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Health Problems That The Outdoors Can Help Prevent And Treat

  • January 09, 2017

Life expectancy is plunging while the obesity rate is climbing. These health catastrophes are tightly entwined and show little sign of abating. What needs to be done to reverse these trends? Forbes writes that we would be wise to follow the lead of our ancestors and spend more time outdoors.

Without the sun there would be no life on this planet, and your body needs sun exposure for optimal health as well. In fact, the sun can be a great healer, providing benefits that go far beyond vitamin D synthesis.

For example, we now know that a whole host of physiological processes are directed by your endogenous circadian rhythm, which is calibrated by exposure to natural sunlight and darkness. This is why I am passionate about optimizing your vitamin D through appropriate sun exposure, because you will not only get vitamin D but many other benefits as well.

It is important to remember that if you choose to use sun exposure, you need to expose as much skin as possible. Merely taking a walk during lunch in business casual attire will not give you the amount of exposure you need, even in the summer.

If you can't get enough sun exposure, then taking a vitamin D3 supplement in conjunction with vitamin K2 is certainly advisable. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a wide array of chronic health problems.

Your body is adapted to very specific lighting conditions: bright unfiltered daylight during the day, and low level fire-light in the evening followed by darkness. Window glass filters UVB from sunlight so you won't be getting any vitamin D behind a window. Disregarding the biological adaptation to sunlight is a recipe for poor health.