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Most of us must have lived some of those days as we prefer to stay in our beds and never leave our homes to greet the sun. Sometimes it is fun to have some lazy days like this, but what would happen if you never exposed sunlight?
Although it may seem to you that getting the sunlight is not very necessary to survive, but exposure to just a little of its rays is important to staying in good health.
One of the most benefits of sun exposure is getting Vitamin D. While we can get most of the other vitamins through the food we eat and the food we consume, Vitamin D can only be obtained naturally through exposure to the sun, because the body produces it from sunlight.
And vitamin D is very necessary to strengthen bones and ensure their integrity. It also has a defensive role against some chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Low vitamin D levels have long been associated with bone weakness, and recent studies have revealed a strong link between low levels of vitamin D in the body and some health problems that range from sclerosis to prostate cancer.
In case you do not get enough sunlight, You will have a critical shortage of vitamin D, unless you compensate for it by taking vitamin D supplements, but it is impossible to get the necessary amount of this vitamin that your body needs from the supplements alone, as there are Some opinions in the scientific community say that vitamin D supplements are not as good as the natural vitamin D that the body produces through sunlight.
Also, exposure to sunlight appears to have many other benefits, as spending time outside in the sun is believed to improve mood, and recent studies have suggested that exposing your skin to sunlight may contribute to reversing seasonal affective disorder.
Other studies also discovered that sunlight affects the levels of nitric oxide in the blood and skin, which leads to low blood pressure, which means a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Now, while exposure to the sun certainly has many benefits, exposure to sunlight for too long may be harmful to health, as it has been proven that exposure to too much sunlight causes skin-level burns that may be extreme sometimes and also prevent activity of the immune system in skin.
Also, too much sunlight may be able to damage skin cells and membranes, putting you at risk of developing some types of skin cancer.
In this regard, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that UV rays may cause damage at the skin level if you are over 15 minutes sometimes exposed to them, and the same center also suggests some strategies for protection and prevention of this risk, such as wearing a wide protective hat and using a Sunscreen.