Fuel your life with the purest vitamins
Nov 3rd 2025
Get Your Free Vitamin D from the Sun
. . . sunlight may be the best nutrient yet
Nothing boosts immunity like Vitamin D, and summer is the season to get your vitamin D absolutely free! Just go out in the sun and expose as much of your skin as modesty allows to UVB rays from the sun. Your body will magically transform them into usable vitamin D -- a gift from Mother Nature!
But the benefits of sunlight don’t stop there. There are many good reasons why humans have been sun-worshippers since the dawn of time. Sunlight increases helpful hormones and neurotransmitters like cortisol, serotonin, GABA and dopamine. These promote energy, happiness (serotonin and dopamine are the neurotransmitters that antidepressants boost to improve mood), and weight loss.
In his book The Healing Sun, Richard Hobday, PhD, lists the following additional benefits of sunlight: it lowers cholesterol, treats multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis, prevents and treats cancer, lowers blood pressure, kills chronic viral infections in the blood, increases muscle strength and improves detoxification. It’s likely there are even more benefits that science hasn’t yet discovered.
There are some caveats however. The only way to get all of the sun’s benefits is to forego sunscreen; but if you do, you’ll need to be more careful to avoid sunburn. If you start turning pink, cover up or get out of the sun. As you build up a protective tan, you’ll be able to stay out in the sun longer.
The more antioxidants you get from fresh fruits and vegetables as well as supplements, the longer it will take for your skin to turn pink. For maximum antioxidant saturation of your tissues, it’s best to start taking extra antioxidants 3 months before you plan to do your sunbathing, but taking extra antioxidants is going to be beneficial any time you take them. (For where to find antioxidants in foods and supplements click here for our Antioxidant Handout.)
You can also rub beneficial oils like olive and coconut oils into your skin. Don’t use inferior oils, however. Never put on your skin anything you wouldn’t put in your mouth. Use high-quality oils like the oils you get from Beyond Health. Or spray on a solution of powdered vitamin C and pure water. These will prolong the time you can spend in the sun without turning pink, but keep in mind that they don’t block the sun’s rays the way sunscreens do, so you still have to take some care.
There are also limitations on how much vitamin D you can count on getting from sunbathing. Theoretically the sun can supply all the vitamin D you’ll ever need, but many factors limit how much vitamin D you actually get. Where you live, weather and smog conditions, time of day, natural pigments in your skin, your age, your weight . . . all of these can make a difference. The Vitamin D Council* has a thorough explanation of these factors on their website. Because of limiting factors, most of us will need to supplement the vitamin D we get from the sun to reach the recommended “high-normal” levels (between 50 and 80 ng/mL) on a 25(OH)D blood test of vitamin D status.
Slowing down, and taking time out to do nothing has a lot to recommend it, especially if it’s relaxing outside in the sun. Being in direct contact with the earth’s surface is also healing. In To Be Healed by the Earth, Warren Grossman, PhD, describes his recovery from a serious illness. His primary therapy: lying, sitting and standing on the earth, and allowing a felt attunement between his and the earth’s energy.
So, take a few precautions, then soak up the sun! You’ll be happier and healthier for it!