Studies have proven the benefits of sunlight and the disadvantages of too much, but that's not all there is to it. Too much sunlight exposure is linked to certain types of skin cancer; too little has been linked to an increased risk of a variety of diseases, illnesses, and depression.
Top links on google for a search of benefits of sunlight include:
National Institutes of Health
Mind Body Green
Healthline
They are all worth looking at and comparing. Through further investigation of more sites in the result of this simple search on google shows that there is more knowledge on what benefits sunlight exposure has and less knowledge on how sunlight causes these beneficial changes. If you search for your own answers, avoid relying on sites that basically advertise sunlight's benefits and base your decisions on the information provided by sites that explain how sunlight causes the benefits or if the sites offer where the information was derived (preferably a source that conducted scientific studies or research to support the information) or if links to sites and studies that rely on scientific methods to produce their conclusions.
Sunlight's potential to prevent and heal diseases appears to be completely awesome, but watch out for the things that increase risks for acquiring health problems. Sites that call "anti-sunlight" people "paranoid" probably don't understand the science supporting the risks of over-exposure or exposure to high UV sunlight. Weather reports don't include a "UV index" for fun- over-exposure to UVR or even short exposures to sunlight with high levels of UVR can damage the cells in the skin and even your retina.
Things to watch out for:
-Long duration exposures
-Exposures to midday sunlight
-UV index- ozone depleted zones in the stratosphere can create a high risk location (ozone helps to block harmful radiation)- Australia and New Zealand, for example
-Products designed to block UVR can be bad for you in many ways
Tips for adding sunlight to your life:
-Limits are good: short exposures will maximize benefits and minimize risks, to an extent; watch your UV index forecast; choose the right kind of sunlight- midday light is best avoided; eat a proper diet (different colors can add nutrients, fun, and flavor!)
-Vitamin D- Unless your deficient and eat foods that have it, you shouldn't need to add a vitamin D pill to your intake; plus not all vitamin D pills are equal and absorption and sunlight are key
-Don't throw your antidepressant pills out just yet- Some people have medical problems that can even prevent sunlight from being very helpful for depression alone: reason for this is there are many different serotonin problems via pathways in the brain and metabolic problems. Sunlight can easily be a missing puzzle piece in making your antidepressant as effective as it could be.
-Antioxidant support- If you work out a lot and require more calories to compensate it or you have other other forms of increased levels of free radicals, a diet high in antioxidants will be helpful in protecting your cells genetic material. The effectiveness of some antioxidant supplements is often argued to be nowhere near as effective as consuming the same chemicals via food sources.
A fun fact: fluorescent lights produce a good bit of UV light and have protective lenses or coatings to help this problem.
Protect your eyes: UV damage to your retinas is truly no joke. They offer UV protecting lenses for prescription eye glasses, UV protecting contact lenses, UV protecting sunglasses (common practice, but I wouldn't suggest that sunglasses at the dollar stores always have the same protection), and UV protecting windows for your home.
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