Add a Little Sunshine To Beat Health Blues

Living Indoors

For most urban Indians, daylight hours are spent inside offices, classrooms, homes, cars, and metros. Glass windows, while letting in visible light, block the UVB rays required for vitamin D synthesis. By the time people step outside, it is often early morning or evening -- times when sunlight is too weak to trigger vitamin D production in the skin.

In rural areas, work, social activities, and daily chores involve outdoor exposure. “Despite abundant sunlight, urban populations are more impacted because they spend most of their time indoors,” explains Dr. Aashish Chaudhry, Director & Head – Orthopaedics & Joint Replacement, Aakash HealthCare.

Worrisome Contributors

Air pollution further weakens the sun’s effectiveness. Smog and particulate matter act like a filter, reducing the amount of UVB radiation that reaches the skin. Skin tone also matters. Indian skin typically contains more melanin, which offers protection from sun damage but slows vitamin D synthesis. As a result, darker skin requires significantly longer sun exposure to generate adequate vitamin D—something urban lifestyles rarely allow.

Dr. Pearlsy Grace Rajan, Senior Consultant in Internal Medicine at Rela Hospital, Chennai, highlights additional barriers: “Glass windows block UVB rays entirely. Cultural practices involving full-body clothing, head coverings, and routine sunscreen use—SPF 30 blocks up to 95% of UVB—further worsen absorption.”

Food For Thought

Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D, and many of them—fatty fish, liver, egg yolks—are eaten infrequently or avoided altogether. Vegetarian diets further limit dietary sources. Unlike some countries, India has inconsistent food fortification policies. “Foods that are naturally high in vitamin D, including eggs and fatty fish, are frequently lacking in Indian diets,” says Dr. Chaudhry.

As a result, even people who eat “normally” may not come close to meeting daily requirements through food alone.

Certain health conditions add another layer of risk. Disorders that affect the gut, liver, or kidneys can interfere with how vitamin D is absorbed or metabolized. In such cases, deficiency can persist despite sunlight exposure and diet, often without obvious warning signs.

Undetected Symptoms

Vitamin D deficiency manifests quietly—through symptoms that are easy to dismiss or misattribute. Persistent fatigue, muscle weakness, vague body aches, and joint pain are common but often blamed on stress, long work hours, or aging. Bone pain may be mistaken for arthritis. Muscle cramps and tingling sensations can be overlooked or linked to electrolyte imbalances. Mood changes, including low mood or irritability, are sometimes treated as purely psychological issues.

In more advanced cases, deficiency can lead to frequent fractures, difficulty walking, or bone deformities, particularly in older adults. In children, it may impair bone development. But by the time these signs appear, deficiency has often been present for years.

Dr. S. Krishnamoorthy, Senior Consultant in General Medicine at Kauvery Hospital, Vadapalani says, “There is less and ineffective fortification of dairy products with vitamin D, which contributes significantly to deficiency.” Sedentary habits and a preference for indoor gyms over outdoor walking, and the problem deepens.

The advice to “get more sun” is common, but not always practical. Effective vitamin D synthesis requires direct sun exposure to bare skin during the middle of the day, several times a week. Early morning and late afternoon sunlight, despite feeling pleasant, is largely ineffective for this purpose. “Symptoms are often nonspecific and overlap with other conditions,” explains Dr. Rajan. “Musculoskeletal pain is frequently mistaken for chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. Mood changes and even depression are commonly associated.”

In reality, work schedules, pollution, clothing choices, and sunscreen use all limit how much UVB reaches the skin. Sunscreen, while essential for preventing skin cancer and premature ageing, can significantly reduce vitamin D production. Seasonal changes, particularly monsoon months, further reduce effective exposure. At least three times a week, experts advise exposing arms and legs to 15–20 minutes of direct sunlight between 10 am and 1 pm.

Test Hesitation

There is an ongoing debate about routine vitamin D testing. “Vitamin D medications are readily available over the counter, which leads people to self-administer them without understanding dose or duration,” warns Dr. Krishnamoorthy. While toxicity is relatively uncommon, it is real.

Dr. Chaudhry cautions that long-term high-dose intake can lead to dehydration, nausea, vomiting, confusion, cardiovascular issues, and hypercalcemia. Toxic levels may cause kidney stones, abnormal heart rhythms, and renal damage. The Office of Dietary Supplements notes that daily intake above 250 micrograms (10,000 IU) increases toxicity risk, though even lower doses can cause harm if taken unsupervised over long periods. Dr. Pearlsy Grace Rajan recommends maintenance doses of oral vitamin D3—800 to 2000 IU daily or weekly—combined with natural sources to sustain safe levels.

A Correctable Problem

Vitamin D deficiency rarely makes headlines, but its impact on bone health, mobility, immunity, and quality of life is substantial. The irony of widespread deficiency in a sun-rich country highlights how modern lifestyles can undermine even the most basic biological needs. In the long run, the solution may be less about chasing the sun and more about reshaping how people live alongside it.