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Comment by ehnto | Hacker News Reader

Interesting! Anecdotally I used to get very, very bad respiratory infections once a year when working in an office full time, getting at best an hour in the sun a day. Now I remote work and get anywhere from 2-6 hours sun most days, and I haven't had a serious infection for more than a year and a half. Could still be coming, but I feel 200% better overall so regardless, highly recommend getting outside more.

Edit: maybe this came off as a humble brag? Getting a downvote or two, which I don't mind, but I wouldn't want to give off the wrong impression. I only work from home, I am not a jetsetting nomad, I can just work around my outdoor activities now.

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I've been taking Vitamin D supplements for a few months. It started after reading a few articles on HN about how the RDA for Vitamin D was too low. Then I came across the NHS guidance which say in effect that everyone should consider taking a Vitamin D supplement, especially those who don't get out in the sunshine much (like most developers). Since there is basically no downside I started taking them.

Anecdotally I feel less lethargic when I remember to take them than when I slip out of the habit. I'm not sure whether that is just the placebo effect but the cost is low enough that it's worth it in either case.

Sounds like your exposure to other people might have changed dramatically: working in an office full time -> remote work.

Probably. Or maybe a less stressful commute to work, no crazy office politics, a change in diet/exercise (because you now have time to do those things properly)... It's really difficult to accurately establish correlation let alone causality when it comes to changes in one's health.

Definitely! So many things changed when I went remote that I would never suggest it's entirely down to sun exposure. It would be impossible to say definitively.

Definitely. One of many factors involved. Less commute, always getting enough sleep I am sure help a bunch. But I can also feel a big difference in my abilities when I don't get outside for a few days, even when all those other benefits stay the same.

Some offices have mold in the carpet. Not saying that sun doesn’t have an effect but mold and exposure to other people could also be factors

And most offices have too high carbon dioxide levels, so much so that researchers can actually measure the negative impact on cognitive abilities [1].

[1] https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1510037

In your case avoiding the office is more likely to reduce your infections than the sun.

Very anecdotally but.. I remember my family, 2 adults and 3 kids, going on a two week vacation during the european winter many years ago, and I have been told that none of us were sick in the year afterwards.

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