The Vitamin D and Sunshine Protection Connection
It’s funny, if you think about it, the connection between vitamin D and sunshine exposure. It’s funny, because many people think that exposure to sunshine is akin to death or a sentence to skin cancer, when in fact it is probably worse to not get sunshine and have dangerously low levels of vitamin D.
It’s also funny because you get vitamin D primarily through sunshine exposure, and vitamin D is your primary protectant against cell damage and ultimately many different types of cancers (including skin cancer), because cancer IS damaged cells.
If you are deficient in vitamin D, the sun is probably ten times more dangerous for your skin because your skin does not have adequate internal protection against the sun’s potentially damaging rays due to lack of vitamin D!
Confused? I know, it can really blow your mind to think about it, because they are so interrelated. And I’m sure I would get criticized by an English professor for that last run on sentence too!
Here’s the deal. We get most of the vitamin D we have in our bodies from exposure to UVB light, which is emitted, along with UVA spectrum light, by the sun’s fantastically therapeutic, long reaching rays here on earth. UVB rays actually interact with our skin and our skin creates vitamin D.
Quite impressive, eh? The body is an amazing machine, and the sunlight plays a major role in a critical vitamin in our bodies, so you NEED sunlight! UVA rays are the sun’s skin damaging, wrinkle producing, potentially cancer causing rays, so those are the least productive.
However, you have to get one to get the other, so you must protect yourself against the damage of the UV rays the best you can. The best way to do this is to have physical barriers on the skin when exposed for more than fifteen minutes to pure sunlight.
There are also some great products we recommend such as natural tanning lotions and sunblocks that contain no chemicals (this is VERY important - NO CHEMICALS!)
All natural skin care is very important when dealing with UV exposure, the last thing you want to do is bake chemicals and artificial colors and scents into your skin.
Also, your diet and your supplementation plays a major role in how immune to sun burn your skin is. If you are deficient in antioxidants, your skin will likely burn much more easily.
Lycopene, found in tomatoes, and astaxanthin, found in the skin of salmon, are both excellent “internal sunscreens” and I highly recommend you read up on those more if you are interested in building up your skin’s natural ability to deflect the damage of the sun’s UV rays.