The sun is good for us

1. Everyone loves the sun, even the people who tolerate the cold better than heat find it pleasant when the sun shines. Of course there are exceptions, but most people love it when the sun is shining. The sun makes people happy and people fall in love more quickly in summer. Why does the sun have this effect on us? And is the sun only good for us or are there also negative sides?

Sunlight is good for you

1. Scientific research has shown that sunlight has a direct influence on your endocrine system. It produces endorphins, this is also called 'the happiness hormone'. The taste experience of chocolate, for example, also produces endorphins in the body. Endorphins are a substance in the body and primarily suppress pain. In addition, it creates a feeling of happiness or euphoria. Endorphins stimulate your thyroid and pineal glands to give you more energy and make you feel more relaxed. Sunlight also makes your immune system stronger by producing white blood cells, which protects your body against viruses and bacteria.

In love with the sun

1. People fall in love faster in summer than in other seasons. That's because the sun affects sex hormones. Psychologist Elaine Hatfield of the University of Hawaii has researched the effect of the sun on sex hormones. After the research, she found that men fall in love more quickly on summer days. According to Elaine Hatfield, this is because the sun can increase a man's testosterone levels by up to 30 percent.

Vitamin D

1. Most people know that sunlight causes vitamin D to be produced. It has been discovered that ten minutes of sunlight produces 100 times as much vitamin D than you get from your diet in a day. The production of vitamin D is good for building bone tissue and for calcium absorption from food in the intestines. Doctors have determined that about thirty-seven percent of osteoporosis cases are due to lack of sunlight. But vitamin D is not only good for the production of bone tissue. Australian doctor Anne Clark, who works at the hospital in Sydney, has conducted research on men between the ages of 25 and 40. She found that one in six Australian men has fertility problems due to a lack of vitamin D. Clark recommends fertile people to sunbathe for half an hour in sunny weather, because sunlight not only has a beneficial effect on fertility but also improves sperm quality. . There are even more known benefits of sunlight and the production of vitamin D. It appears that a high vitamin D level in the body leads to less inflammation in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This is a central nervous system disorder. Scientists at the American University of Southern California have conducted research and believe that sunlight has a preventive effect on MS. They claim that if you have played in the sun often in your childhood, you are less likely to get MS in old age.

Brain and the sun

1. Many people today are depressed. Depression is a mood disorder characterized by a loss of zest for life or a deeply depressed mood. It has been established that you get out of a valley faster if you enjoy the sun more. The British Medical Journal reported that you should occasionally eat a piece of dark chocolate with a cocoa content of about 70 percent while tanning. It contains substances such as serotonin, endorphins and caffeine that make your anxiety disappear and make you happier. The combination of sunlight and all those substances together act as a sedative and a kind of antidepressant. Sunbathing also appears to be good for memory. A British study has shown that people who like to spend a lot of time in the sun have a better memory than people who often seek shade. While tanning you tank a good dose of oxygen, especially sunbathing on the beach provides a good portion of fresh oxygen. As a result, the nerve cells in the brain are strongly stimulated. A study by the American psychologist Matthew Keller found that even if you rarely or never get out in the sun, memory deteriorates.

Influence of the sun on your body

1. Weather changes have a major influence on muscles and joints. For example, if you have a rheumatic disease, the heat from the sun can reduce pain. This is because the blood vessels dilate and thus stimulate blood flow in muscles and joints. Heat relaxes the muscles and the sun sometimes also helps with sore muscles. The National Cancer Institute has concluded that certain types of cancer are less common in sunny areas. A study at the University of California found that women who regularly get into the sun are less vulnerable to breast cancer. A long-term study found that sunlight can reduce breast cancer risk by as much as 30 to 40 percent. Male sunbathers are less likely to develop prostate cancer. It has been shown that the body can produce anti-cancer substances under the influence of sunlight.

The sun and our children

1. As mentioned, the sun is good for the production of vitamin D. Our growing children also benefit from enough sunlight. The sunlight is good for the growth of the young bones of growing children. Nowadays very little is played outside and that is detrimental to the amount of sunlight that children get in. Of course it is not good to let children play in the sun all day, but children will seek shade themselves when it gets too hot for them. Lubricate them well and regularly on the beach. Furthermore, a cap and a T-shirt provide enough protection. Before your thirtieth birthday you make the most bone tissue, the build-up is greater than the breakdown. After the age of 35, the breakdown of bone tissue is greater than the build-up. Make sure you build up enough before it slows down.

The sun makes us more beautiful

1. According to Toine Schoutens of the Light Health Research Foundation (SOLG), people shine when the sun shines. People literally become more beautiful because of the sun, we get a bit more tanned and therefore look better. Light also makes us feel better, it makes people more alert and fitter. Light intensity is measured in lux, in an average office a thousand lux is measured. When we walk outside in the sun we get a hundred thousand lux. The sun makes people with winter depression feel a lot better.

Happy of the sun

1. When you read all these benefits, you will understand why the sun makes people happy. Happier, healthier, fitter, more active and more beautiful people are naturally happy. You also prefer to go for a walk with the dog or cycle to the office when the sun is shining. Sit on a terrace with some friends. Barbecuing in the garden when there is a party. Everything is much more fun when the sun is shining and that makes you happy. Yet the sun is not only positive, there are also disadvantages to sunlight.

Excess harm

1. After all the benefits the sun offers us, you will soon be inclined to think that the longer you sit in the sun the better it is. Nothing could be further from the truth. Too much sun can cause skin cancer. And it is known that you can get wrinkles. Your skin ages with age, which is a fact that nobody can do anything about. But often and for a long time in the sun, your skin becomes weaker, less elastic, stiffer and folds. This is because sunlight reduces the collagen content in the skin. Collagen is a gluey protein substance that is made by the cells in the dermis and ensures the firmness of the skin. There are people who think that once you have a good tan you have less chance of skin cancer. This is not true, it is even the case that a well-tanned skin is already quite damaged and the risk of skin cancer even increases as a result. A good sunscreen protects against skin aging and skin cancer. But even the best creams cannot prevent it completely. The best times to sit in the sun are before eleven in the morning and after three in the afternoon. Always apply the right protective factor for your skin and do not sit in the sun all day. To use all the benefits of the sun optimally, you only need to sit or walk in the sun for an hour a day. It is also not necessary to expose as much of your body to sunlight as possible. Your face and arms are enough. Remember that with everything, even with all the good things in life, excess harms.