WHY SUNSHINE IS IMPORTANT
You have heard about the importance of sunshine for Vitamin D production but did you know that sunshine also increases “subcellular melatonin” in your body?
Or maybe you have heard about the importance of getting sunshine in your eyes first thing in the morning in order to “anchor your circadian rhythms”. This helps with circulatory melatonin production but it comes from the pineal gland. And until recently, I thought that was the only source of melatonin made in the body. But, I was wrong!
As it turns out that there is another huge benefit of sunshine and it has nothing to do with the pineal gland or even circadian rhythms. It has to do with near-infrared (NIR) light and the stimulation of melatonin WITHIN the cells. The pineal gland produces melatonin at night when we are in the darkness, but the mitochondria of our cells will actually produce the MAJORITY of our body’s melatonin during the day when we are exposed to sunshine. Specifically, the near-infrared light rays of sunshine stimulate the mitochondria within our cells to produce about 95% of our melatonin supplies. And that daytime melatonin production can have some really great benefits.
Benefits of Melatonin
Melatonin is best known for helping us get to sleep and stay asleep at night but it actually does much more than that. Here are some of the benefits of melatonin:
- combats daily oxidative stress through power antioxidant effects
- promotes anti-inflammatory action
- stimulates the synthesis of glutathione, an antioxidant
- upregulates the activity of SOD2, another antioxidant enzyme
- prevents the conversion of normal cells to cancer cells. Melatonin in Mitochondria.
With all of those benefits, we may want to consider more ways of getting sunshine in our day.
Sunshine increases subcellular melatonin production
Subcellular melatonin is the melatonin not produced in the pineal gland but rather produced inside of each of your cells.
This article discussed how subcellular melatonin appears to uniquely operate as an antioxidant on the producing cells as well as the neighboring cells.
As humans, we used to spend the majority of our lives in natural sunlight. Now it can be possible to go days without any appreciable sun exposure. Leaving the house before dawn, driving to work and sitting under artificial lights all day, getting into a car, and driving home to sit in front of a blue light-emitting TV before finally going to bed and repeating it all over the next day. This is unnatural and unhealthy. Our bodies were designed to function optimally when we had more exposure to sunshine. Even those of us who work from home often forget that we can go outside and still work from home now.
Studies show numerous benefits to being outside, and ideally in green spaces. NIR reflects off of natural greenery in a different and more optimal way than cityscapes.
Here are some of the ways we benefit from being outside in green spaces
- lower blood pressure
- lower heart rate
- lower salivary cortisol levels
- reduced incidence of type 2 diabetes and stroke
- increased HRV (which indicates a better resistance to stress)
- reduction in all-cause cardiovascular incidents
- increased sleep duration
Do you need any more reasons to get outside and get some sunshine? Our ancient ancestors didn’t have a choice in the matter, they lived outside the majority of their lives. But we do, and we need to be proactive in making the choice that leads to a better quality of life.
So how much sun do you need? The exact amount is hard to say. And you don’t need to sunbathe in the noonday sun to get the benefits. In fact, early morning sun and late afternoon sun can provide a healthy dose of near-infrared rays. Fortunately, NIR can penetrate clothing as well as some older windows that are not energy efficient/ heat blocking. If you can feel the heat on your skin, you are receiving NIR because those rays actually cause heat production in your cells.
So just be aware of how much time you spend under artificial lighting compared to natural lighting. If you have the choice between sitting inside or outside, walking on a treadmill at the gym or going for a walk outside, riding your Peloton or riding your bike outside, try to choose outside more often. Your body will thank you for it.
