What Would Happen If You Never Saw the Sun?
The sun is the source of all life on the planet, but can humans survive without seeing it?
The sun is the source of all life on earth. The gaseous and benevolent star sends down life-giving rays on earth, which provide the energy to drive all forms of life. Plants trap the energy from the photons, sent down by the sun, and convert it into food, which becomes the source of sustenance for all other life forms on earth.
This is the obvious benefit of this big giant ball of fire in the sky. The question is whether we, as humans, need direct contact with sunlight to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Let us explore the effects the sun has on us.
The Skin
The most obvious part of our body that is directly affected by the sun is our skin. We go to beaches to tan our bodies, and in places, where the sun is almost always shrouded by clouds, people make use of fake tans to make up for it.
The amount of melanin in our skin is partly genetic. The exact concentration is determined by exposure to sunlight. Sunlight stimulates the production of melanin, which is a dark pigment that gives different shades to our skin. Melanin also protects our skin from damage so people who have more melanin in their skin are less prone to getting rashes and burn marks from prolonged exposure to sunlight.
Due to recent global warming, harmful rays from the sun come down to earth, unfiltered, and cause skin cancer. Thus, it is better to avoid too much exposure to the sun without sunscreen. Even if you plan to spend a limited amount of time in the sun, it is better to use sunscreen to avoid the risk of burns and diseases.
The Eyes
The human eye has two types of light receptors: rods and cones. Rods provide us with the ability to see things when the amount of light is low. They do not have a lot of receptiveness for colors, and they mainly focus on black and white things to make sure that we can see just enough in the dark to get things done.
The real miracle comes in with the cones. Cones in the human eye help us to see in sunlight. They can see thousands and thousands of colors, and the trained eye is receptive to even the minutest changes in shades. Our eyes are able to image and comprehend huge vistas of colors, which is a great feat if you think about it.
Although the sun allows us to appreciate the true beauty of things, it can also cause us to go blind. Solar Retinopathy is a condition that results in blindness from staring too long at the sun. Thus, it is a good idea to wear shades if you are going to be spending a lot of time outside in the sun.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is the only vitamin that is naturally synthesized by our bodies using sunlight. It makes your teeth, bones, and muscles strong and healthy. You can get vitamin D from secondary sources, like processed milk fortified with vitamin D.
The vitamin produced by our bodies, however, is better because it is produced in the exact amounts that it is required. Vitamin D that is consumed via food sometimes gets excreted by the kidneys instead of being absorbed into the body.
Mood and Sleep Cycle
All living creatures have a built-in sleep cycle, and almost all organisms follow the schedule rigidly (apart from humans). People like to mess around with their sleep schedule to party and enjoy their lives.
Messing too much with your sleep schedule can result in insomnia, lack of energy, and a bad mood. The natural clocks in our body function with the sun, hence waking up early is very healthy for us, and so is sleeping on time.
Sunlight causes the production of serotonin, a hormone that boosts your moods and generally makes you more active and receptive to your surroundings. You can survive perfectly well without ever seeing the sun for the rest of your life, but it is quite probable that you will eventually become grouchy from the lack of sunlight.
References
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-sunlight-health-effects
