Catching Rays: Daily Dose Of Sun

Here in Canada, a full year of pandemic life has passed: a full year where we don’t know if our next month will leave us closed up in our homes or if our numbers are low enough to let us enjoy the small bits of life that are open during this difficult time of health and safety. Unfortunately for most people, stay-at-home orders feel like you’re being forced to shut yourself away in your four walls, staying away from people and away from the world. Even if things were open, you might still feel too scared to venture out in the world for fear of catching the virus. For weeks on end, we shut ourselves away, day and night, thinking we have to be inside and out of the sun to be safe and healthy.

The problem with shutting yourself away and staying indoors is that you lose some of the great many benefits of being outdoors. Sunlight is one of the great contributors of important nutrients like Vitamin D that keeps your body running properly, and many people will suffer vitamin deficiency when they stay indoors too long. Indeed, we are coming to the end of winter here, and it is fairly common practice to take Vitamin D supplements during the months when the sun is hidden in a grey sky or when we are too bundled up to benefit from the sun’s helpful rays. The pandemic has caused a bigger problem in this sense, forcing some of us to think that we have to shut ourselves away even when the sun is out, bright and shining. Even under public health restrictions, it is important to get out once in a while and absorb some sun on your skin. It may be hard to go out when restrictions are in place, but you will certainly thank yourself later for the distraction and the fresh air.

Even if your area is under lockdown, there are a number of things that you could do outside. For those who have backyards, this is usually a great space where you could go and set up a chair or a lounger and take a break out in the sun. Catch some sleep or read a book, practice some yoga or exercises, the choice is up to you. You might even take up gardening now that we have reached springtime, or find a different hobby that takes place outdoors. For those that don’t have a backyard or are just tired of being home, take a walk in your neighbourhood (while being socially distanced from your neighbours of course). You could also break out the bicycle that has been tied up all winter long and go for a longer ride. Use your imagination, the choice is up to you!

Humans aren’t meant to be shut away from the world and holed up out of the sun, we’re animals just like the rest that evolved out in the wilderness. The outside world is our natural habitat, and to deprive yourself of one of the vital things our body is used to having to survive just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Don’t be afraid to feed your body what it needs: it will thank you for it later!