8 Reasons To Get Sunshine Daily
“The best six doctors anywhere, and no-one can deny it, are sunshine water, rest, air, exercise and diet.” – Wayne Fields
Can you imagine the action that would be going on outside if computers, televisions, phones and so on didn’t exist?! How fun would that be? It is unfortunate that so many people struggle to get even 10 minutes of sunshine a day. Sunshine, and of course Vitamin D, is absolutely essential. Vitamin D nuclear receptors have been detected on over 30 organs in the body, so the role of Vitamin D is almost endless. Some of these organs include our kidneys, bones, lungs, muscle and skin.
Why Is Sunshine So Essential?
- Think about how happy you are after a day in the sun. Several studies have proven that exposure to sunlight significantly reduces or even eliminates, one’s symptoms of depression. Therefore, daily sunshine may be an easy, cost-effective way of improving mental illness.
- Vitamin D is essential in order to heal and seal a leaky gut.
- Vitamin D is required for calcium absorption, ensuring your bones are kept strong and healthy.
- Autoimmune disorders have tripled in the last 50 years, so clearly we are doing something wrong. Vitamin D has been shown to reduce symptoms as well as the risk of autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and Type 1 Diabetes.
- Vitamin D can regulate your blood pressure and increase your chance of a longer life span.
- It can reduce your risk of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and other metabolic syndromes due to the link between insulin sensitivity and Vitamin D levels.
- Vitamin D is a huge contributor in regulating your immune system.
- Sleep and sunshine go hand in hand. Just 10 minutes of sunshine a day is enough for the body to produce all the vitamin D it needs for health, however, without at least 9 hours of full darkness no matter how much sunlight you get there will never be enough Vitamin D produced.
What Can You Do About It?
Synthetic supplements will never compare to the real thing. Vitamin D needs to come from the sun and through high-quality Vitamin D rich foods, using supplements as an absolute last resort. Take note that cholesterol is required for the production of Vitamin D in the body, and Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and, therefore, requires dietary fat to be absorbed and utilized. If you have high cholesterol, your body may be doing you a favor by trying to increase your Vitamin D absorption, so use this as a sign that you need to increase your sun exposure and Vitamin D dietary intake.
Try to include foods that are also naturally rich in Vitamin D, such as grass fed liver, butter, ghee, eggs and dairy, as well as oily fish, cod liver oil and even mushrooms that have been exposed to the sun.
To get the Vitamin D your body needs, expose yourself to the sun for at least 10 minutes a day with as much skin exposed as possible. Sit, walk, ride, swim, run or read a book outside and in amongst nature. It will make such a difference to your overall health, happiness and wellbeing.