Latest Trustworthy News from Dr. Mercola - delivered straight to your inbox!
Get 20% Off on Mothers Day Sale Get 20% Off on Mothers Day Sale

Is It Bad to Stay Inside For an Entire Day?

  • March 07, 2017

Health.com recently investigated the health impact of spending all day indoors. Not surprisingly, they concluded that this is a bad thing. The reasons why are compelling and make a strong case for spending more time in the sun. 

Research shows that the average American spends 87 percent of their time in enclosed buildings and 6 percent of their time in enclosed vehicles. That’s a total of 93 percent of your life spent inside. This is extremely detrimental for your body, mind and spirit.  Air quality alone is a good reason to go outside. Many pollutants concentrate indoors, where levels are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.

The power of vitamin D cannot be understated. It's estimated that over 95 percent of US senior citizens may be deficient in vitamin D, along with 85 percent of the American public. Increasing your vitamin D levels is important, as researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year. Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed in half.

Artificial blue light should be avoided at all times, not just at night. It is difficult to avoid artificial light and electronic devices when indoors. Plus, exposure to full-spectrum natural light from the sun (which naturally contains some blue light) during the day is beneficial and necessary for resetting your internal clock.

Your health depends on a regular light-dark cycle that, ideally, starts and stops at the same time each day. In addition to getting exposure to sunlight in the morning and at mid-day, you can protect the needs of your body's internal clock by donning blue blocking sunglasses that protect your eyes from exposure to artificial light.