Summertime is finally here. Bikinis, speedos, and skimpy summer dresses spell suntanning. we all we’ll be exposed to much more direct sunlight than during the colder months.
We know the dangers. But are there any benefits to sun exposure?
I personally love the sun.
I’ve been a sun worshiper even, or maybe especially when I was living in Poland, where summers were short and brown bodies were in high regard.
During high school, I would often go with friends to a “tar beach” – the roof of a high-riser with very difficult access to it.
My friend and I would draw up the ladder so that there was no risk someone else would be able to get up there. And we would suntan topless for hours on end. The result? Too many sunburns to count.
I now live in California where the sun never goes away. But somehow this makes me much less prone to seek out the sun.
I rarely go to the beach for the dislike of crowds. But I do make sure to get my 20 minutes of natural sunlight on my body without sunscreen almost daily.
Sometimes it is while gardening, sometimes it’s lying in the hammock with a good book in my hands. Sometimes it’s having breakfast outside in the yard. California living is like that!
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Direct Sunlight
We all have heard about the risks associated with too much sun exposure.
However, there are also risks associated with too little exposure to sunlight. And they are all related to a hormonal balance between serotonin and melatonin production.
So how do we navigate the good, the bad, and the ugly of sun exposure? Let’s dig in.
The Good
How does direct sunlight affect us? When exposed to sunlight, our bodies respond by producing the “feel-good” hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is responsible for boosting our mood and keeping us well-balanced emotionally.
Moderate exposure to natural sunlight can do wonders for our mental health. It can ward off depression and anxiety and impart a sense of happiness and wellbeing.
This is why there is a documented phenomenon of seasonal anxiety disorder or SAD.
Still more telling is the fact that there are more suicides during the winter months. It is speculated that this is related to much less sun exposure during these darker times of the year.
Investigators also found that the average number of hours of sunshine per month was significantly correlated with completed suicide as well as the use of violent methods.
NIH Study
Where I come from – Poland in Northern Europe – autumn and winter are long and gloomy.
Days are short. It gets dark around 3 PM and doesn’t get light until well into mid-morning.
When I was living there until my college years, it did not bother me that much. I can imagine though, spending entire seasons without much sunlight for years on end would get under my skin in the long run.
Did you know?
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.
Mayo Clinic
It’s all about the hormones

How to get exposed to direct sunlight?
Too little sun exposure has detrimental effects on our mood and hormonal balance. Additionally, it can mess up with our circadian rhythm which regulates our sleep and waking patterns.
It is therefore highly recommended that we get out into the sun relatively quickly after waking up. The contact of natural sunlight with the retina in our eyes triggers a signal in the brain to start producing serotonin.
This production was slowed down during the night because the body was busy producing a different hormone – melatonin – which helps us dose off and stay asleep during the night hours.
Timing is crucial
Because of the risks associated with UV light exposure, it’s best to stay out of the sun between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm when the rays are most directly hitting the body.
If you happen to be in the sun during the peak hours, wear protective clothing and/or stay in shade or dappled sun whenever possible.
When going to the beach, bring an umbrella or one of the popular shading tents.
If you’re on a hike or in a park, seek out the shady side for walking.
And of course, use SPF. More about it is below.
It’s all about making sensible choices.
Another Hormone: Vitamin D
Another very important reason for moderate exposure to sunlight is the way one more hormone, mislabeled a vitamin, is produced.
We’re talking about Vitamin D.
This vitamin can rarely be obtained from foods such as fish and eggs and some fortified cereal, dairy, and fruit juices. Vitamin D can be produced by our bodies only when we get moderate exposure to the sun. Hence it’s nickname „sunshine vitamin”.
As published data indicate that 80%–90% of vitamin D is obtained from sunlight.
NIH Study
Lack of vitamin D can be truly detrimental to our health. It can impact negatively our bone health.
The deficiency of Vitamin D also increases risks for certain cancers, including breast and colon cancers, as this Harvard University study made clear.

Vitamin D deficiency is currently recognized as a worldwide epidemic.
It seems that the more we are running away from the sun in fear of getting skin cancer, the less Vitamin D our bodies can produce. This of course leads to issues with heart and bone health and can lead to other cancers.
I realized only after my diagnosis of colorectal cancer that my Vitamin D levels were well below the recommended level of 40-80 nG/mL.
My naturopathic doctor advised me immediately to start supplementing with 5000 IU of Vitamin D in addition to spending at least 20 minutes a day in direct sunlight to soak it up directly from the glorious sun.
The Bad
Okay, so there are many benefits of natural sunlight for our physical and mental health.
Given that fact, one would think everyone should spend hours and hours outside soaking up the sun.
But that would not be wise for a number of reasons. (Now I know how stupid those “tar beach” days were, what was I thinking?!)
