Our modern love affair with “the great indoors” may be comfortable, but it’s coming at a cost to our health. A leading physician offers their view on how our indoor-centric lifestyle is creating a silent health crisis centered on Vitamin D deficiency.
The physician’s view is that we have disconnected from a vital environmental input: sunlight. By spending our workdays in offices and our leisure time in front of screens, we are depriving our bodies of the UVB radiation needed to produce this essential hormone.
This disconnect has direct biological consequences. Vitamin D is a master regulator of our genes. Without it, our bodies’ internal systems for managing immunity and mood are compromised. The fatigue and frequent illnesses so common today are, in this view, symptoms of this environmental disconnect.
From this perspective, relying on food or pills is merely a patch. It doesn’t address the root cause, which is our lack of interaction with the natural world.
The physician’s prescription is therefore simple: we must consciously break out of the great indoors. Making a non-negotiable habit of spending 10 to 30 minutes in the midday sun is not just a health tip; it’s a necessary step to re-establish a fundamental biological connection.
