The warm feeling of sunlight on your skin isn’t just pleasant, it’s beneficial to your health! Exposure to natural sunlight helps your body regulate it’s internal clock, spurs the production of vitamin D, and can even help you live longer (1).
Regulating your Internal Clock
The brightness of the morning blue sky provides the stimulus needed to set the 24-hour human body clock. Bright days and dark nights are needed to promote alertness and activities during the day and rest and sleep at night (2).
The Importance of Vitamin D
Your body makes vitamin D when cells in your skin come into contact with ultraviolet (UVB) rays from the sun. The amount of vitamin D produced in the skin in a given amount of time is limited, making regular short exposures better for Vitamin D production than less-frequent long exposures (3). It is widely accepted that vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, supports bone health and muscle function, but recently its support of the immune system has been emphasized. During COVID-19, those who were vitamin D deficient experienced more severe illnesses and a greater number of deaths (4).
A Longer Lifespan
Growing evidence shows that sunlight also has health benefits through vitamin D-independent pathways. In particular, “Increased sun exposure correlates with reduced all-cause mortality, which was particularly related to reduced cardiovascular mortality, but also cancer mortality (including skin Cancer) (5).
Sunshine and aging
As you age, your body becomes less efficient at producing Vitamin D. The exposure time for sufficient vitamin D production is one-quarter to one-half of the time it would take for an individual’s skin to begin to turn pink due to sunlight. A healthy 20-year-old will need this exposure two to three times per week. However, older adults will likely need more exposures per week, or to expose more skin area, to produce the same amount. While vitamin D supplements can be helpful, recent research has questioned the effectiveness of vitamin D supplements compared to vitamin D synthesis in response to exposure to UVB (3). Changes in mobility as you age limit your ability to venture out into the sun. That is why the Portland Memory Garden was designed with accessibility in mind. The garden is a secure outdoor space for older adults that accommodates both mobility and memory issues. There are wide, easily traversable pathways, and seating in both sun and shade, allowing each visitor to control his/her sun exposure time. Plan your visit to the garden today and receive all the health benefits of soaking up the sun.
- Mayo Clinic–Vitamin D
- Commentary: How can we address poor sleep in nursing homes?
- Lighting and the Visual Environment for Older Adults and the Visually Impaired
- A basic review of the preliminary evidence that COVID-19 risk and severity is increased in vitamin deficiency
- Sunlight: Time for a Rethink?