Benefits of Sunlight
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 sunlight 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.
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.
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—about 15 minutes in the sun a day is adequate if you’re fair-skinned. And since Vitamin D helps your body maintain calcium and prevents brittle, thin, or misshapen bones, soaking in the sun may be just what the doctor ordered.
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.
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.
Fights Off Depression
It’s not just in your head; there’s a scientific reason why 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.
Can Give You A Longer Life
A study that followed 30,000 Swedish 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.
Of course, a little sunlight can go a long way (and too much is harmful to our skin). Depending on the shade of your skin, scientists estimate your body can produce vitamin D in about 5 to 30 minutes in the sun. If you’re wearing sunscreen, you may not produce as much vitamin D. If you’re outside for some much-needed vitamin D, don’t expose bare skin longer than 5 to 30 minutes.
Negative Effects of Sunshine on Skin
There are many adverse complications that can be caused by overexposure to the sun. The following is a brief description of the most common complications – from sunburn to skin cancer.
Sunburn
Sunburn is characterised by red, sore and blistering skin. Sunburn is the most common form of sun damage and is mainly caused by UVB rays. It is characterised by red, sore and blistering skin. These symptoms may not appear immediately and can take up to five hours to appear. Sunburn can be prevented by applying sunscreen every day and by minimising exposure to the sun when UV rays are strongest (between 10 am and 4 pm). Treatment of sunburn centres on cooling the skin to relieve pain and inflammation. This includes applying a cold flannel to the affected area and using ‘after-sun’ products that cool and soothe the skin.
Sun allergies
Polymorphus Light Eruption (PLE) is the most common form of sun allergy and is diagnosed in about 90% of all patients with sun allergy. Its prevalence in Western Europe and the USA is approximately 20%. Sun allergies are triggered by oxidative stress caused by UVA- and, to a lesser extent, UVB-induced free radicals.
Acne aestivalis (Mallorca acne) is triggered when UV radiation (found in sunlight) combines with certain ingredients in topical cosmetics or sunscreens, such as emulsifiers, causing irritation and inflammation of the sebaceous follicle. Acne aestivalis affects approximately 1-2% of the population, with young to middle-aged women (25-40 years) being most affected. Its symptoms are very similar to those of PLE, and it is often difficult to distinguish between them.
Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is most likely to appear on skin that is more exposed to the sun, so facial skin is at risk. As actinic keratosis is a precancerous lesion, some keratoses can develop into cancer.
Acnitic keratoses are dry scaly patches of skin caused by damage from years of sun exposure. They are pink, red or brown and range in width from 0.5 to 3cm and most commonly found on the face (especially the lips, nose and forehead), neck, forearms and backs of hands and (on men) on the rims of the ears and bald scalps and (on women) on the legs below the knees.
Basal cell skin cancers look like a small, slow growing, shiny, pink or red lump. If left, they tend to become crusty, bleed, or develop into an ulcer. They are most frequently found on the face, scalp, ears, hands, shoulders and back. Squamous cell skin cancers are usually pink lumps. They may have hard or scaly skin on the surface and are most often found on the face, neck, lips, ears, hands, shoulders, arms and legs. They can bleed easily and develop into an ulcer.
Melanoma is the most serious type of cancer. The first sign is often the appearance of a new mole or the change in appearance of an existing mole. Melanomas are more likely to have an irregular shape, be more than one colour and be larger than 6mm. They can be found anywhere on the body but the back, legs, arms and face are the most common locations.
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