Remember when your mother used to say, “It’s a beautiful day! Get out in the sunshine, it’s good for you”?
Turns out she was right. More and more research is proving that sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, an ingredient essential to maintaining overall good health. Most significantly, vitamin D increases calcium absorption by 30 to 80 percent and is vital in building strong bones.
Yet many people are deficient in D, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis, heart attacks and certain autoimmune disorders. Many vitamin D-deficient adults develop a weakening of the bones called osteomalcia, which is characterized by bone and muscle aches.
Most vitamins come from food, but amazingly, the human body is equipped to manufacture its own vitamin D. All that’s required is UV exposure. Seems simple enough — but many of us get far less sunlight than we think. We slather sunscreen on every inch of exposed skin, even in winter, and then proceed to spend most of the day indoors.
Could you be at risk? You may be deficient in vitamin D if you:
- Don’t often go out in the sun
- Live above the 37th parallel (that means most of Virginia)
- Always wear sunscreen on exposed areas
- Are older than 60
- Have dark skin
To correct this lack of vitamin D, you can be sure to take a multivitamin and consume vitamin D-rich foods, such as fish oil and liver. However, even these tactics often fail to significantly raise D levels. The best way is the natural way—increasing your UV exposure.
In Richmond, sunbathing isn’t such a practical way of doing this (for three-quarters of the year, anyway). Luckily, indoor tanning is safer and works just as well. Like natural sunlight, tanning beds produce the UVB rays that stimulate the body to make vitamin D. In 2004, a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who regularly used a tanning bed had higher concentrations of vitamin D in their systems.
“The inescapable fact is that humans have evolved in such a way as to be dependent on sunshine for life and health,” writes Dr. Michael F. Holick, renowned author of “The UV Advantage.”
Does this mean it’s okay to spend hours in the sun without protecting your skin? Of course not. A severe sunburn is the worst thing you can do for your skin. A healthy tan, on the other hand, means your body is making vitamin D and guards against burning.
Recent studies have found vitamin D helps protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and colon. It even helps prevent skin cancer.
Regular UV exposure is also connected to the release of “feel-good’ endorphins, which lead to improved mental well-being and guard against seasonal depression. So when you can’t get out in the sun, get to Pacific Coast Tans! Your mother was right—it is good for you.
For more information visit TanningTruth.com
