So, one question from the community was around summer sun intensity and conception, and yes, there is definitely an amount of sun that could be excessive and detract from fertility.
I used the word “excessive” in the title here because that was how someone on IG recently dismissed my whole trip: she isn’t into the whole “excessive sunlight thing.”
The Sun’s dual abilities of harming and healing have been known and respected in all human history.
To be clear, my work is around smart solar exposure. So, to balance all the good fertility news in yesterday’s post, today I thought I’d bring up one of the lesser known facts of solar exposure that can directly impact fertility in a bad way if not understood and respected:
sunlight degrades folate in skin.
Actually, the more recent thought around the UV-protective effects of melanin is that it doesn’t have anything to do with cancer, but with protecting folate and thereby reproductive capacity.
Here’s my Folate Series where you can learn more about this evolving understanding of folates and melanin (soon to be updated with a MTHFR post, so do subscribe if you haven’t already so you find out when it drops):
The actionable thing here is if you are getting ready for conception, it’s really important to build up your solar callus—which is your sunlight tolerance—carefully.
I’m working on a longer post about the types of tans and what they mean because not all tans are of equal quality, but it’s looping in a lot of research and so taking me a bit of time with everything else going on in my busy summer ☀️🦦📚
Given that melanin in your skin is going to be protecting your folate, sequestering any circulating heavy metals (including balancing the toxic effects of iron and copper), and providing raw bioelectricity, it is of supreme importance for pregnancy.
BUT: It’s a big danger to jump from an indoor lifestyle to spending hours outside under overhead sunlight. Not only would that excessively degrade your folate, but also put you at risk of dehydration, heat fatigue, and possibly triggering a manic episode if you have underlying mental health issues—any of which could compromise your pregnancy.
^So that is what I would call excessive sunlight exposure, and just to be clear, that is not at all what I talk about when I say sunlight is good for fertility or the other things I have found in research or my experiences navigating my own pregnancies and walking this path with my private doula and wellness clients.
A quick rule of thumb is if your shadow is longer than you, you are going to be absorbing high amounts of infrared and minimal UV light. This is the safest time of day to spend long hours outside.
When your shadow is shorter than you, this is the time to be careful. Overhead sunlight is important for health, but it can also be dangerous if you haven’t been working up to it.
Some ideas to explore if you are very fair skinned in a tropical climate and ttc (and also for living in a polar climate through seasons where the sun never/hardly sets): sun-protective clothing in natural fibers (linen and muslin), a polyphasic sleep/activity schedule that gives you more of a crepuscular pattern being alert at dawn and dusk, a short sleep in the middle of the night and another sleep around high-noon through the heat of the day, and being mindful to eat enough healthy fats so your body has all it needs for maintaining its cellular membranes AND enough to split and harvest additional water from (metabolic water).
Sunlight exposure is ideally a mix of different angles of sunlight, and in particular, the long, low rays of dawn and dusk carry frequencies that nourish cellular health and prime the circadian rhythm for the important transitions between night/day.
Has anyone ever been upset with you for your views on sunlight? How have you handled those conversations?
SO interesting being from a place in the world with intense sun! Thank you for sharing