The Ritual of Sun Bathing

The sunlight helps to regulate the natural rhythms of our body and improves your overall wellness by simply standing in the sunlight. It can improve your sleep, reduce stress, keep weight off, strengthen your immune system, fight depression, extend your life, and strengthen bones. 

In order to reap these benefits you need to expose yourself to sunlight, but outside of certain hours that can also come with negative repercussions. Today, we are going to explore the ritual of sun basking/sun bathing/sun bath therapy. 

Known by many names, this art helps to regulate melatonin production in the body, which is necessary to maintain the circadian rhythms. Melatonin is an essential hormone released by the pineal gland of our brain, which regulates our sleep-wake cycle. Intensity of sunlight impacts our melatonin production. 

Sunbath therapy helps keep hormone levels in check, and can keep disorders at bay. However, the important takeaway (aside from all of the irreplaceable benefits of sunlight) is that the time of day to expose yourself is crucial. Standing or bathing outside in the middle of the day might give you benefits, but you're also in jeopardy of getting sun damage or heat exhaustion. 

Within the first hour of sunrise or the hour before sunset are the ideal times to sun bask because the violet index is low. There are many ways to sunbathe traditionally with minimal clothing (often in your underwear), or in light cotton clothing. Allow yourself to be in full sunlight for about 10 minutes; if you begin to sweat move from the sunlight and end sunbathing. 

By immersing your body in sunlight at these specific times of day you are providing essential building blocks to your internal wellness.