“By all means never fail to get all the sunshine and fresh air that you can… Whenever and wherever possible, wear shorts or sunsuits outdoors, and let the lifegiving ultraviolet rays reach and penetrate into every skin pore of your body,” said Joseph Pilates on page 28 of his 1945 book Return to Life Through Contrology.
Meanwhile, the U.S. FDA suggests avoiding the sun by wearing clothing, hats, sunscreen and sunglasses, and not going out at certain times of the day. We are told that the sun is dangerous and causes burns, aging, and cancer. They say the sun’s UV radiation causes “harmful effects.” If we follow this advice, we get very little sun and end up spending more time indoors.
Joseph Pilates, Edgar Trier (Carola Trier’s husband), and an unidentified third person spending time together outdoors. Joseph Pilates clearly is trying to get all the sunshine he possibly can. Photo taken by Heather Erdmann. Found at The Pilates Transparency Project.
But humans evolved with the sun. Every living thing on this planet evolved with the sun. How could something we’ve co-existed with for so long be so dangerous for us?
D deficiency epidemic
For the past four years, I’ve been testing my vitamin D levels and always had slightly low levels. Below 20 ng/ml is considered deficient, while below 30 is insufficient. A 2011 study found that 42% of Americans are deficient in D (with 82% of Blacks and 69% of Hispanics deficient). We are led to believe by the medical community and government organizations that we can supplement our way out of this problem. However, I was personally taking high doses of vitamin D daily (5000 IUs) and still my blood level was only in the 30s. It is generally advised to aim for levels between 40-60 ng/ml.
More sun, better health?
Interestingly, some research shows better longevity with more sun exposure. In fact, this 2016 study concluded that sunbathers live longer. The authors state that “avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.” Another 2020 study concluded that “exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation reduces the risk of breast cancer, especially in women over 40.” Many diseases—like cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis—have a higher incidence with higher latitude, implying something in sun exposure is preventative for these diseases (source and MS source).
So is the sun life giving, as Joe called it, or “harmful” (FDA) and “damaging” (American Academy of Dermatology) as many in the medical community claim today? Perhaps the answer isn’t so black or white.
I’ve been following the typical sun avoidance recommendations for 18 years—always wearing hats, sunglasses and sunscreen when outside. But I decided to research the sun and try exposing myself to a little more of it. I had been using various infrared lights on my body but about 40% of the sun’s rays are infrared. So why buy a machine and use it indoors when the sun gives it daily for free? Also, my vitamin D levels were low despite supplementation and I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to increase them through sun alone.
Joseph Pilates in 1958 showcasing the bed he designed. Clearly he’s been getting a lot of UVB. Photo taken by Joseph Costa. Found at The Pilates Transparency Project.
I began by exposing my eyes to sun when I first woke in the morning. Early morning sun is full of infrared rays, increasingly shown in research to be healing to the body. When the weather was cooler, I sat inside next to an open window and as the weather permitted, I would go outside for a morning dose of sun. Earth’s atmosphere filters most UV light in the early morning so this is a great time to enjoy as much sun as you can without worry about getting burned.
So long sunglasses
Getting rid of my sunglasses wasn’t easy. The sun’s rays were initially intense for my eyes. However, early morning sun is more tolerable and within a couple weeks, I found myself no longer needing sunglasses. At midday, I will wear a hat if it is bright, but I don’t really use sunglasses anymore. Sunlight directly into our eyes provides a whole host of benefits—photosensitive cells in the retina connect to various important structures in our brain like the hypothalamus (setting our circadian rhythm which controls many biological processes within the body), pituitary gland (the master gland that controls a variety of hormones), and pineal gland (responsible for making melatonin in the morning from exposure to light and then releasing it at night to help us feel sleepy). Sunlight in the eyes also helps the brain understand the true level of light in the environment and prepare the body appropriately and increases production of neurotransmitters like serotonin. Why cheat yourself of all these benefits by avoiding sunlight in your eyes?
Prior to this self experiment, I didn’t realize that sunlight through a window was significantly altered. So if you think you’re getting natural sunlight when you’re driving in your car or sitting at a desk near a window, you’re not. Open your windows and now the full spectrum of sunlight can enter your eyes.
Ultraviolet light
Sunlight in the morning is good for you, but what about midday sun? Depending on your latitude and time of year, UVB and UVA rays start to hit the earth around 9-10am. This is why we’re often told to avoid the sun from 10am-2pm (or sometimes we’re told 4pm. My phone’s weather app tells me to use sun protection until 6pm!) However, UV rays aren’t all bad! Those are the rays that Joe called lifegiving. We use UVB rays to synthesize “vitamin” D, which isn’t a vitamin at all but rather a hormone. We actually need to make more vitamin D in the sunny months and store it because often we cannot produce it in the winter, again depending on your latitude (latitudes above 40 like Denver will result in no ability to synthesize D from November to March).
