It can aid overall physical health

When natural sunlight hits the skin, it triggers the body’s production of vitamin D (aka “the sunshine vitamin”), which is essential for overall health. The vitamin protects the body against inflammation, lowers high blood pressure, aids muscles, and improves brain function, while low levels can cause heart disease, prostate cancer and dementia.

It makes you happy

Sunlight increases levels of serotonin, which help promote feelings of happiness. Also, sunlight directly affects the brain's pineal gland, which produces melatonin, a powerful antioxidant that's important for sleep quality and helps prevent depression.

It helps your motivation to move & appetite control

When there's sunshine in the sky, we tend to feel more motivated to move, whether it's walking, swimming in the sea or pool, or playing sport. Hunger is controlled by a part of your brain called the hypothalamus (it works with serotonin and helps relieve hunger). Lack of sunlight causes a drop in serotonin levels, which can result in the feeling of fullness not being achieved. Therefore, exposure to sunlight will help you control your appetite!

It can boost immunity

It has been proven that sunshine stimulates your immune system's vitamin D and T cells, which results in boosted immunity. Some researchers say that we rely on solar energy to enable our bodies to stave off infections and fight disease. Sounds legit!

But beware...

While the sun is great for a lot of things, over exposure of it can cause a lot of problems, so always make sure to protect yourself with a hat, glasses and sunscreen, as well as avoiding it altogether in peak times.

It can cause skin cancer

UV is an environmental human carcinogen. It’s the most prominent and universal cancer-causing agent in our environment. There is very strong evidence that each of the three main types of skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma) is caused by sun exposure. Research shows that as many as 90 per cent of skin cancers are due to UV radiation, and can hence be avoided!

It can damage the immune system

While the right amount of sun can actually boost the immune system, over-exposure to UV radiation has a harmful suppressing effect on it. Scientists believe that sunburn can change the distribution and function of disease-fighting white blood cells in humans for up to 24 hours after exposure to the sun. Repeated over-exposure to UV radiation can cause even more damage to the body's immune system, so there's all the more reason to be careful.

It can damage your eyes

Prolonged exposure to UV or high intensities of it (like on sun beds) can damage the tissues of the eyes and cause a ‘burning’ of the eye surface called ‘snow blindness’ or photokeratitis. The effects usually disappear within a couple of days, but may lead to further complications later in life.

It ages skin

UV destroys collagen and connective tissue beneath the top layer of the skin, which speeds up the ageing of skin. This causes wrinkles, brown ‘liver’ spots and loss of skin elasticity, so cover up and don't let the sun spoil your fun (or your skin!)