By now, we all know about the dangers of getting too much sun as it applies to accelerated aging of the skin and the increased risk of skin cancers like melanoma.  As a result, many of us have done a complete 180 and resorted to avoiding sun altogether, whenever possible—which means staying indoors, always wearing a strong sunscreen, and always covering up when exposed to the sun.  While on the surface, this may do a good job of delaying skin aging and lowering the risk of skin cancer, it prevents us from taking advantage of the health benefits of sunshine.

For example, our skin is considered a neuroendocrine gland and sun exposure stimulates skin production of most neurotransmitters.  One in particular is serotonin, a neurochemical involved in such things as feeding behavior (when it gets low at night, we reach for carbs!), mood, pain, and sleep—since serotonin gets converted to melatonin—also produced in the skin.

Moreover, the brain’s production of serotonin is influenced by sunlight and sun exposure also increases the binding of serotonin and dopamine to their transporters.   If you live in a climate where the winters are long with dark, cold days, then you may experience the impact of very little sunlight exposure through seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

Vitamin D is another important hormone produced in the skin upon sun exposure that regulates thousands of genes and is important for a healthy immune system.   Too little sunlight has also been linked to autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis.

You can read here about my recommendations for protecting your skin from sun damage, including covering up when the sun is at its hottest, wearing a safe sunscreen if you will be spending extended periods in direct sunlight (even under the clouds, for that matter), and eating your veggies, as they provide a wealth of antioxidants that can protect our DNA from UV damage.

Particularly in the summer, it’s best to get your sun early in the day and then later in the afternoon/early evening, when the sun starts to go down.  When I lived in CT, this meant that I would stay out of direct sunlight between 10 am and 2 pm.  However, now that I live in Texas, it’s more like 10 am – 6 pm.

The bottom line is, there are benefits to soaking in sunlight through our skin.  However, like with so many things, to get the benefits of the sun while avoiding the harm it can do, we need to strike a balance between safe sun exposure and overdoing it.