Vitamin D: Sun Exposure, Sunblock & Skin Cancer

The Truth About Dematologist Recommendations

Sunlight is free and rejuvenating. There may be other benefits to sunlight that we don’t even know yet. Get out there and enjoy it! If you were wondering, the light that comes through a window pane does not have the type of rays that are needed to produce vitamin D. The glass filters out the beneficial UVB rays and only lets through the UVA rays that can burn you.

If you live north of the vitamin D line stretching on the map below you’re getting almost no vitamin D even during the summer months because the sun’s rays are too indirect. In the winter nobody in the country gets enough direct sunlight.

For the average light skinned person you need 15 - 60 minutes of sun between the hours of 10am – 3pm when the sun’s rays are the strongest. At least 40% of the surface area of your body must be exposed. You you’ll know when you’ve gotten enough sun when your skin begins to turn the slightest bit pink. Darker skinned people have a tougher time to convert sunlight, so they especially need supplementation. The “naked at noon hour” is difficult to achieve for most people, so supplementation is a good idea for almost everyone.

One study shows that vitamin D takes up to 48 hours to absorb from your skin into your blood stream after you’ve exposed it to the sun, so you shouldn’t wash anything but your “hot spots” in the shower for two days if you are concerned about low vitamin D levels. You can figure out what your hotspots are by doing a simple test - ask your mother-in-law to sniff your entire body. Every place she lurches is a hotspot.

Sunblock & Skin Cancer

Sunblock of any SPF blocks enough sunlight that your body can’t produce adequate amounts of vitamin D. Sunblock is only needed when you are going out in the sun for hours on end. If you would burn without it, then it is a good idea. Skin cancer doesn’t form from a low level exposure to the sun, you are at the greatest risk if you burn your skin repeatedly, or if you have a tan you remain in the sun for hours every day for many years.

Somehow dermatologists freaked us all out about skin cancer and the beauty industry capitalized on it by linking sun exposure to wrinkles and aging. In reality as long as you get moderate sunlight there won’t be a noticeable difference in your skin. Plus, tans look sexy!

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