Do you have a stubborn stain that won’t come out of your shirt? A baby who stays up all night and sleeps all day? What about a gnarly diaper rash that just won’t quit? The sun, in my professional and mamahood opinion, has the capacity to help if not outright fix many issues I’ve come across so far in this journey. If the sun makes plants grow, bleaches mildew, resets circadian rhythms in newborns, and a whole laundry list of other things, it only makes sense that we stand to benefit from some sun exposure too.
In the past 40 years the sun has come under some scientific scrutiny, and today we are going to hash out some myths, facts, and hacks to help the sun be your friend. This in and of itself is comical; the sun doesn’t care if we go outside or not. But, I care, if we as a community, are utilizing the sun for all it has to offer us.
- Rods and Cones.
Your eye, while not designed to stare into the sun for hours on end, does respond to sunlight and helps your body absorb Vitamin A. Vitamin A is extremely important for pregnancy and immune system function, and also helps with converting sunlight to Vitamin D. - Serotonin.
I had a wild haired OB. He was great. He told me 2 things in my pregnancy that really helped me! First, he said, “If they are melting down, either get them outside or get them in water.” This has been prolifically true in my life. Just taking a quick walk in the backyard, or a short bath always turns around my little one. Second he said, “As soon as you get your baby home, open the curtains! Open the windows! Take your baby outside in the night to see the night sky. It will help him establish “sleep time” and “awake time”. While there are studies showing “decreased sun exposure is correlated to lower serotonin levels”, there aren’t many conclusive studies that say, “Increased sun exposure is correlated to higher serotonin levels”. - Hormone regulation.
Metabolic syndrome, a combination of high blood pressure, high blood glucose, high abdominal fat, and high cholesterol, contributes to the 2 most leading causes of death in the United States. Having adequate Vitamin D levels in your blood has been shown to help reduce abdominal fat, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance (a factor in elevated blood glucose). Also, low Vitamin D has been associated with poor teeth health, higher incidence of Cesarean birth, anxiety, and HPA axis dysregulation (or adrenal fatigue).
So, here’s the problem: many people in the world do not live at a latitude that would give them year round access to adequate levels of sunlight to produce vitamin d. Another problem is the controversy surrounding Vitamin D as a supplement, as it is also considered a hormone, and hormones are not meant to pass from the gut lumen out. What’s a family to do?
You have to do what is best for your family. Sometimes that means supplementing your outdoor time with oral capsules or drops. In my family, from March through October we are outside about 6 hours a day. From April-September, we are in minimal clothing and usually we are moving around and playing/gardening/swimming/etc. In the colder months we are still outside but less often and we supplement with Vitamin D drops. Despite my earnest efforts for over 1 year, living in California for that entire year, my sun exposure didn’t give me enough Vitamin D to even cross into the “deficient” category. However, in the past 6 months, my stress levels have calmed dramatically, my food intake has been much healthier, and my Vitamin D levels are “normal” for the first time in 5 years. So, all that to say, Vitamin D is a complex nutrient that is controversial in purpose and mechanism of absorption. While I do think supplementing is a great option for boosting your Vitamin D levels, as with most parameters of health in the human body, it has cofactors and conversion chemical processes that may be hindered by metabolism, stress, and food intake.
As with most things, start simple and go from there. Start with sunlight, have some blood labs taken, and utilize supplements as necessary to help you achieve your goals.