Kapanlagi.com - The sun is very important for life on earth. The daily activities of living creatures depend heavily on the presence of sunlight. The benefits of solar energy for humans can be felt directly or indirectly.
The benefits of solar energy for humans can be directly felt for physical and mental health. In the body, sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, greater than food or supplements. The production of vitamin D in the body is triggered by ultraviolet B or UVB.
The benefits of solar energy for humans indirectly are also numerous. Not only for physical health, sunlight can be useful for improving mood so that mental health can be well maintained. Let's not forget its role in plant photosynthesis, which can produce food sources for humans.
Well, to find out more detailed benefits of solar energy, please refer to the information compiled from various sources below.
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1. Benefits of Solar Energy for Human Health
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The benefits of solar energy for humans can be directly felt in the body's health as follows.
1. Source of Vitamin D
It is not excessive to say that vitamin D is often referred to as the sunshine vitamin. This is because sunlight helps the process of producing vitamin D in the human body. This mechanism can occur because there is a type of cholesterol that functions as a builder of vitamin D.
When this compound is exposed to UVB from the sun, it will be converted into vitamin D. It is also not excessive to say that vitamin D from sunlight is better than food or supplements because it can circulate twice as long. Unfortunately, the amount of vitamin D obtained through sunlight also depends on age, season, and clothing worn.
2. Treating Skin Diseases
The benefits of solar energy for humans can also be felt for natural treatment of certain skin diseases. UVB exposure is recommended by doctors to treat psoriasis, eczema, acne, and jaundice. This treatment works by attracting immune cells to the surface of the skin.
It depends on calcitriol as the active form of vitamin D, which helps in the growth, repair, and metabolism of skin cells to prevent skin aging, as long as the level is appropriate. Try to expose your body to sunlight for about 10 to 20 minutes every day. If there is too much exposure, sunlight can actually accelerate the aging process.
3. Lower Blood Pressure
In addition to being beneficial for skin health, sunlight can also lower blood pressure. This can happen because of a compound called nitric oxide that is released when sunlight touches the skin and is released into the blood vessels.
Based on research published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, UVA exposure can dilate blood vessels, which can lower blood pressure.
4. Prevent Cancer
The risk of certain cancers, such as colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, can be lower due to sunlight exposure. Once again, this effect is obtained from vitamin D which reduces the risk of cancer and improves survival after cancer reaches the detected stage.
5. Strengthen Bones
The benefits of sunlight for humans can also be felt as a bone strengthener. This is still influenced by the presence of vitamin D obtained through sunlight. Vitamin D plays an important role in calcium formation and maintaining phosphorus levels in the blood. The risk of sunlight deficiency can be very noticeable for bones. In children, for example, it can cause rickets. Vitamin D deficiency in adults is also related to osteomalacia or bone softening to osteoporosis. Therefore, it is important to maintain vitamin D intake for bones.
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2. Benefits of Solar Energy for Mental Health
Illustration (Credit: Pixabay)
In addition to physical health, the benefits of sunlight for humans can also be felt in mental health as follows.
6. Improves Mood
Have you ever felt happier and more radiant when exposed to sunlight? Apparently, sunlight stimulates the release of serotonin and endorphins, which are happiness hormones. By getting enough sunlight exposure, you can reduce depression and improve your mood. Lack of sunlight exposure is associated with a decrease in serotonin levels that can trigger stress. Sunlight that enters the eyes, a special area in the retina, can trigger the release of serotonin.
7. Improves Sleep Quality
Based on information from Healthline, a small study on office workers in 2014 showed that the more natural light they received, the better their sleep experience. This is still related to serotonin released when sunlight touches the retina. When exposure to light at night can disrupt the production of melatonin hormone, sunlight can actually help the body regulate internal clock to produce enough melatonin at night.
8. Mental Health
When mood and sleep quality are good, it will affect your mental health. Therefore, try to get 10-15 minutes of sunlight exposure per day to support the release of serotonin hormones that cause stress and depression.
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3. Indirect Benefits of Solar Energy for Humans
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9. Plant Photosynthesis
It can be said that photosynthesis is an indirect benefit of solar energy for humans. Although photosynthesis can only be done by plants, humans also need plants as a source of food. In addition, humans also need oxygen supply from plants to be able to breathe.
Although not directly, the benefits of this process are very useful and humans are highly dependent on it.
10. Solar Power
As a renewable and unlimited energy source, solar energy is very potential to be used as a source of electricity. The electrical energy generated from solar panels can be used as a source of lighting at night and as a power source for other electronic devices.
In addition to its unlimited availability, electricity generation from solar energy is also environmentally friendly.
11. Lighting
The sun is a direct source of lighting for living beings during the day. This is clearly very useful. Moreover, the benefits of solar energy for humans in this aspect can be obtained for free every day, while electric lights require expensive electricity.
KLovers, those are some benefits of solar energy for humans that you can enjoy consciously or unconsciously every day.
(Source: Liputan6.com, merdeka.com)
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Disclaimer: This translation from Bahasa Indonesia to English has been generated by Artificial Intelligence.