I’m from Michigan and I developed the same coping mechanism. The benefits were profound, immediate, and lasted 12-48 hours. I found it to be significantly more

I’m from Michigan and I developed the same coping mechanism. The benefits were profound, immediate, and lasted 12-48 hours. I found it to be significantly more beneficial than vitamin D supplements. I could replicate some degree of the benefit from a halogen lamp which supposedly has a coating on the glass that blocks the UV, so it’s probably not just Vitamin D. I’m sure vitamin D had some role in it though. But it needs to be an extremely bright light, and broad spectrum. LEDs / fluorescents couldn’t replicate the effects of “facing the sun”, only extremely high wattage halogens. It kind of worked for me on cloudy days depending on the degree of overcast occlusion but I would drop ANYTHING I was doing whenever the sun was shining enough to create crisp shadows. This became a ritual of my “personal religion”.