I have been experimenting with a phenomena that I noticed while I have been running everyday. I was tracking my mood after my runs, and I believe I have established an absolute fact. When I run in the morning, with the sunshine I am generally in a better mood then if I were to run in darkness. As I have learned, there is real science behind this. I will explain, but before I do, here is the main point of today’s blog. You need sunshine.
You actually do not need a lot. Approximately 15 minutes of exposure to the sun, the kind of exposure you would get during a day at the pool or beach, is all that you need to gain several significant benefits. I would recommend getting a dose of sunlight exposure in the early morning hours because of the first important reason. Sunlight produces serotonin on your body.
Your retina has little receptors in it and when it is exposed to direct sunlight then it will trigger the release of the hormone called serotonin into your body. When it gets dark and there is darkness, the receptors will trigger the release of the melatonin hormone into your body. Serotonin boots your mood helping you feel calm and focused. The opposite hormone, melatonin helps you fall asleep. There have been hundreds of studies on this and it is pretty clear that the human body reacts to sunlight and darkness with these chemicals. Yes, you can even fake it out. You can buy a circadian optics lamp that produces 10,000 lux of full spectrum light and that will do the same trick. You can trick your body into releasing serotonin by using artificial light as well.
There have been a number of studies linking depression and other mood disorders with areas of the world with less sunlight. Yes, people that live on beaches around the equator are generally more happy then people that live toward the poles in the winter. You might notice this trend as well. Your winter months are when you start feeling down, and the summer months are when you are the happiest. This is all because of this chemical release that occurs in your body. However, there are other strong benefits as well.
The most important is what your skin does with sunlight. People with different skin tones will be impacted by this differently, so disclaimer here. For me, the average white Caucasian, just being in the sunlight for a 30 minute period can produce over 50,000 IUs of Vitamin D a day. Your skin actually absorbs sunlight and takes the ultraviolet-B radiation and goes through a chemical conversion process to create Vitamin D. The human body needs massive quantities of Vitamin D for many reasons, the most important being that of bone health. The rise in bone wasting diseases in small children maybe a direct link to the fact that we are not exposed to the sunshine as much as we need to be.
Before you think, sunlight causes cancer – you are right. It does in excessive quantities it can lead to a variety of skin cancers. However, a moderate amount of sunlight has been linked to prevention of many types of cancer. The reason is that research shows far less per population occurrences of forms of cancer in ares with greater daylight hours. It seems that the more opportunity for sunlight exposure deceases the potential for colon, pancreatic, ovarian, prostrate and lymphoma types of cancers.
Sunlight actually helps the skin in many ways. Increased UV ray exposure can help treat psoriasis, eczema, jaundice and even acne. Other research has been done trying to establish a link with sunlight and improving other major diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammation related disease and thyroid production related complications. Now, please do not read this and strip all your clothes off and go running around in direct sunlight all day. Moderation is the key, too much exposure is definitely damaging to your skin and streaking the neighborhood is definitely not advised.
However, I will say this. Doing something outside, in the sun has definitely had an impact on me. I have seen a better attitude, improved mood, generally a better resistance to disease and an improved sleep pattern. There are probably many casual factors in this, exercise, diet being the two major ones. However, time in direct sunlight I think is an important ingredient and something to consider in your daily habit routine.
Guy Reams
