Did you ever notice that you never see angry people on the beach, in boats, or at the poolside? The sun is an amazing thing. I didn’t really notice it, but over the winter I became a virtual hermit. I say “virtual” not because I am almost a hermit – I’m a total hermit, but I’m living totally in the virtual world, on my computer just about 24/7. I blame the sun – haven’t seen it in months. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until some freak of nature occurred a week ago and we had several days of sunny 70-degree weather in a row. It was amazing. I itched to detach myself from my desk. I ached to be outside – doing anything, just to be in the glorious glow of the sun’s rays.

And I did just that. I started gathering materials for my garden, I washed my truck (the poor mud-encrusted SUV that hauls my children and me around come rain or shine), I hiked around my 20 acres just looking at nature, and amazingly I still had plenty of time for my computer work. It was like just having sunshine in my day gave me extra energy and more hours.

Admittedly, I’m a bit of a nature freak – bit of a contrast for a girl who spends all her time on a computer, I know, but I really do believe in the healing powers of nature. When my kids were little I remember hearing a little tidbit of trivia on the radio that just four minutes a day spent out in the sunshine could give your body the vitamin D it needs. Just four minutes – who can’t afford that? I’ve since read that it’s more like 10 minutes. Still, not a huge investment of your time for amazing natural benefits.

Energy from the sun is not just a way to gain light and heat in your home or to lasso energy from for your solar panels to run your appliances. Green starts in the heart. The sun’s energy is so powerful that it can protect you from all sorts of diseases, ailments, and syndromes. Not only can it actually give your metabolism a boost, the vitamin D your body absorbs by being exposed to the sun can help prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, breast, prostate, and colon cancer, depression, insomnia, and an overactive immune system.

In fact experts in the medical field recommend spending a few minutes in the summer sun when the sun is the highest in the sky, without your sun hat or sun block. Of course, we want to protect against skin cancer, too, but blocking out too many of the sun’s rays can be just as bad as hiding inside all day.

Even diseases aside, being out in the sun is just a natural high. For some reason running around in the sunshine can just make you feel good. Remember when you were a kid and all you wanted to do all summer long was play outside with your friends? Well, you were really on to something back then and you didn’t even know it. Who knows, perhaps Ponce de Leon really did find the fountain of youth in Florida (along with all the retired folk), only it’s not in the water, it’s in the sunshine!

Photo credit: jurvetson

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted on March 20th in Solar Information by Jennifer.