This means I had to get midday sun. I downloaded an app called D Minder and started figuring out how much midday sunlight I could handle without burning. I tried 10 minutes initially and began increasing it. To date, I have not burned once, even during a week long trip to the beach. Not disrupting the sunlight’s signal to the body through sunscreen and sunglasses has helped my skin develop a base tan and now I can tolerate longer time in the sun. By mid-July, an hour walk during high UV times does not result in a burn.
Photo taken by Bob East and published in the Miami Herald on April 9, 1961. Found at The Pilates Transparency Project.
Blood tests show that this UVB exposure is increasing my vitamin D production. In just 4 weeks of thoughtful and measured sun exposure, my level went up 6 ng/ml. I’m no longer hovering near insufficiency in the 30s but now have my level in the 40s. UPDATE: I tested again in September, after four months of intentional sun, and my D levels are now in the mid 50s. They rose 60% in just four months, without any supplementation!
Vitamin D isn’t the only hormone to increase in response to sun exposure. Sex hormones—like testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone—also increase in response to UVB light, according to this 2021 study.
And while we think of UVA light as being mostly responsible for aging, it is also highly antimicrobial, found to kill bacteria, viruses, and even influenza and coronaviruses. In the flu pandemic of 1918, hospitals were so full of patients that they began treating some of them outside. The death rate for patients within the hospital was 40% but for those treated outside, it was only 13% (source).
Sunscreen and false security
Sunscreen was developed around the time Joseph Pilates was writing his book and what it’s designed to do is block UVB rays. These are the rays we need to make vitamin D and they are the rays that cause sunburn. However, most chemical sunscreens do not block UVA rays. These are the rays we usually think of as causing aging. UVA also penetrates deeper than UVB. The problem with wearing sunscreen is that it blocks the rays that warn us that our sun exposure is too much (by causing a burn), therefore allowing us to stay in the sun much longer without blocking other rays like UVA. This allows us to overdose on certain rays. Furthermore, many sunscreens contained dangerous ingredients that are known hormone disrupters or that can be destabilized in the presence of sun then sit on our skin exposing our cells to oxidized ingredients. Mineral sunblocks don’t carry the same risks as chemical sunscreens, but they still give a false sense of security in the sun. One final sunscreen/sunblock consideration is that some ingredients like oxybenzone may penetrate past the skin to enter blood, the placenta, breastmilk, and even the brain. Is that something you want to be lathering on your body daily?
Is melanoma reason enough to avoid the sun?
One of the reasons why we use so much sunscreen/sunblock is that we’re worried about melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. This is a huge driver in recommendations to avoid the sun. However, let’s get a little perspective. While 97,000 cases of melanoma are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2023, that is 0.029% of the population. In the meantime, more than 3x that number will be diagnosed with breast cancer, whose risk is reduced by sun exposure. And 42% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D from sun avoidance, which can affect a whole host of health issues (like osteoporosis/osteopenia which affects 54 million Americans—556x more common than melanoma) as well as cancer rates. Higher levels of vitamin D are correlated with lower cancer risk (source and source) so while avoiding the sun may reduce the risk of skin cancer, it may increase the risk of other cancers and illnesses. Of course no one wants to get melanoma, but consider its relative risk and weigh that against the other diseases you’re trying to avoid. Do you avoid driving in a car just because of the risk of a car accident? No, you just take proper safety precautions instead. I’m arguing for the same with the sun.
Joseph Pilates was inspired by animals. I too learn by watching my dog’s movement and behavior. One day, she was in a basement bedroom for most of the day while the house cleaners cleaned. When I got home and let her out, the first thing she did after her confinement was not pee, drink, eat or run in the yard—it was laying on the patio couch in the sun. Of all the needs she wanted met most, it was SUN. If we pay attention, the natural world has a lot to teach us.
A great way to avoid melanoma is to avoid sunburn and a great way to avoid sunburn is to prepare your skin for the sun. The way people tend to sun these days is not optimal. We avoid it all winter, then overdose on it on our beach vacation. Would you ever sit on the couch for six months and then go and run a marathon? Your skin needs training in the same way that your muscles do. To prepare your skin for summer vacations and more time in the sun, make sure to get good doses of healing infrared rays (available in the early morning and before sunset), don’t wear sunglasses (this blocks your brains ability to understand the true level of light in your environment), and slowly work your way up to higher doses of sun. Begin with 10-minutes of midday, high UV sun. Then slowly increase it. Your body’s natural response is to produce more melanin, which is your own natural sunblock. Once you have that, you can tolerate higher amounts of sun. If you have no tan, you have no business spending a full day in the sun on vacation.
