The widespread awareness that excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun can lead to skin cancer has led people to be cautious about spending time in the sun. However, just as people need to protect themselves from excess sun, they must also ensure that they are getting enough to enjoy the health benefits of sunlight.
Finding the right balance can help people maintain optimal vitamin D levels and enjoy the mental health benefits of a sunny day without putting themselves at risk. Read on to learn more about the various health benefits of sunlight.
Top Health Benefits of Sun Gazing
Reduce Stress
Melatonin also reduces stress reactivity, and being outdoors will help your body regulate melatonin naturally, which can help reduce your stress level. Plus, because you often do something active when you’re outside (walking, playing, etc.), that extra exercise also helps reduce stress.
Maintains Strong Bones
One of the best (and easiest) ways to get vitamin D is to be outside. Our bodies make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight; 15 minutes in the sun a day is sufficient if you have fair skin. And since vitamin D helps your body maintain calcium and prevents brittle, thin, or deformed bones, soaking in the sun may be just what your doctor ordered.
Eye Health
Moderate amounts of sun throughout your life, especially in adolescence and young adulthood, can make it less likely that you will have trouble seeing things at a distance (myopia). However, an excessive amount of direct daylight can damage your eyes. It can cause blurred vision and increase your chances of cataracts.
Helps Maintain Weight
Going outside for 30 minutes sometime between 8 a.m. also, early afternoon has been connected to weight loss. Of course, there could be other factors to this, but there seems to be a connection between early morning sunlight and weight loss.
Depression and SAD
SAD is a specific type of depression. Symptoms develop or get worse when the days get shorter and improve when the days get longer. This means that people with SAD will experience the most intense symptoms in January and February in the Northern Hemisphere. Researchers say that between 1.5% and 9% of people in the United States may have SAD.
While it is common for people to have episodes of winter blues, SAD is a diagnosable condition that can significantly affect people’s mental health. Similarly as with different types of gloom, SAD meddles with individuals’ capacity to carry on with their everyday lives and causes a low mind-set that can feel outlandish. People may lose the ability to find pleasure in activities they once loved, have trouble thinking, or feel worthless. They may also notice changes in their eating and sleeping habits.
Sun Gazing Helps Stimulate the Body’s Production of Vitamin D.
At the point when the skin is presented to the sun’s bright beams, a cholesterol compound in the skin is changed into a forerunner of vitamin D. This fat-soluble vitamin is necessary for the absorption of calcium by the body. It is likewise vital for development and secures against muscle shortcoming. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit in the sun all day; exposing the face and arms to the sun for fifteen minutes, three days seven days is a compelling method to guarantee satisfactory measures of vitamin D in the body.
Sunlight as Treatment
In addition to some skin problems, filtered sunlight can also treat a condition called jaundice that mainly affects newborns. It occurs when there is too much chemical bilirubin in the blood and makes the baby’s skin look slightly yellow. Placing your baby in the sunlight behind a window (to filter out harmful types of rays) can help remove bilirubin. Never expose a newborn to direct sunlight outside.
Final Thoughts
Sunlight provides a wide range of health benefits. Even just 10 to 15 minutes of daily exposure can boost vitamin D production and regulate your sleep schedule. However, too much sunlight can lead to adverse health effects like skin cancer. That is why it is important to use sunscreen daily.
Is Sitting in the Sun Good For You?
Yes, but too much time outdoors without protection can not only increase your chance of getting skin cancer, but it can also make your skin age faster, causing wrinkles, a leathery texture, and dark spots. And sunburned skin uses white blood cells from your immune system to heal itself. This can affect your body’s ability to fight germs and make it more likely that you will get sick.
Want to increase the amount of time you spend in the sunlight try one of this summer hobbies.
