[weezer]

Sun exposure (and even tanning beds) produces vitamin D, but it also causes other changes in the human body. It appears sun exposure OR tanning bed use (!!!) reduces all cause mortality.

"Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality: results from the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24697969/

I think there's some confounding factors in 'outdoorsy' people having other healthy lifestyle habits, but it also seems likely that there is some other mechanism, beneficial to human health, triggered by uv exposure.

[rland]

I've always refused the idea that any sun == bad.

Being in the sun (not excessively) feels incredible, at a very deep level. The same way eating a really healthy diet and exercising every day feels.

I frequently wonder: if I'm correct, what other things are like this? Fats are good for you, not carbs as they've said. That's one example that comes trivially to mind. But I'm convinced there is a ton of stuff we do because it's "good" when in really, the positives far outweigh the negatives.