When it comes to weight loss, there are a few tried and true habits that are sure to help you shed excess pounds. Most notably, eating moderate portions of healthy, whole foods, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of sleep are all fundamental to the process. However, experts say there’s another surprising factor that could significantly impact the trajectory of your weight loss: the sun. Mounting research suggests that your exposure to sunlight has a regulatory effect on your metabolism and hunger hormones, ultimately affecting your weight and broader markers of health.
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One study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health examined how exposure to sunlight could reduce the risk of cardiometabolic dysfunction, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, lipid disorders, inflammation, and hypertension. The researchers found that regular sun exposure could suppress weight gain in addition to these metabolic risk factors.
Another study published in Scientific Reportsfound that a lack of sun exposure could contribute to winter weight gain, specifically. That research determined that having dysfunctional subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT) leads to higher rates of weight gain and that “these cells may be directly affected by ambient sunlight exposure.” This tissue is mainly under the skin, protecting us from heat loss, infection, and external pressure.
Peter Light, PhD, the chair of pharmacology at the University of Alberta in Canada and a co-author of that study, explained exactly how sunlight exposure could impact your weight in a news release.
“When the sun’s blue light wavelengths—the light we can see with our eye—penetrate our skin and reach the fat cells just beneath, lipid droplets reduce in size and are released out of the cell. In other words, our cells don’t store as much fat,” he said.
“If you flip our findings around, the insufficient sunlight exposure we get eight months of the year living in a northern climate may be promoting fat storage and contribute to the typical weight gain some of us have over winter,” Light added.
While more research is needed, Light noted, “It’s not a giant leap to suppose that the light that regulates our circadian rhythm, received through our eyes, may also have the same impact through the fat cells near our skin.”
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Naturopathic doctor and medical content creator Janine Bowring, ND, addressed the topic in a recent TikTok post in which she suggested that you can “harness the power of the sun” for faster weight loss.
“My tip here is to be very mindful of your light environment. Going outside whenever you can is going to be the best for weight loss, making sure that you’re under full-spectrum light from the sun,” she advises in the video.
Bowring adds that it’s also important to sleep in total darkness and limit your light exposure after the sun has set.
“If you spend a lot of time on a screen, this will also implicate your leptin signaling, and you may develop something called leptin resistance. When you have this, it is very difficult to burn off that excess body fat,” she says.
Light exposure is, of course, just one factor that could be contributing to stubborn weight gain, but mounting research suggests that it could be meaningfully influential.
“Light exposure can influence sleep and circadian timing, both of which have been shown to influence weight regulation,” says a 2014 study published in the journal PLoS ONE. That study notes that getting two hours of sun exposure immediately after waking “altered the levels of the satiety hormones leptin and ghrelin, ultimately affecting metabolic function, appetite, and body fat.
So, as we head into winter, be sure to greet the sun first thing in the morning, and to limit your synthetic light exposure at night. Not only will this help boost your overall health, it could also help you shed those extra holiday pounds.