The second Friday of March each year marks a special day in our calendar: Solar Appreciation Day! Every day we should be thankful for the sun and all the many benefits natural light can have for us and our family, but this day particularly is a special day to sit back and think about everything solar and just how much it actually helps us on a daily basis.
Here at Hometech, we’ve decided to commemorate Solar Appreciation Day by sharing a few of our favourite things about our wonderful sun.
1. The Sun Cheers Us Up
The sun releases a chemical called serotonin, which is the chemical that makes us happy. It’s vital that we get enough natural daylighting from the sun so that it boosts our serotonin levels to cheer us up! Doing this can even help prevent mitigate depression. You know what they say about the winter blues getting you down? Try getting some more sunlight when you’re having a bad day and feel yourself feel better by the minute.
2. Gives Us Vitamin D
Vitamin D is important for our everyday health, and sure, we can get it from capsules in a bottle, but the sun is our main source when it comes to this vital supplement. Vitamin D is so good for helping to boost our immune system and fend off infections, colds and viruses that can stop us from doing what we love every day. All we need to do to get vitamin D is get some sunlight!
3. Heats The World
This one is a biggie: our whole entire earth only exists because it gets the perfect amount of heat and light from the sun to sustain life. If that’s not something to appreciate, then we don’t know what is! The sun bounces off the earth constantly, and just the right amount of heat and light energy is held within our atmosphere that creates the perfect temperature for us to live on. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the universe (that we know of) so we definitely have to be grateful for that!
4. Makes Plants Grow
There are three things that plants need in order to grow: Fresh air, water and sunlight. These ingredients cause photosynthesis to take place, which is a chemical reaction that produces plant food and helps them to grow. This means all plant life, including the trees in your backyard, all the fruits and vegetables in your vege garden, and all the flowers on your front porch wouldn’t be able to survive without the sun.
5. Keeps Us Healthy
The sun is a key ingredient to fighting off many harmful diseases, including types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, even cavities and other aches and pains. There have been many studies done on the health benefits of the sun, proving that it is so important to get a good amount of natural light on the daily in order to live a healthy, happy life.
6. Gives Us Energy
Have you ever wondered why it is so natural to wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night? This seems like such a mundane thing, but it’s actually all because of the sun. The serotonin released by the sun gives us energy during the days and when the sun goes down that chemical stops being produced and gets replaced by one called melatonin, which makes us sleepy.
If you have trouble sleeping, often it can be because you haven’t had enough sunlight to give you enough serotonin during the day so that melatonin can be produced at night. Next time you’re sleepy during the day, give natural sunlight a go as a remedy instead of your second coffee.
7. Lights Our Homes
Last, but definitely not least, sunlight is an incredibly important part of our home life. It lights up our homes, giving us all the sunlight we need to stay happy and healthy, even when we’re indoors and in the comfort of our own homes. This can help us get a healthy amount of light and heat without draining the energy bill. If we have lots of windows, this is easily achieved, but if not, it’s vital to find other ways to get sunlight into our homes so that we can receive all its benefits every day.
Get More Sunlight In Your Life
Hometech’s Solatube Skylights are the perfect natural daylighting solution to a home that doesn’t get enough sunlight naturally. They’re an incredibly energy-efficient and easy daylighting solution that can be installed in any home. With all these reasons to appreciate the sun, why not try to get as much of it into our daily lives as possible?
If you’re interested in a natural daylighting solution that efficiently gives you more natural light in your home, contact us today for a free consultation and quote. And don’t forget to have a happy, sun-filled Solar Appreciation Day!