Direct Sunlight and Our Skin
The sun emits rays of energy, some of which can reach the earth and are fundamental for life on the planet (not only that of plants but also animals and our own).
The longest of these UV rays that reach us are called UVA rays. The shorter ones are called UVB rays.
It is the UVB rays that can give you sunburn. UVA rays are even more insidious because they might not cause the burn, but they actually can travel much deeper into the skin than UVB rays.
Both types of sunlight rays affect the skin’s health, including to the point of changing the skin’s genetic makeup.
Short of getting skin cancer, too much sun exposure has detrimental effect on the appearance of the skin.
While suntan might look pretty and even impart a “healthy glow” to the skin, too much of that good thing is simply too much.
When we over-expose our skin to UV light, the skin will photo-age.
“Photoaging” is a medical term describing the changes caused by over-exposure to sunlight or tanning beds: wrinkles, scaly patches, freckles, and hyperpigmentation.
Sometimes it is called premature aging, and the skin might be called sun-damaged.
Responsible for 90 percent of visible changes to the skin, photoaging is a direct result of cumulative sun damage you’ve been exposed to throughout your life.
Skin Cancer Foundation
While a sunburn might last a day or two, the damage that too much sun can do to the skin can last a lifetime.
Most significantly, sun damage will rob you of collagen, which is the building block for elasticity and bounciness of the skin.
Age spots and wrinkles will show up at some point on everybody, but if you fry extensively in the sun, you’ll see them much earlier than needed.
A little bit later, we’ll talk about the best ways to prevent such unsightly effects on the skin.
Related Post: How to Get Rid Of Sunburn Itching Fast
The Ugly
The Risk of Skin Cancer from Direct Sunlight
The worst thing about too much sun is, of course, the risk of skin cancer.
Too much UV radiation from the sun (or from artificial suntanning beds) damages the DNA in our skin cells. Damaged genetic material can lead to irrevocable changes in the skin’s cells – tumors, benign or malignant.
Today, skin cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. Each year, more than 2 million people in the USA are treated for two types of skin cancer: basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. Luckily, these two types are rarely life-threatening. If discovered early, they are highly curable.
The most malignant and one of the most difficult cancers to treat is melanoma.
Melanoma is a less common but more serious type of skin cancer that’s diagnosed in more than 68,000 Americans each year. Another 48,000 are diagnosed with an early form of the disease that involves only the top layer of skin.
NIH News in Health
When not discovered early enough, melanoma is a deadly disease. It is important to prevent it at all costs.
Inform yourself about the risk of skin cancer, it could save your life.
This CDC website provides very informative info and tips for individuals and families on how to best prevent this deadly disease.
How to Enjoy the Sun Safely?
Here are a few key ways to do it:
- Stay out of the sun when it’s most intense. This will depend on the season and the location where you live, but it’s probably safe to say that the most intensive UV exposure occurs between 10 am and 3 pm
- If you are outside during that high UV-exposure window, protect your skin by wearing loose, long-sleeved tops and long pants. Don’t forget a hat to protect your ears, neck, and head. And, of course, sunglasses. They are not only a fashion statement. They can save your eyes, but only if they offer real UV protection.
- If you are outside between 10 am and 3 pm, wear sunscreen with an SPF 30 or higher. Don’t forget that it takes at least 15 minutes for the sunscreen to start protecting your skin, so plan accordingly. Also, you need to reapply it every two hours, as well as after excessive sweating or swimming.
- Never, ever use suntanning beds. “Just one indoor tanning session can increase the risk of developing skin cancer (melanoma by 20%, squamous cell carcinoma by 67%, and basal cell carcinoma by 29%” according to American Academy of Dermatology.
- Check your entire body (including areas covered by hair) for suspicious skin changes like irregular moles, spots that don’t go away, and scaly patches, which could develop into cancers.
Wearing sunscreen every day can do more than prevent skin cancer — it can prevent signs of photoaging as well.
Skin Cancer Foundation

The Bottom Line
What can I say, I still love the sun!
The first thing I do in the morning (around 8:30-9 am) is to make my latte and walk out to check on my garden. I’d spend around 20-25 minutes out there soaking up the glorious early-morning sun.
I make sure that my face, arms, and legs are not covered and free of sunscreen so that the sun’s rays can penetrate so that my body can start producing Vitamin D and Serotonin.
After 10 am, it’s either back indoors or it’s time to cover up: sunscreen on the exposed areas, light, loose clothing, a hat and sunglasses.
I rarely lay and sunbathe anymore. If I do on a rare trip to the beach, it’s full coverage with a healthy, organic sunscreen.
I really love the ones made by Beauty by Earth. Their SPF products are free of sulfates, parabens, phthalates, triclosan, or petroleum. They are also cruelty-free and vegan.
I use BBE for all my sunscreen needs and for sunless tanning. I still love the look of suntan, I just want to get it the healthy way – from the bottle!
