Researchers now believe that exposure to more sunlight may have saved Mozart’s life. According to the study, higher vitamin D levels could have helped fight off infection, which in turn could have helped save the composer’s life.
While the composer died of an unknown illness in 1791 at the young age of 35, scientists believe that his penchant for composing at night and sleeping during the day could have helped lead to his demise, especially when considering that sunlight is scarce in Vienna during the Winter months.
According to the studies participants:
“At the latitude of Vienna, 48 degrees N, it is impossible to make vitamin D from solar ultraviolet-B irradiance for about 6 months of the year. Mozart died on December 5, 1791, two to three months into the vitamin D winter.”
