Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy Soak Up the Sun!

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Soak Up the Sun! Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:26 PM PDT Thank you for subscribing to Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy; click here for your free copy of Sizzlin' Soups! Don’t miss a single exciting post in my Women’s Wellness Series – subscribe today! We’re talking about all aspects of women’s health. Follow my Women’s Wellness board on Pinterest for even more great articles and product recommendations. We women have been on quite the roller-coaster relationship with the sun, haven’t we? Way back when (I’m talking turn of the twentieth century), the well-bred woman was supposed to have a demure look, which was as pale as could be. Contrast that with the hard-working lower classes who spent a lot of time in the sun and sported a hearty tan. Fast forward a few decades, and it became popular to get as dark as possible, so women learned all kinds of tricks to attract the sun’s rays to their skin, and spent hours burning in the sun. Then we realized how terrible that was for us when the incidence of skin cancer started to rise, so we went to the opposite extreme and started wearing sunscreen every time we stepped out the door. Like most things in life, I think the true answer lies somewhere in the middle between either extreme. Too much sun is bad for you. So is too little.  Case in point: the current “epidemic” of Vitamin D deficiency. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the occurrence of vitamin D deficiency increased along with the increased use of sunscreens and higher SPFs. What does vitamin D have to do with the sun and sunscreen? Everything. Our main source of vitamin D is from the sun! The above referenced article states that 50-90% of usable vitamin D comes from exposure to the sun, and the remaining amount is procured from the diet. (Very few foods have any amount of vitamin D at all, and those that do, don’t have a lot of it.) Why is vitamin D so important? It seems like every new scientific study reveals a new purpose that vitamin D fills in the body, preventing all kinds of diseases and conditions. Many of these are of particular interest to women. For example: Vitamin D helps the body make use of calcium, which strengthens the bones and helps prevent breaks and falls. It reduces the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women. It has been linked to maintaining a healthy body weight. People with higher levels of vitamin D have a lower risk of developing cancer (including breast cancer). There are a lot more benefits to having sufficient vitamin D, but those are the ones that concern women in particular. Let’s put these two thoughts together, then:  we need vitamin D for good health, and our main source of vitamin D is from the sun. One might conclude from those two facts alone that the answer is to go sit outside all day in the sun and soak up as much vitamin D as you can! Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. First of all, as far as I can understand, any excess vitamin D garnered after 15-20 minutes in the sun is degraded. Furthermore, too much exposure to the sun has definitely been linked to an increase in skin cancers. The sun is powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated! So what’s the conclusion? This: Enjoy 15-20 minutes in the sun several times a week, making sure to expose as much of your face, arms, and hands as you can. After that, go back inside or cover your skin with clothing and wear a hat.  One article I read suggested that the UV index of 3 or higher was optimal for the highest levels of vitamin D. Weather.com usually indicates the UV index in each day’s forecast. Personally, if I’m going outside before or after the sun is at its peak (before 11 or after 3), I don’t worry about any exposure I may get. But if I go outside when the sun is really strong and hot, I try to stay in the shade or cover up somehow to limit my exposure. For more information, read: Vitamin D Deficiency: An Ignored Epidemic What is vitamin D? What are the Benefits of vitamin D? Vitamin D across the lifecycle What is your own personal relationship with the sun? Love? Hate?

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