Here is what I use:
- Face: broad-spectrum UVA/UVB Mineral Sunscreen SPF 20 or for a touch of color their Tinted Facial Sunscreen SPF 20 which comes in three shades – beige, toffee, and cocoa.
- Body: Mineral Sunscreen SPF 25
- Sunless tanning, for the face: Natural Face Self Tanner, and for the body: Mousse Self Tanner. What I love about these is not only that they give a natural and lasting tan, but also they don’t have that typical self-tanner stink.
Related Post: Can Alternative Sunscreen Protect You?

Such amazing topic, thank you for sharing that blog, I love to expose to the sun first thing in the morning it also regulates my sleeping hours when exposed to it in the morning, keep it up ?❤️
I draw amazing energy from the morning sun. After 11 Am is a different story.
Yikes – that sun damage image! Makes you really think about how we treat out skin. I have to start paying more attention!!!
Yep, and her skin looks so deceptively healthy right?
Great information! I think inside we all know the damage the sun can do to us, some of us choose to be cautious and others ignore it.
We, as a family, love the sun but are very careful and try to avoid it during the peak hours.
It’s so important to find that middle ground. Not too much, but also not too little <3
I definitely don’t get enough sunlight to enjoy all the ‘GOOD’. Maybe that’s why my hubby is always telling me that I am in a bad mood!
Lol! Hubbies will be hubbies, right? But seriously, few minutes in the sun can be good for anyone.
Such an informative post about the benefits and risks of sun exposure! What I find crazy is the amount of toxins in so many sunscreen options – I always try to use the most natural brands that will provide adequate protection from the sun while limiting my exposure to harmful toxins.
Same here! Luckily there are more and more clean sunscreens on the market. Did you check the EWG guide to sunscreens? They break it down really nicely.
You provide a lot of good information here. I wish I would have mown in my youth what damage the sun can do. It’s very smart to allow your body a bit of natural sunlight everyday. Thanks for all of the helpful ideas.
I was happy to learn that too. It’s a fine balance, you don’t want too little Vitamin D, but you also don’t want to get burned. Thank goodness for the wisdom that comes with age, right?
I also used to be a sun tanner. I was as brown as a gingerbread cookie 🙂 Now, I wear sunscreen so I don’t get burned. Most of the summer I don’t even have a tan. I know I have done some damage to my skin and I am educating my daughter on wearing sunscreen and taking care of her skin.
This brings back memories to the Tar Beach from my youth, crisping myself to brown. Follies of youth! Now we are so much wiser 🙂
I love the idea of going out for a bit first thing in the morning but making sure you have sunscreen on if it is after 10. Great post on the impacts of direct sunlight! My skin is super fair and it’s rare that I forget sunscreen, but I’ve already done it once this summer. Sunburns are the worst, and I’m definitely concerned about the long term damage. Great post.
Thank you! I love the new serum foundations with built-in sunscreen from clean companies like Milk or Illia. With this, I tend to remember the sunscreen much better.
I love your article! It is so important to protect the skin from too much sun exposure! And it is equally important to get enough sun to produce vitamin D accordingly! Fortunately, the indirect sun in the shade is enough here! Thanks for the great article!
You’re so welcome. I enjoyed researching and writing it.
Living in Australia with northern Italian complexion I grew up with the early morning sun regime & zinc cream. Now I use sunscreen like a moisturiser if going out I still get affected. Fascinated by the “Photoaging”
Isn’t this amazing? That’s why I think all derms say that sunscreen is your first weapon against aging, more than serum, lotion, botox, etc.
Great info. I run a lot and more expose on weekends due to longer runs, sunblock is a must but I always forget my glasses. This hepls a lot.
Might not be easy to run with sunglasses on or do they make special runner’s sunglasses? I could use a pair for tennis.
You are the voice of reason, always showing the whole picture and offering the best advice. Fun teen memories, too, LOL! The thing is, the sun from the eighties (when none of us was even born yet, LOL!) is different from the sun today (scientifically correct would be the ozone layer has changed dramatically), so too much can get ugly, indeed. But in moderation and at the right times is bliss. When I go on beach holidays, I get up early (the rest of the family gets very vocal about it!) and straight to the beach until 9.30, and back only after 4 pm, for good measure. The rest of the time we wear clothes and lots of SPF50, plus we look for shade.
Haha, believe me, I was born prior to the 80s. Yes, the environment is so much different now in all respects. What we eat, the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the way we work, commute, the constant radiation from cell phones, and who knows what. No wonder, cancer is on the rise, no matter what we try to do to beat it. BTW, good strategy for a beach vacay. Only if I was an early riser! I’m a total night owl, LOL.
During this period, I miss the sun so much and I appreciate more than ever. But too much is not a good idea either.
Moderation is key, like with everything in life:)