Safe sun exposure – could we have been wrong all this time?

The dreaded ‘man’ flu has taken hold of my husband, but no need to send flowers, he will be ok Sitting in some nice warm sun always helps. This got me thinking about Vitamin D and safe sun exposure.

There is no argument about the importance that Vitamin D has to our health and that the best place to get it is from UVB rays (the ones that burn you).

But with all the Slip-Slop-Slapping, Vitamin D deficiencies are increasing as you would expect, but so is skin cancer.

Is ‘Slip-Slop-Slapping’ doing more harm than good?

As you would expect this topic is dividing the medical gurus.

The list of health issues that Vitamin D helps prevent includes 16 different forms of cancer, heart disease, cold and flu, eczema, psoriasis, insomnia, osteoporosis, infertility, diabetes 1 and 2, depression, and Alzheimer’s. I could keep going but you get the point.

It flies in the face of conventional thinking, but the best way to get natural vitamin D is exposing some bare skin to direct sun.

To ensure that your time in the sun is not wasted here a few tips:

• How long you need in the sun depends on where you live, time of day and your skin colour. For example: Since I am fair skinned about 4mins in summer is my limit. The aim is to get as much as you can without burning. Getting burnt is never a good idea.
• UVB is blocked by windows whilst UVA is not. UVA disrupts the absorption of vitamin D so getting sun through a window is not beneficial. You don’t get any of the good stuff only UVA which ages you.
• It can take up to 48hrs for your body to absorb Vitamin D3 from UVB rays and showering with soap will wash most of it off.

This is a hot topic (no pun intended) so I would love to hear your thoughts by commenting here.