I love the Sunrises and Sunsets on the Los Angeles coast line . We owe our existence to the Sun. The Environmental protection agency mentions that Americans on an average spend 87% of their life indoors, 6% of their life in automobiles and about only 7% of your entire life outdoors. Here are some benefits of spending time outdoors and especially in the Sun :
- Exposure to sunlight boosts our mental health because it triggers the release of hormone serotonin by the brain which can boost mood and promote feelings of calmness
- Adequate intake of Sunlight can help regulate our circadian rhythms thus helping us with better quality sleep
- Adequate Sunlight boosts our Immune system via Vitamin D which helps the body fight many diseases including flu and certain auto immune diseases and cancer
- Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium leading to stronger bones and can help in ailments such as arthritis and osteoarthritis
- Adequate intake of Sunlight could help in lowering blood pressure. A group of researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that blood pressure gets lower when a compound nitric oxide gets released into the blood vessels as soon as sunlight touches the skin.
Intake of Sunlight could help with Alzheimer's. The Journal of the American Medical Association found that Alzheimer’s patients exposed to adequate sunlight had fewer symptoms of depression, experienced better sleep , were calmer and lost less function as compared to patients who were exposed to dim daytime lighting. The researchers attributed these improvements to more regular circadian rhythms.