Positive impact of sunlight exposure on mental health in a naval population

Methods:

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Ship-class was captured to account for unique environmental and occupational stressors. This study included 8 unique ship-classes from 3 general platform types:

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Study included 8 unique ship types from 3 platform types to account for stressors. The study included various types of ships to account for potential confounding factors or evaluate if the results were different due to ship type.

Introduction:

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Sunlight exposure remains one of the most salient environmental factors across numerous occupations. Although extensive exposure may become classified as an occupational hazard (Carter et al. 2020; Garland et al. 1990; Koh et al. 2022), sunlight can also be among the protective factors that promote an effective working environment

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Sunlight exposure can be a significant environmental factor in many occupations. It can be a hazard and a protective factor across different work environments.

Results:

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Results indicated that sunlight was a positive predictor of morale (b¼0.225, SE ¼0.013, 95% CI [0.199, 0.251], b ¼.157, p < .001). Sunlight also served as a direct positive predictor of MH (b¼0.329, SE ¼ 0.054, 95% CI [0.223, 0.434], b ¼ .051, p <.001), and morale positively impacted MH (b¼2.102, SE ¼ 0.038, 95% CI [2.029, 2.177], b ¼ .465, p <.001).

Sunlight thus remained a significant predictor of MH even despite controlling for the mediator of morale with the predictors accounting for approximately 23% of the variance in MH (R2¼.23).

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The results of the study indicate that sunlight positively predicted morale, mental health, and that morale positively impacted mental health. Sunlight was a significant predictor of mental health even when accounting for the mediators of morale.

Discussion:

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current evidence suggests that sunlight has a positive impact on MH and PH during naval operations, which replicates and extends prior evidence about the physiological benefits of sunlight (Holick 2016) and the potential benefits to a workforce (An et al. 2016).

As such, there may be benefits to both morale and MH and perhaps other positive outcomes (e.g., improved worker productivity and interpersonal relationships) by requiring that personnel receive a prescribed amount of daily sun exposure.

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The evidence tells us that sunlight has a positive impact on mental and physical health during naval operations, and this is supported as well from prior research and evidence. There are also indications from this about benefits to the workforce overall.

Requiring daily sun exposure for personnel may improve morale, mental health, productivity, and interpersonal relationships.

Future Directions:

• What future research should follow up on this work?

Increasing broad-spectrum light exposure, particularly polychromatic white light, in naval environments could address sunlight exposure deficiency and potentially alleviate circadian rhythm disruption. However, parameters for the anticipated mental and physical health benefits of sunlight exposure are needed, but evidence is lacking for specific criteria and measurements needed.

Additionally, the study lacked a control group and active intervention groups, limiting generalizability. Follow-up evidence is needed to control sunlight exposure and provide causal evidence of its benefits.

Future research should determine optimal sunlight exposure conditions for improving mental health outcomes in naval populations, including field studies on circadian rhythm responses to light exposure.

Difficult Material:

• What did you not understand about this paper that someone else may be able to help you with? Or, if you understood everything, what did you find most challenging to understand?

I found it a bit challenging to understand the specific naval language which described the occupations and ship types. As well, the analysis techniques were unfamiliar to me, which made that section more challenging to understand. For example, I do not have knowledge in statistical analysis tools such as ANOVA or IBM SPSS Statistics 28 etc. As well, I am not well versed in regression analysis techniques, so this section was a bit challenging to read. Overall, I found this research straightforward and easy to understand what the objective was.