Now that we’re not so fearful of ultraviolet radiation, let me share how I get mine. A great way to get a little UV exposure is to eat lunch outside, giving you a brief but effective dose. Try the D Minder app to estimate how many IUs of D you’ll make in your sun session (in mid July at the 40th latitude, the app estimates that a 20-minute lunch on a clear day with shorts and a t-shirt from 12:20-12:40pm would make 5400 IUs of D—so you really don’t need much. If you’re worried about a burn, expose more of your skin so you can make more D in less time). I often sit on the ground to stack multiple healing modalities—sunning and earthing/grounding—and wear a hat because high sun is too intense for my eyes and I’d rather make my D on my body than my face.
But I don’t want to look old
I know a lot of you reading this are worried about wrinkles and aging. We care A LOT about our appearances. But you know what I care about more? My health, how I feel, and enjoying life. I’m not sure if avoiding looking my age is really worth all the sacrifices. That being said, the only place I do continue to use sunblock (zinc oxide) occasionally is my face and I do wear hats midday. So I guess I’ll retain some vanity for my face, and let the rest of my skin make one of the most useful and important hormones for my body.
Evening sun
The end of the day is much like the beginning, with minimal UV light and proportionally more visible red and infrared light. This means at our house, dinners are eaten outside and our evening routine frequently involves watching the sunset. The healing infrared rays are a great way to balance out the midday UV exposure you had over lunch. You aren’t the only one enjoying the dusk—the mosquitos are out too. I just cover up in more clothing if they’re out and about.
What more sun has done for me:
I am sleeping better. After an adjustment period, I’ve fallen into a very consistent routine of getting sleepy at the same time each night and waking up approximately 8 hours later with maybe one night waking to use the restroom. (For sleep, make sure to avoid artificial light, in particular blue light from screens, in the evenings).
It’s easier to get up in the morning. I was a very slow starter, feeling quite groggy for a while after waking. Now the sunlight into my eyes halts melatonin release and I feel more alert and ready to start my day.
Improved mental energy and creativity (as evidenced by this long blog post).
Increased vitamin D levels (measured by a blood test).
Perceived increased sex hormone levels (subjective not measured, and if you really want to know why I think my hormone levels are up, ask me in person. I’ll tell you.)
More time spent outdoors and in nature. Has led me to explore other ways the environment heals, like grounding (blog post on that coming soon).
Increased hair growth. Infrared light improves collagen production and I can tell my hair is growing faster. I mostly notice that I need to shave my legs more often, but my eyelashes, eyebrows, and head hair are also growing faster and thicker without any expensive serums.
Improved healing. When I get sick, I recover so much quicker than before and without the aid of bottles of supplements (my former go to strategy).
I think my vision is improving. This was already the case from regularly practicing Face Pilates for one year (optometrist found improved vision in both eyes compared to two years prior and improved astigmatism in one eye). But now that I no longer wear my prescription sunglasses, my eyes have to work to focus themselves. Furthermore, being outside means I’m looking at greater distances, something shown to improve nearsightedness.
I’m taking more steps every day. A great way to get more sun into your eyes and onto your skin is to walk outside more.
I am more tan and people comment regularly on how good and healthy I look. I find it interesting that we are intuitively attracted to tan skin (as seen by the regular compliments I’m getting—no one said this in prior years when I was quite pale). It’s almost as if the more time I spend in the sunlight, the more of it is absorbed and then radiates out—and others can perceive that and like it.
Doing the Pilates exercise Star on a sunrise walk on the beach. We spent a week on vacation at 21-degrees latitude, didn’t use sunblock, and never burned. We got as much sun as we wanted early and late in the day, then used a lot of shade midday.
Friend or foe?
My conclusion after six months of studying light and four months into my sunning experiment is that with a little knowledge and at the right times of day for the right amount of time, the sun is more friend than foe. I will continue to get as much sunshine and fresh air as I reasonably can, just like Joseph Pilates advised.
Recommended books and articles:
The Healing Power of the Sun: A Comprehensive Guide to Sunlight as Medicine by Richard Hobday
Chasing the Sun: How the Science of Sunlight Shapes Our Bodies and Minds by Linda Geddes
Is Sunscreen the New Margarine? Article by Rowan Jacobsen in Outside Magazine
Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health Article by Nathanial Mead in Environmental Health Perspectives
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The black and white photos in this post were found via The Pilates Transparency Project, which is working to ensure that all Pilates enthusiasts have fair access to images of Joe. The cause they’re supporting was at work here. From the photos I have seen of Joe, I had a deeper understanding of really how much time he spent in the sunshine and fresh air—clearly more than those around him as he is often quite shockingly tan in comparison. These photos informed me and I appreciate the work of The Pilates Transparency Project. For every like on this post up until 7/31/23, we donated $10 to their GoFundMe page for a total of $350.
