Empower member Mufasa receiving an award

Blinded by the Light: Sunshine Misconceptions

July 03, 2026•8 min read

Weekly Wisdom

Episode 50

We get a lot of things wrong. It is always interesting to look back at the past to see what wrong-headed things the people who came before us believed and the crazy things they did because of those erroneous beliefs.

Remember bleeding? That was kind of horrific. Or locking up women in asylums based on the diagnosis of “hysteria,” the symptoms of which might be something as obscene as disagreeing with her father or husband. What about Radithor, the radioactive health drink of the 1920s?

But there are more modern examples too: frontal lobotomies, asbestos, leaded gasoline, and thalidomide, to name a few that occurred in my lifetime. But just because they’re safely in the rearview mirror, don’t imagine we’re out of the woods just yet. There are plenty of recent and current examples of misguided commercial products, medical advice and interventions.

The question you need to ask yourself is: what are the commonly accepted practices today that might be killing you? Today I am going to tackle our modern-day dysfunctional relationship with the sun.

Evolution Designed Us to Flourish in Sunlight

First off, some perspective: home sapiens have been walking the planet for approximately 300,000 years. Meanwhile, the first commercially available sunscreen was produced in South Australia by Milton Blake in 1932. That’s less than 100 years ago. It makes you wonder how our ancestors, who through most of history worked outdoors rather than in climate-controlled offices, survived the dangers of daily exposure to direct sunlight for 299,900 years without sunscreen.

Based on our current recommendations regarding sun exposure, you’d imagine most of our ancestors got cooked by the UV rays and died of melanomas. But they didn’t. And before you go reaching for arguments about shorter lifespans, please understand that statistic is skewed heavily by infant mortality and death in childbirth. Our ancient ancestors, if they survived the perils of childhood and absent violence, tended to enjoy long lifespans. So, no, the relative absence of skin cancers in ancient populations was not due to shorter lifespans.

You see, evolution designed us to flourish in sunlight, just like every other species on the planet. And yes, I know, fair-skinned Northern European populations living in warm, sunny climates do not have the level of melanin necessary to protect them from overexposure. That is why Blake’s sunscreen first appeared in Australia, where excessive sun exposure was proving problematic to the white immigrant population.

Empower member Pepper with an overhead barbell lift

The Sunscreen Problem

But here’s the problem with that: sunscreen is toxic. It leeches through your skin and into your bloodstream. It is a hormone disruptor. And it may be linked to more cancers – or at least more serious cancers – than it prevents. In some cases it may even make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. A generation or two from now, people will look back at the barbaric practice of smearing sunscreen on our flesh and shake their heads at the silliness of it all.

Not only because it is toxic, but because as a population, many of our current chronic health challenges may be due to the fact that we’ve been blocking ourselves from the direct benefits of the sun. You see, researchers in the field are just beginning to uncover the profound and complex benefits of sunlight. And it appears that natural sunlight affects our bodies in far more ways than we ever imagined. It goes far beyond vitamin D, although we already know how important that is.

Many of our modern maladies, from poor sleep to depression to chronic pain and inflammation to obesity and diabetes, may have their roots in deficient sun exposure. This is not to claim that sunlight is a cure-all. There is no such thing. Our body is a much more complex organism than that, and so are the processes that govern it. Diet, sleep, exercise, lifestyle, sunlight, and a whole host of factors interact with and impact one another. To date, research has identified exercise as the biggest health lever you can pull, with sleep and nutrition close seconds, but there is emerging evidence that suggests sun exposure needs to be ranked up there as well.

How to Think About Sun Exposure

But no, this does not mean you should be out cooking all day in direct sunlight. If you look at our ancestors, they generally covered up during the heat of the day or sought shade. They were also out and about in the early morning light, which is important because those long wavelengths signal your skin cells to begin deploying protective melanin that will help mitigate the damage of the more powerful midday sun.

