cancer is fatal, it’s a good idea to minimize direct sun exposure and use sunscreen every day.”

Yes, skin cancer is caused by exposure to sunshine. “Several distinct illnesses are bundled together under the term’skin cancer,’” writes Rowan Jacobsen in his piece on sunscreen.

Basal-cell carcinomas and squamous-cell carcinomas are two kinds of skin cancer that are quite prevalent but seldom fatal. They may be surgically removed or removed at the dermatologist’s clinic. Basal-cell carcinomas have a cure rate of 97 percent to 99 percent, whereas squamous-cell carcinomas have a cure rate of 92 percent to 97 percent.

Melanoma is the form of skin cancer to be concerned about. Melanoma is more prone to spread to other regions of the body than other forms of skin malignancies, making it more fatal. Melanoma that has spread to the lymph nodes, for example, has a 5-year survival rate of 64%. The 5-year survival rate drops to 24.8 percent if it spreads to more distant regions of the body (such as the liver, kidneys, and other organs).

Melanoma is, without a doubt, fatal. Melanoma is something you don’t want to have.

It is, however, uncommon. Melanoma accounts for just 1% of all new skin malignancies. White individuals are the most likely to contract it, with a lifetime risk of 2.6 percent. More melanin is found in darker skin, which functions as a natural sun protection and reduces the risk of melanoma even more. Hispanics have a.6% lifetime chance of developing melanoma, whereas African-Americans have a.1% lifetime risk.

When individuals are afraid of the sun and skin cancer, it’s usually because they confuse the commonness of benign skin tumors with the deadly nature of melanoma. “Skin cancer is widespread, and it’s sometimes fatal,” they reason, “so I’d best become like Boo Radley and never leave the house without slathering with sunscreen.” Skin cancer is rather frequent, although it is seldom fatal.

Melanoma is not only uncommon, but it also affects more persons who work inside than those who work outside. Males who work outside had roughly half the risk of melanoma as men who work inside, according to one research.

What makes you think that? According to one idea, when you spend more time outside, your body responds by producing melanin, which protects your skin against melanoma. People who spend the most of their time inside and then expose themselves to the sun on occasion lack the protective melanin, which raises their chance of developing melanoma.

Surprisingly, avoiding the sun may raise your risk of developing a more dangerous kind of skin cancer. So there you have it.

Understanding the advantages and hazards of sun exposure has led some doctors to conduct a cost-benefit analysis when it comes to the sun and sunscreen recommendations they provide their patients.

Dermatologist Richard Weller, for example, says that although sunlight is one of the leading causes of skin cancer, it must be weighed against data showing that it has a significant benefit to heart health.

Cardiovascular disease kills more individuals than skin cancer. In fact, 100 people die of heart illness for every person who dies of skin cancer.

Wouldn’t it make sense to encourage individuals to obtain more sunshine if it can assist them enhance their heart health but seldom kills them by causing skin cancer?

The key to this cost-benefit analysis is determining how much sun you need to get the advantages while minimizing the danger of skin cancer.

So, How Much Natural Light Do You Require?

It all depends on your pasty or swarthy complexion.

The more melanin you have, the more sunlight you’ll need to get the sun’s advantages; the less melanin you have, the less sun exposure you’ll require.

As a result, lighter-skinned people need less sun exposure, whereas darker-skinned individuals require more.

This is significant because, for decades, many doctors have offered blanket, one-size-fits-all advice on limiting sun exposure and applying sunscreen that does not take skin color into account.

As previously stated, melanin functions as a natural UV protection factor, thus those with darker, more melanin-rich skin have a lower chance of developing skin cancer than those with fairer skin. One of the numerous variables contributing to the disparity in health outcomes between black and white Americans may be telling individuals of color who require more sunshine to put on sunscreen and avoid the sun like fair-skinned people. If you have darker complexion, keep that in mind.

Aside from skin tone, there are no hard and fast guidelines regarding how much sun you need for good health. Even among scientists and physicians who believe that sun exposure without sunscreen is helpful, there is disagreement on the appropriate dosage of it.

One school of thought contends that as long as you don’t burn, you’ll be alright. This allows the individual a lot of freedom while also requiring them to be aware of how their skin reacts to the sun.

Another organization recommends that individuals only receive 10 minutes of sun per day on 35 percent of their exposed skin if they don’t use sunscreen.

Sunburns should be avoided at all costs, regardless of whatever guideline you follow. Getting tanned isn’t healthy for you.

