Now that the sun is finally showing and your favorite TV shows are all coming to an end, spend your extra time outside.
While we are all aware of the relationship between sun exposure and skin cancer risk, there are also some benefits to spending time outside each day. When your skin is exposed to the sun’s rays, your body produces vitamin D. While vitamin D has been well-documented as playing a role in bone health, now links have been made to everything from multiple sclerosis to prostate cancer. Just a few minutes outside each day can give you the vitamin D boost your body needs.
Getting some sun may also shake off the wintertime blues. Research suggests that light hitting your skin, not just your eyes, helps reverse seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Moreover, being outside gets us golfing, gardening, and engaging in other types of physical activity, which gives us mood-boosting endorphins as well has helps work off that winter weight.
Burning a few extra calories each day is easy to do when you spend time outside. Simple activities such as walking after dinner or gardening for 30 minutes will burn over 100 calories. By just burning an extra 100 calories each day, you can lose over 10 pounds in a year! Take it up a notch on the weekends by spending an afternoon outside hiking, play at the park with your kids, or walking around the local farmers market and you may be burning an extra 500 calories or more!
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