Do you know how important it is to get a little sunshine? Scientifically, sunshine has a lot of benefits for our bodies. You can’t see it happening, but you can feel it. It’s there when you walk outside on a sunny day and you get that warm hug feeling right before your nice shirt is stained with pit sweat. Have you ever wondered why you feel more irritable and moody in the colder months? Well, it might not only be because your favorite ice cream stand is closed. It could also be because you’re lacking sun exposure.
Here are seven great reasons to get outside and soak in the sun:
1. Maintains Strong Bones
One of the best (and easiest) ways to get vitamin D is by being outside. Our bodies produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. And since Vitamin D helps your body maintain calcium and prevents brittle, thin, or misshapen bones, soaking in sun may be just what the doctor ordered.
2. Helps Keep the Weight Off
Getting outside for 30 minutes sometime between 8 a.m. and noon has been linked to weight loss. There, of course, could be other factors to this, but it seems there’s a connection between sunlight in the early morning and weight loss.
3. Strengthens Your Immune System
Vitamin D is also critical for your immune system, and with consistent exposure to sunlight, you can help strengthen it. A healthy immune system can help reduce the risk of illness, infections, some cancers, and mortality after surgery.
4. Fights Off Depression
It’s not just in your head; there’s a scientific reason being in the sunshine improves your mood. Sunshine boosts your body’s level of serotonin, which is a chemical that improves your mood and helps you stay calm and focused. Increased exposure to natural light may help ease the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder–a change in mood that typically occurs in the fall and winter months when there are fewer hours of daylight.
5. Can Give You a Longer Life
A study that followed 30,000 women revealed that those who spent more time in the sun lived six months to two years longer than those with less sun exposure. More research needs to be done in this area, but it’s something scientists are continuing to study.
6. Improves Your Sleep
Your body creates a hormone called melatonin that is critical to helping you sleep. Because your body starts producing it when it’s dark, you usually start to feel sleepy two hours after the sun sets, which is one of the reasons our bodies naturally stay up later in the summer.
Research indicates that an hour of natural light in the morning will help you sleep better. Sunshine regulates your circadian rhythm by telling your body when to increase and decrease your melatonin levels. So, the more daylight exposure you can get, the better your body will produce melatonin when it’s time to go to sleep.
7. Reduces Stress
Melatonin also lowers stress reactivity and being outside will help your body naturally regulate melatonin, which can help reduce your stress level. Additionally, because you’re often doing something active when you’re outside (walking, playing, etc.), that extra exercise also helps to lower stress.
What Happens if You Don’t Get Enough Sunlight?
Of course, not getting enough sunlight can have negative effects on both your body and mind. A lack of sunlight, such as during the winter months, can lead to a form of depression called a seasonal affective disorder. This is a type of depression where the changes in season affect your mood. It can start in late fall or early winter and cause you to feel down, or have the “winter blues.” Symptoms can range from mild to severe. Getting enough vitamin D, and using a lightbox can help during the darker winter months.
Article Credit: https://selecthealth.org/blog/2020/07/7-health-benefits-of-sunlight https://www.singlecare.com/blog/benefits-of-sunlight/
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