Without the sun, there is no life. The sun stirs our atmosphere, warms our oceans, and gives energy to plants that generate oxygen and food.
The sun also influences our body and mind in ways that modern science is only beginning to appreciate.
For most of human history, people revered the sun, even worshipped it as a deity. For the ancient Greeks, the sun god was Apollo, who, among many other things, taught men the art of medicine.
Though these rituals fell out of fashion, the Industrial Revolution served as a stark reminder of the sun’s importance to human health. As factories became more productive, many cities were blanketed by thick clouds of soot and smog, blocking out the sun. Doctors across the Western world began to observe a similar pattern: Rural children developed normally, while kids in cities were riddled with rickets—a devastating disease wherein bones become weak and warped. Their bodies were literally starving for sunshine.
Today, we know that rickets is caused by a deficiency in vitamin D, sometimes known as the “sunshine vitamin.”
Despite the name, scientists say vitamin D is actually a hormone, with a chemical signature similar to estrogen and cortisol. Our bodies can’t make vitamin D on their own, but can synthesize it when our skin is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Ancient doctors didn’t know about vitamin D, but they did observe curative powers from fresh air and sunshine. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, designed sun exposure regimens to treat various ailments. Up until the late 1800s, doctors were prescribing sunshine to treat patients with tuberculosis and other diseases.
Yet, ever since the discovery of vitamin D, there has been much more emphasis on supplementation than sunlight. Very few foods (mostly fish) contain vitamin D, so, since the 1930s, food manufacturers have been fortifying our milk, juice, and cereals with this nutrient to prevent rickets from creeping back.
We may have conquered rickets, but a new school of thought says we are missing out on many of the benefits the sun has to offer.
