Shunning the sun is an instinctive act here in the radiant city of Austin. We get about 229 days a year of sun, and to many people that may seem like a bad thing, but there are numerous surprising benefits to it.

While some say that exposure to the sun’s rays can cause skin cancer, others say it can reduce the chance of many other types of cancer. The National Cancer Institute says that too little time out in the sun can cause breast cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer and many others. The reduction of most of these cancers is caused by the Vitamin D provided by the sun.

According to The UV Advantage, written by Professor Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine, we get 90-95% of our Vitamin D supplement from the sun. Vitamin D is important for keeping your bones healthy and protects you against many diseases later on such as Type 2 diabetes and common cancers. Type 2 diabetes especially, because a study that was conducted in Finland showed that kids who were taking a Vitamin D supplement had a 80% less chance of getting diabetes compared to those who didn’t. This vitamin also prevents us from getting heart disease according to a study by the British Medical Journal. It showed that there was a 9% less death rate from heart diseases for those who lived in a sunny part of the UK than those who lived in a less sunny city.

Not only does the sun boost you physically, it also has a great emotional impact. Our body’s happy hormone, serotonin, is boosted when the sun comes out. When the sun shines, we naturally feel more cheerful and lively, specifically when combined with an exercise such as running. “Everytime I wake up and see the sun I feel like the day is going to get better,” said 7th grader Derek L. Luckily in Austin, we get sunshine for about 60% of our year which might explain why we are the second happiest large city in the U.S on the CBS list.

The sun is a beautiful gift from Mother Nature, and we should embrace it, not shun it. It provides us with amazing benefits that will definitely improve our health. It’s no coincidence that Apollo, the god of sun is also the god of health. Sunshine makes us feel better, both on the inside and the outside.