The health and fitness enhancing effects of sunlight.
I know from first-hand experience the detrimental effects of not getting enough sunlight.
Moving from sunny Australia, I went to study and play basketball in a city that sat on Lake Superior in the state of Wisconsin, USA. This was definitely different from what I was used to. Alongside the freezing weather, there was also a considerable lack of sunlight throughout the colder months of the year.
It was a great experience, meeting amazing people and making great friends but, mentally, I felt depressed, anxious, fatigued, and physically I kept getting injured (persistent tendinopathy in my knees and stress fractures in my shins), I kept getting sick, I felt slow and, all around, my performance didn’t feel the way it should’ve.
Transferring to a school down in sunny Georgia two years later, I felt like a new man.
While in Wisconsin, I had not yet dived into all things health and fitness so I didn’t even consider using light devices, Vitamin D supplementation, still exposing myself to outside light etc. Once I had explored this area, in hindsight I realised I could chalk a lot of the issues I was having to probably having extremely low Vitamin D levels, and not getting enough sunlight.
But what does this have to do with you? Well, the sun gets a bad rap due to the message of avoidance because of skin ageing and cancer; However, what follows are the reasons I believe getting a little more sun exposure will contribute to transforming your health, fitness, and performance:
This is the most obvious benefit of getting sunlight exposure. It benefits our: hormones, muscle growth, gut health, respiratory health, oral health, immune system and disease prevention; showing a reduction in the risk of C-V disease, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome separately of supplementation. Interestingly enough, the vitamin D that is produced in your skin can enhance DNA repair and paradoxically lower your risk of cancer! (Hoel et al., 2016)
There are thousands of genes in the body that have a receptor for Vitamin D.
In other words, if you’re not getting adequate Vitamin D, you’re doing your body a huge disservice! (As I found out) Now Vitamin D supplementation is probably going to be useful for a lot of people but, at the same time, getting adequate Vitamin D from the sun is going to be superior to getting it from supplement form.
“supplements are not an effective substitute for adequate sun exposure” (Hoel et al., 2016)
If you do live in a geographical location where there isn’t much sun, this is where it becomes even more important to consume Vitamin D-rich foods such as pasture-raised egg yolks, wild-caught salmon, liver etc.
Melatonin is a key hormone involved in your circadian rhythms (the cycles of many inner processes) and thus a big contributor to how well you sleep.
Getting some light exposure (from the sun) in the morning and evening (sunrise/sunset is ideal) can assist in your nighttime melatonin production, helping you enter into sleep more easily, along with the other benefits associated with improved circadian rhythms (think mood, energy levels, etc). This hormone also contributes significantly to an improved immune system (Mead, 2008).
Scientists such as Dr Huberman describe morning light exposure as being a ‘game changer’, supporting your mood, digestion, cognitive and physical performance.
The various kinds of wavelengths/types of light that are emitted from the sun are always going to be superior to the ones you’re receiving from indoor LED lighting.
We’ve already looked at how Melatonin and Vitamin D have positive effects on your immune system, but there are also components of the sun, such as the red light/near infrared light wavelengths that have beneficial effects. Either way, through whatever mechanism, there’s evidence of sun exposure to:
Prevent autoimmune diseases, treat skin disorders, and despite what you’ve been told, reduce melanoma risk! (Mead, 2008)
“Increased sun or UVR exposure is associated with reduced development and/or severity of immune-driven diseases including autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and allergic conditions such as asthma, and anaphylaxis” (Fleury et al., 2016)
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but endorphins (our body’s natural ‘feel good’ hormones) are released from sun exposure– so it helps you feel great.
There are melanocytes in your skin that have an endorphin receptor system allowing this to happen.
Melanocytes in human skin express a fully functioning endorphin receptor system, according to the June 2003 Journal of Investigative Dermatology
Layers of your skin contain nitrite, when exposed to sunlight this leads to a reaction where nitric oxide is released into your body’s circulation (Monaghan et al., 2018) (Holliman, 2017)
Why is this a good thing? Nitric oxide has a role in your cardiovascular system by opening blood vessels (more blood flow/more nutrients to muscles etc.) and also contributes to the health, and optimal functioning of your lungs, immune system, nervous system, GI tract, sexual health and so on.
For example, there has been a few studies showing the ability of different wavelengths of the sun to reduce blood pressure – imagine how many people with high blood pressure could benefit from a bit more sun exposure!
“whole-body UV-A irradiation was reportedly able to cause a reduction in blood pressure in humans during exposure, and for some time after” (Holliman, 2017)
There’s a buzz around ‘Red light therapy’, and there’s a good reason for it. Red light therapy and/or near infrared red light therapy has been heavily studied and been shown to fight chronic fatigue, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, inflammation, have anti-ageing skin effects, benefit brain function, and have some impressive benefits for muscle and strength gain along with recovery. (Whitten, 2018)
“Combats inflammation, helps prevent the buildup of free radicals, and ultimately makes your cells healthier, more energetic, and more resilient” (Whitten, 2018)
Well rather than buying an expensive Joov red light box, you can go get some sun exposure which also contains these amazing wavelengths of light, but is free of charge.
As I always preach, the healthier you are as a whole system, the better your training will be and the greater progress you will make for whatever health/fitness pursuit you are on.
In ‘Supertraining’, Siff & Verkhoshansky discuss how the highest trainability (faster and better adaptations to training) occurred during summer and autumn months (more UV radiation) and the lowest trainability occurred in the winter.
My guess is that the combination of benefits discussed above contribute to these higher levels of trainability, which means progressing faster and recovering more efficiently!
As with anything, it comes down to moderation and finding balance. Some exposure is going to be beneficial and elicit all of these amazing benefits, while too much is always going to carry the increased risk for skin damage and melanoma.
Non-burning sun exposure is associated with a reduced risk of melanoma, while sunburns are associated with a doubling of the risk of melanoma. (Gandini et al., 2005) Interestingly enough, there isn’t even considerable evidence of sunscreen being that effective and applying sunscreen could be contributing to skin damage because you’re spending longer in the sun thinking you’re completely protected (damage can still occur without you getting burnt).
“We can find no consistent evidence that use of chemical sunscreens reduces the risk of melanoma.” (Hoel et al., 2016)
An approach to getting some sun exposure without over exposure.
How long is that? The ideal amount of sun exposure is going to be different for everybody. There are many factors involved, including skin colour, geographical location, time of year, time of day etc.
The majority of articles tend to sit at around 15 minutes of midday sun exposure. But again, this will vary from individual to individual and I believe you are going to be the best judge of how much sun exposure you should be getting without getting burnt.
“4,000 IU vitamin D3 without sun exposure or 2,000 IU plus 12–15 minutes of midday sun.” (Mead, 2008)
“In January, across Australia, 2-14 minutes of sun three to four times per week at 12:00 is sufficient to ensure recommended vitamin D production in fair-skinned people with 15% of the body exposed” (Samanek et al., 2006)
I also really like Catherine Shanahan’s (author of ‘Deep Nutrition’) strategy of optimising your diet (consuming lots of antioxidants and nutrients that protect collagen damage from UV radiation – Vit C, omega-3 fatty acids, Vit A, glutathione etc) and ‘gradually coaxing your body into manufacturing more skin pigment melanin’.
Why? Because if you are more acclimatised to UV radiation then you aren’t as at risk of sunburn.
Antioxidants including polyphenols, apigenin, curcumin, proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, and silymarin have shown promise in laboratory studies in protecting against UVR-induced skin cancer, perhaps through antimutagenic or immune-modulating mechanisms. (Mead, 2008)
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