Health Benefits of Sunlight

Sunlight is very beneficial for our body, especially for our bones. Sunlight is a major source of vitamin D that is required by our body and bones in sufficient quantity. We can get lots of health benefits for our body just by sitting in the sunlight for 10 minutes every day. So, whenever you get time and space like a balcony, terrace bake in the sun for a while.

In villages, people get sufficient sunlight due to lots of open space but in cities where people are living in high rise building or society sunlight hardly falls on our body.

Benefits of sunlight

1. Sunlight provides us with vitamin D that helps strengthen our bones. We can get up to 90% of the body requirement of vitamin D from sunlight.
2. It reduces the chances or risk of osteoporosis, which is a medical condition in which our bones become brittle or weak and thus prone to fractures. 
3. It improves the immunity of the body that helps protect us from various ailments such as common cold, fever, cough, infections.
4. It improves the metabolism of the body that helps burn more calories and thus helps reduce excessive body weight.
5. Sunbath promotes the production of melatonin in the body, it is a hormone that relieves insomnia and improves the quality of sleep.   
6. Sunlight can kill bacteria on the body and helps cure minor skin ailments such as acne, pimples, and skin infection.
7. It also helps reduce high cholesterol level, blood pressure and risk of heart diseases.
8. It improves blood circulation throughout the blood and also promotes the number of red blood cells and while blood cells in the blood.
9. It improves the digestion and thus helps cure constipation.
10. The ultraviolet rays from the sun helps prevent the hyperactivity of the immune system. It helps prevent skin problems like psoriasis.

How much sunlight is sufficient?

It is sufficient to sunbathe 20-30 minutes in the morning three days a week generally before 10 am. It will maintain the vitamin D in the body.

Precautions:

• Don’t sit in the strong sunlight such as after 10 am or noon during summers. It may damage your skin.
• Don’t sit in the sun after sweating.

According to recent research around 80 per cent of people in India is deficient in Vitamin-D. Additionally, 90 per cent of the children are also facing many health problems due to the deficiency of vitamin-D. In Delhi alone, 90 to 97 per cent of school children between the age of 6 and 17 have been found to have a vitamin-D deficiency, while India is one of the countries in the world where adequate sunlight is available.