Happiness Health and Beauty Secrets

It depends. You would definitely have to supplement with vitamin d.  There are also other hormones that are regulated by your exposure.  Your exposure to sun and light affect circadian rhythms, sleep, wake cycle, moods, depression, happy chemicals, and endorphins.  When I go to Florida in the middle of the winter, after one day of sun I feel like a million dollars. Is that a direct hormonal response to the sunlight to my endorphins,  or is it additional massive amounts of vitamin D ? I dont think we have enough research. We do have literally thousands of studies about vitamin D.  Indications are  that we are all deficient.  In short I would say you would definitely do more harm than good. Alternative medicine gurus say that avoidance of the sun causes all types of cancers. I have read studies that with the exception of skin cancer, “anecdotally” those with more sun exposure have less of all kinds of cancers. Correlation does not equal causation. Just because we see numbers pointing in one direction we can not conclude A equals B. We need research. But how do you do a lifetime of research and eliminate all the other mitigating risks ? Maybe people who get more sun are more active. Is that the real reason ? Maybe those who get more sun are healthier eaters and that is the reason. Sadly as far as hard core scientific research is concerned with an animal that lives 100 year, it is almost impossible to set up experiments with strict controls on all variables. So you are just going to have to use common sense and place your bets on your lifestyle choices. I would recommend that you get sun whenever you can without sunscreen of any kind unless you live in a sunshine state then you should wear sunscreen. New York or further North we definitely dont get enough sun. But i would definitely not sun bathe without protection and especially be careful of areas prone to skin cancer like ears, neck and hands. But we do need sun. So sorry its a split decision but I think you understand.  Be prudent, consider your location and time in the sun and either cover up or seek more. We do need a certain amount of sun.  Ideally 20 minutes full body exposure is good, but protect those areas that get sun all the time like your face hands, neck and ears. PS one of my favorite books is “lights out” its a huge study on light disturbing our hormones and draws a line between too much artificial light and not enough restorative sleep and every disease known to modern man, which were “coincidentally” unknown before lights, electricity and staying up late with artificial light.