Popular belief has it that basking in the sun without a sunscreen will put you in a health and cosmetic risk. Our ancient ancestors, whose indulgence with the sunlight was more regular and sacred, never felt this. The truth is that the researchers have started recognizing the importance of sunlight for a healthy lifestyle, and studies reveal that sunlight renders many health benefits.

Common notions about sunlight exposure highlight its adverse effects on skin. The UV radiation in sunlight is said to cause ailments such as sun stroke, skin cancer, and eye damage. Likewise, those who are beauty conscious are choosy about the excess exposure of sunlight which results in the darkening of skin colour as well as premature aging. Despite all this information by health authorities and the mainstream media on sun exposure, mostly all the things that you hear about sunlight exposure are not accurate.

The prime benefits of sunlight outnumber its hazards due to its vital supply of Vitamin D to the body. This is needed for the absorption of calcium in the intestines, also to transfers calcium across the cell membranes. This calcium, in turn, regulates the phosphate in the bloodstream and promotes healthy growth and remodelling of bone.

Besides regulating calcium metabolism and bone health, vitamin D is also linked to regulate cell growth. This has led to numerous studies, which have proven that people who live in higher latitudes are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and are more prone to developing common cancers such as cancer of the colon, breast, prostate, and even ovaries.

Since last few decades, this abstemious vitamin has been taken for granted. Vitamin D, deficiency is perhaps the most widespread vitamin deficiency in western countries. This has been contributed more or less due to our indoor lifestyles and lack of sunlight exposure. Most health authorities and the mainstream media blithely advise the masses to compensate vitamin D deficiency with milk, or orange from your diet. Other foods such as fishes and cod liver oil are also good sources, but it is ironical that only few foods naturally contain vitamin D. Nevertheless when we talk of these foods like fishes and fish oil, we need to eat fishes like salmon 3-5 times a week in order to get the vitamin D requirement. For getting the same requirement from milk and orange juice, we have to drink 10 glasses of milk or 10 glasses of orange juice a day. So in short you cannot get your vitamin D easily from your diet. Even if, we take multivitamin supplements, a multivitamin contains 400 international units of vitamin D, only 40% of what you need. So you would have to make a conscious effort to take a multivitamin, drink 2 glasses of milk, drink a glass or two of orange juice fortified with vitamin D and eat salmon to get the amount of vitamin D that you require to satisfy your body.

Moreover, sunscreen products also do their part in blocking vitamin D production in the skin. They not only add to the vitamin D deficiency woes, but also contribute to cancer-promoting nutritional deficiencies.

The most effective way to fulfil your vitamin D requirement is to get a good amount of sunlight every day. The over exposure is also not harmful as evidence indicates that the production of vitamin D from sun exposure works in a feedback loop that prevents toxicity. Besides this, we all know the miraculous power of sunshine to alter your moods and cheer you up, thereby preventing anxiety, and depression. So spice up your life with some good amount of sunshine therapy.