There’s something about sunlight that really recharges you. If you don’t get enough of it, you feel very much like a potted plant that’s been kept too far from a window — you start to feel as though you’re physically and mentally drooping and wilting.
It’s not just in your head. Sunlight packs a potent cocktail of health benefits: it lowers blood pressure, fights inflammation, supports optimal testosterone levels, improves insulin sensitivity, strengthens immunity, and improves mood and sleep. These benefits don’t just come courtesy of the vitamin D production that sunlight triggers; some of them occur independently of it and are the products of sunlight itself.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to get adequate sunlight during the winter months. The sun’s angle in the sky is lower, days are shorter and grayer, and UVB rays — the ones your skin needs to make vitamin D — often don’t penetrate the atmosphere enough for meaningful production in many northern latitudes.
Despite these challenges, winter doesn’t have to cut you off from the sun’s benefits entirely. By using the strategies below, you can still get meaningful exposure — even during the year’s darkest months.
Maximize the Moments of Sun You Do Get
Even if sometimes pale, winter does offer moments of sunlight. The trick is to capture these moments and maximize them.
Time it right. Aim for outdoor exposure around midday (roughly 10 a.m.–2 p.m.). That’s when the sun is highest and its light is most intense, giving you the biggest punch of bright light you’ll get all day.
Get 15–30 minutes when you can. In summer, you can often meet your sunlight needs with 15 minutes of exposure several times a week. In winter, because sunlight is weaker, you’ll want at least that much, and ideally even more, every day. If you can, head up to higher altitudes for a more potent dose.
Get active outside. Choose activities that get you outside — everything from walking the dog to shoveling snow counts — and try to deliberately engage in outdoor recreation like going snowshoeing on the weekend. Staying active outside will keep you warm as you soak in the rays, and movement has its own benefits for vitamin D metabolism, energy levels, and mood — so you’re getting triple value out of each minute of outdoor activity.
Sunbathers on a cold day at Coney Island
Expose as much skin as you can. What’s tough about getting sunlight in the winter is that not only are the rays weaker, but you’ve probably covered up your whole body to keep out the cold.
If the only skin you can expose is your face and hands, you can still get some exposure that way — even lying in a warm mummy sleeping bag with just your face exposed works. But bare more if it’s bearable. Consider wearing a very warm vest (keeping your core warm has a disproportionate effect on keeping the rest of your body warm) while wearing a short-sleeve shirt to expose your forearms. Especially consider doing your workout outside; it’s much easier to shed skin-covering layers once your body is warmed up from physical exertion.
Skip the sunscreen. Unless you’re going to be outside for a long time, will be up at higher altitudes, and/or are very concerned about sun-related aging, you can skip the sunscreen during the winter to allow more rays to penetrate your skin.
Go outside, even on cloudy days. Clouds may block some rays, but daylight is still far brighter than indoor lighting — meaning you’re doing your circadian clock and mood a favor just by stepping outside.
That’s something to keep in mind with wintertime sunlight exposure in general: even if it’s lower in intensity compared to summer and you’re not absorbing enough to trigger vitamin D production and other health benefits, daily access to bright light still helps maintain your body’s rhythms and mood regulation systems.
Supplement as Needed
In many regions, especially north of about 37° latitude (much of the continental United States and most of Europe), the sun, from about October through March, simply isn’t strong enough to offer all its potential health benefits. So you may need to employ some sunlight supplementation strategies.
Use light therapy. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) lamps and bright light devices mimic intense daylight and can help with mood, circadian entrainment, and overall energy. Sit in front of a 10,000‑lux lamp for 15–30 minutes each morning to help offset the lack of natural light. These lamps don’t produce vitamin D directly, but they’re helpful for your brain’s light-sensing pathways.
Go tanning. Some people swear by the power of tanning beds to curb the winter blues. But to get their full benefit, you’ve got to choose the bed you use carefully.
Many modern commercial tanning beds, especially those marketed for “bronzing,” emphasize UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin and will mimic some of the benefits of natural sunlight, but don’t produce vitamin D, which requires UVB radiation (specifically in the 290–315 nm range).
So look for a tanning bed that emits a mix of UVB and UVA, or is labeled as a low-pressure tanning bed (these tend to have higher UVB ratios). Ask the salon specifically: “What is the UVB percentage of your bulbs?” Ideally, you want at least 2–5% UVB.
Yes, tanning beds do carry a skin cancer risk, but occasional, limited use — 5–10 minutes, 1–2x per week — is generally enough for light to moderate skin types to boost vitamin D without overdoing exposure.
Even though I’ve already got brown skin, I’ve done a little tanning in the winter and have found that the warmth and light boost my mood.
Take a vitamin D3 supplement. Even though some of the benefits of sunlight are independent of its vitamin D-producing properties, adequate vitamin D levels are still important for health.
While you can get vitamin D from foods like fatty fish and egg yolks, many people won’t get enough from their diet alone and should consider taking a vitamin D3 supplement (the form closest to what your body makes from sunlight). Most adults looking to maintain or improve levels during winter should take about 2,000 IU per day, but the exact dosage you need can vary by age, skin tone, body composition, and existing vitamin D status.
If you supplement with D3, look for one that includes vitamin K2. D3 helps you absorb calcium, and K2 ensures that calcium is deposited in your bones and teeth — not in places you don’t want it, like arteries and joints.
Fill Your Sunlight Camel’s Hump With a Low-Latitude Vacation
People who live in cold, dark, snowy locales often take a trip to warm, sunny, low-latitude locales in the middle of the winter, and it’s wise to do so.
A week of regular sun exposure (30–60 minutes/day with skin exposed) can generate tens of thousands of IU of vitamin D. Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, it’s stored in body fat and released gradually over time. One week of tropical sun can significantly elevate your circulating vitamin D levels, with effects lasting 4–8 weeks.
Multiple days of steady sun exposure will also help reset your circadian rhythms, improve sleep, and give mood-enhancing neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine a big boost.
It will also help you chill out: sunlight, particularly its UVA rays, triggers the release of nitric oxide from the skin, which relaxes blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, and contributes to the calm, mellow — sometimes downright euphoric — feeling we associate with being out in the sun. There’s a reason you feel less tense when you’re on a beach vacation.
The circadian/mood/blood pressure effects of a week of sun exposure don’t last as long as the vitamin D benefits — just a week or two after you come home from vacation — but they all add up to a nice reprieve from the tightly-wound and more downcast state you can find yourself in during the winter.
Seek the Winter Sun
Winter makes accessing sunlight more challenging, but the season doesn’t have to deprive us of its light-giving rays entirely. By being intentional about getting outside, using supplements when needed, and maybe even taking a tropical getaway, you can get the physical and mental benefits of sunlight all through the darkest months. Keep actively seeking the sun through winter’s gray days until its rays return in full force come spring.
