Spring forward, sunshine, and Vitamin D
This weekend, make sure to set those clocks up an hour before you go to bed on Saturday. The official reset to the clocks will come at 2am on Sunday. This means it will stay dark a little longer in the mornings, but lighter in the evenings. If you find yourself rushing home from work now to catch a few hours of daylight to be outdoors, rush no more! That will be one of the bigger benefits to the new sunrise and sunset times.
Once we get to April 11th, that's when we will see just over 13 hours of daylight, and our sun angle will be at 50 degrees. Why is the sun angle important? When the angle hits 50 degrees we start to see the benefits of vitamin D from the sun during the time frame of noon till about 3pm. This time frame will increase the further we get into spring and summer.
Vitamin D is also know as the sunshine vitamin. This vitamin is very important for physical and mental health. How does this process work? The UVB rays from the sun hit your skin, in doing so it interacts with your cholesterol which sparks the synthesis of vitamin D. Vitamin D is very helpful for keeping your immune system strong, and also interacts with your gut to develop calcium and phosphorus. These two elements are what keeps your bones healthy and strong. Vitamin D also is good for keeping your mood up and fighting depression. If you feel groggy and more tired during the winter months, that can be from a lack of the essential vitamin.