I’ve been using daily early light exposure for several years to live sunscreen and sunburn-free. It really works. But not so well that I could spend hours in direct noonday sun. After the early morning light, I tend to stay in the shade and try to limit my direct sun exposure to short durations. I certainly don’t lie on the beach in direct sun. And when travelling to more southern latitudes, I take more care to cover up. I have managed so far to survive hikes in the Arizona desert and summer in Japan without burning. And no, it’s not genetic. Before learning about early sun exposure, I burned like toast in the sun. But please don’t imagine that early sun exposure is a miracle, by the time I put it to the test against 8-hour treks in Japan’s summer sun, I already had a solid base tan earned slowly from 5 months of daily Vancouver sun exposure.

The Benefits of Natural Sunlight

Here are some of the known benefits of natural sunlight:

Synthesizes Vitamin D: Sunlight converts skin cholesterol into Vitamin D3.

Strengthens Bones: Vitamin D aids calcium absorption to prevent osteoporosis.

Lowers Blood Pressure: UVA rays release nitric oxide, widening blood vessels.

Boosts Immunity: Sunlight stimulates protective antimicrobial peptides and T cells.

Calms Skin Issues: Controlled UV radiation helps treat psoriasis and eczema.

Elevates Mood: Light hitting the retina cues the brain to release serotonin.

Combats Seasonal Depression: Sunlight mitigates Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Regulates Sleep: Morning sun sets your internal clock for better nighttime melatonin.

Relieves Stress: Sun exposure releases calming, pain-relieving beta-endorphins.

Sharpens Focus: Regular natural light exposure increases daytime alertness.

Lowers cortisol levels

Associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, Asthma (Please note, association does not equal causation, though the association exists, we cannot know at this time if it is the direct effect of sunlight or if the association is due to other factors – for example, people who are outdoors more often may be more active and it may be the activity level that accounts for the positive health outcomes. It is almost impossible in observational studies to control for a single variable like sunlight to prove causation.)

Body composition. Sunlight directly impacts body composition through hormonal, genetic, and cellular pathways. Moderate sun exposure helps synthesize vitamin D, which is vital for muscle function. Research also reveals that blue light from the sun penetrates the skin and directly causes subcutaneous fat cells to shrink and release stored lipids. Yes, you read that right: sunlight shrinks fat cells and helps build muscle!

The Case Against Chemical Sunscreens

And while robbing ourselves of the benefits of sunlight, we’re simultaneously exposing ourselves to the toxic chemicals in sunscreens:

Chemical Absorption: Certain chemical UV filters, such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, and octocrylene, are absorbed into the bloodstream. While current research shows no evidence of harm in humans from normal use, the FDA is conducting further testing to determine if chronic buildup poses any long-term risks.

Endocrine Disruption: Animal studies indicate high doses of certain chemical filters may affect hormones.

Phototoxicity: Some ingredients can react with sunlight, worsening skin irritation rather than protecting against it.

Yes, your sunscreen may in fact worsen your skin’s reaction to sunlight. The exceptions to this would be mineral sunscreens: Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide. These physical barriers reflect light and are rarely absorbed into the skin or cause allergic reactions.

One day people will look back on our generation’s dysfunctional relationship with the sun and wonder how we could be so confused about a burning sphere of gases that has been essential to life on this planet since long before our ancestors walked upright. They’ll wonder how we could look back on several hundred thousand years of prehistory and suddenly decide it was a good idea to shut ourselves off from the light we evolved with and then exacerbate our health issues by lathering toxic chemicals onto our skin. But these are the distortions that occur when our lifestyles break from the rhythms of the natural world.

Over the past 150 years, skin cancer statistics have shifted from isolated, rare diagnoses to a global health epidemic. Rather than reducing skin cancer rates, 100 years of sunscreen have seen rates increase. It could be that sunscreen contributes to cancer, or it could be that its use encourages people to spend more time in direct sunlight without early light exposure. It could be a bit like driving over the speed limit because you’re wearing a seat belt. It’s not the seatbelt causing the crash; it's your overconfidence regarding its efficacy.

Either way, skin cancer rates are climbing, along with a whole host of other chronic lifestyle diseases. Sunscreen is not helping. But a daily dose of sunshine just might.