There are a few more factors to consider when deciding how much unprotected sun to get: You’ll need to spend less time in the sun in the summer since you’ll be exposed to more direct rays. Usually, just 10 to 20 minutes are required. You’ll need to spend more time in the winter, up to an hour.

Because the UV index is maximum between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., you may receive all the sun you need in just a few minutes if you sunbathe between those hours. Outside of those times, you’ll have to spend more time in the sun to get the advantages. It’s difficult to offer precise timings once again. Just don’t set fire to it.

The Sunlight Institute suggests gradually increasing sun exposure to allow your body to adjust. As your skin is exposed to more sunshine, it produces more melanin and develops a tan, allowing you to spend more time in the sun. Begin with a few minutes every day and progressively increase the amount of time.

You won’t be able to increase your exposure if you have a skin tone that doesn’t tan, such as if you’re really fair-skinned and move straight from white to red. Simply set out a few minutes each day before applying sunscreen and/or clothing to keep your skin protected.

If you have darker skin, you may begin by spending more time in the sun than persons with lighter complexion. However, although sun damage and sunburns are less likely to occur in persons with darker skin, they are still possible, and you should avoid excessive exposure.

When you’re going to be exposed to sunlight in excess of the moderate levels indicated above, you should use sunscreen, caps, clothes, and avoid baking directly in the sun for too long, regardless of your skin tone. While sunshine is beneficial to one’s health in small amounts, excessive exposure, as well as the skin damage and sunburns that ensue, are nevertheless harmful and deadly.

Getting Some Sun When There Isn’t Much

Summer is a great time to get some sun. But what do you do in the winter if you don’t have much light?

Make an effort to be outdoors as often as possible throughout the cold, dark months of the year. Taking a stroll is the simplest method to do this. Put your coat and scarf on and go for a 15-minute stroll a few times a day. Of course, you only get sun on your face/scalp when you’re all covered up, so if the weather isn’t too cold and you’re up for it, go for a walk in a t-shirt.

But what if you live in a place where it’s always cloudy in the winter, even during the day?

You may want to try going to a tanning parlor. In recent decades, tanning beds/booths have been heavily criticized, with news reports equating a visit to one to smoking a pack of cigarettes.

These warnings are correct: tanning booth usage on a regular basis and for an extended period of time may dramatically raise your risk of skin cancer.

However, research has shown that tanning booths that release 95% UVA and 5% UVB rays (about the same composition as natural sunshine) may deliver many of the same health-boosting advantages as natural sun exposure when utilized properly. (Not all tanning beds release UVBs; seek for ones that do.)

The important thing is to use them wisely. Make it a point to go a couple times a month and keep your sessions brief. Begin with the shortest length of time and work your way up from there.

We experienced an extremely chilly and dismal December and January a few years back in Tulsa, OK. I was depressed and tired to the point of exhaustion. I used every method I knew to keep the black dog under control, but nothing worked. Kate, who had also read Jacobsen’s piece, advised that I lay in a tanning bed for a few minutes, something I had never done before in my life and had never envisioned myself doing.

“There’s no way.” “Do I remind you of Pauly D.?”

“You definitely need some sun, and with the weather the way it’s been these last several months, you’re not getting any.” Just take a chance. She retorted, “You’ll just lose a few minutes of your life.”

I had a membership at a neighboring 10 Gym at the time (not to work out, but just so I could use their sauna). I headed over to the gym and signed up for a five-minute session in one of the tanning booths. I’ll be darned if I didn’t feel great afterwards. I tanned approximately once a week for the remainder of the winter since it was so amazing. My blahs and exhaustion subsided as a result.

UV radiation’s therapeutic capabilities ought to be praised!

Since the dawn of time, humans have oriented themselves toward the sun’s light and strength. If you’ve been feeling unwell, tired, and downcast, it’s possible that you need to enter the temple of the outdoors, remove your shirt, lift your pale arms to the sky, and become a sun worshipper yourself.

Sources

Steve Jones’ Here Comes the Sun

Marc Sorenson’s Embrace the Sun

“Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?” says the author. Rowan Jacobson’s work

The “is sun exposure good for you” is a question that is often asked. There are many benefits of the sun, but it is important to be careful when going outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is sunlight beneficial to our health?

A: It is beneficial for our health in two ways. First, it helps make vitamin D which is essential for proper development and good bone health. Second, sunlight boosts mood by helping regulate hormones such as serotonin and melatonin that help you sleep better at night