Older men and women getting two hours of outside light during the day appear to secrete 13% more melatonin at night, though we’re not sure what, if any, clinical significance this has. I’ve talked about the benefits of avoiding light at night, but underexposure to daytime sunlight may also affect our melatonin levels-which doesn’t just regulate our circadian rhythms, but may also be helpful in the prevention of cancer, and other diseases. Morning sun exposure may help those with seasonal affective disorder, as well as improve the mood of wheelchair-bound nursing home residents.

Of course, you have to eat greens or beets in the first place for this to happen, but that combo of greens and sunlight may help explain some of the protection that plant-based eaters experience. You can even measure the nitric oxide gas, gassing straight off of the skin. Within 30 minutes of exposure to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, you can get a significant drop in blood pressure and improvement in artery function, thanks to a burst of nitric oxide-releasing compounds that flow into your bloodstream.

Well, there’s another way your body appears to use the sun’s rays to maximize the effects of the greens we eat. Only about half the brands came within 10% of their labeled amount.Īnd, sunlight may have benefits beyond vitamin D, like the amazing story about how your body may use the sun’s near-infrared rays that penetrate your skin to activate chlorophyll by-products in your bloodstream to make Co-Q10. You never have to worry about getting too much vitamin D from sunlight, since your body has a way to regulate production in the skin so, we don’t have to put our trust in poorly regulated supplement companies to not mislabel their products. Though supplements may only cost about ten bucks a year, sunlight is free. If one is going to make an evolutionary argument for what a “natural” vitamin D level might be, how about getting vitamin D in the way nature intended: sun instead of supplements? Let’s run through the pros and cons.

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